Speaker: Jozef Škultéty, Director, Climate Change Policy Department, Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic. Presentation at the 1st meeting of the Working Party on Climate Change (WPCC) held at the OECD headquarters on 27-28 September, 2023.

1. Adaptation Policies of the Slovak
Republic
JOZEF SKULTETY
Director
Global Climate Change Policy and Adapation
OECD Working Party on Climate Change, September 2023

2. Adopted Adaptation Policies
• National Climate Adaptation Strategy
adopted by the Slovak Government
in 2014
• Updated National Climate
Adaptation Strategy (NAS) adopted
by the Slovak Government in 2018
• National Action Plan for
implementation of the National
Climate Adaptation Strategy (NAP)
adopted by the Slovak Government
in 2021
• Several regional and local NAS and
NAPs elaborated in cooperation with
MoENV SR
September 2023
2

3. Challenges
• Worsening of negative climate-change impacts on ecosystems,
economy, and society in Slovakia
• Main barriers of successful implementation of NAP → financial
resources and low awareness
• Need for enhanced inter-ministerial cooperation, especially for climate
adaptation mainstreaming in sectoral policies and overcoming work in
siloes
• Necessary to strengthen coordination with stakeholders and actors
responsible for NAP implementation
• Missing comprehensive and actual climate risks and vulnerability
assessment of Slovakia
• Development of climate science / New and more precise knowledge is
available
3
Need for a new climate adaptation strategy
September 2023

4. Technical Support Instrument – a way forward
4
• The Technical Support Instrument (TSI) is the EU programme that provides tailor-
made technical expertise to EU Member States to design and implement reforms.
• It does not require co-financing.
• TSI can take the form of, for example, strategic and legal advice, studies, training
and expert visits on the ground.
• It covers a wide range of policy areas, including but not limited to climate action,
digital transition and health.
What is
it?
• Slovakia needs technical support as its capacities are currently inadequate. Lack of
capacities and cross-cutting character of climate adaptation affect an
implementation phase of adaptation policies.
• There is a need to revise coordination and cooperation mechanisms and set up a
new governance framework. An improvement is desired also in case of public
communication, capacity building and monitoring, reporting and evaluation
framework.
Why to
use it?
September 2023

5. New NAS – TSI Project Deliverables
5
Inception Report
Report on the state of play of the climate adaptation policies and
governance framework and proposal for a stakeholder engagement plan
Assessment report on climate risks and vulnerabilities
Draft Slovak national climate adaptation strategy, implementation plan and
roadmap
Outcome 1: Adoption of a new national climate adaptation strategy in Slovakia
September 2023

6. 6
Report on training needs and
provided trainings to support the operationalisation of the
new NAS and governance framework.
Report on communication and awareness raising activities
Final report
Outcome 2: Support of public communication and capacity building
September 2023
New NAS – TSI Project Deliverables

7. Meanwhile...
7
...we are working on implementation of NAP.
Agriculture
Forestry
Nature
Health
Urban
environment
Technical,
economic and
social
measures
Water
• 7 specific areas
• 5 cross-sectoral
measures and 18 tasks
• 45 specific masures and
169 tasks
• implementation phase
until 2027
September 2023

8. Implementation of NAP
8
Some concrete actions taken so far:
 Adaptation mainstreaming in new law on spatial planning no.
200/2022, new law on construction no. 201/2022 and draft law
on landscape planning
 Paragraphs on adaptation in draft Climate Change and Low-
carbon Transformation Law
 Adaptation actions involved in new ESIF period (Programme
Slovakia) and Recovery and Resilience Plan
 Adaptation mainstreaming in other policy areas (e.g. Conceptual
Framework of Water Policy until 2030)
 Methodologies for the assessment of investment risks associated
with the adverse consequences of climate change (under
preparation)
 Adaptation measurement: Assessing municipal climate risks to
inform adaptation policy in the Slovak Republic
September 2023

9. Assessing municipal climate risks in Slovakia - 1
9
September 2023
o Currently no cost-benefit assessment methodology for adaptation finance allocation.
o Current priorities for environmental funding - MoENV Prioritisation of Investment
Projects (only drought and heat risks and does not consider all municipalities).
o Climate Adaptation in Slovakia is funded from multiple sources, including domestic
national and local funds, international finance and private funding.
o Several, rather complex adapation policy strategies and methodologies but funding
frameworks are not completely aligned with adaptation plans.
o Upcoming new NAS - focus on the necessity of allocating finance towards adaptation
measures. The risk assessment method presented in OECD case study - the basis for this
framework and showcase the needs of individual districts across Slovakia.

10. Assessing municipal climate risks in Slovakia - 2
10
September 2023
o The risk assessment divides municipalities into 10 levels of risks for three climate hazards
(extreme heat, extreme perception and drought)
o Risk levels are assigned according to municipalities’ values for each composite index.
o By identifying a set of indicators, which include socio-economic, land cover and both
observed and projected climate hazard factors, the methodology considers each
municipality’s levels of risk, exposure and coping capacity
o While the three hazards used as indices are estimated to be the most prevalent in the
country’s future, this methodology is adaptable and can be extended to account for more
hazards, or to account for other indicators of different weights.
The results aim to inform future funding allocation decisions for climate change adaptation

11. Thank you for your attention.
https://www.minzp.sk/en/about-us/
jozef.skultety@enviro.gov.sk