Czech Environment Ministry to allocate twice as much funding to cut emissions

The Ministry of the Environment today announced that it will more than double the amount of funding allocated to projects aimed at improving the environment and reducing emissions. The ministry will allocate an additional CZK 2.7bn to reduce emissions in industry and agriculture.

The grants come from the 8th call of the Operational Programme Environment 2014 – 2020, which received a total of 240 grant applications. Requested funding reached a record CZK 5.5bn, more than twice the originally earmarked CZK 2.5bn.

The main reason for expanding the funding is the Czech Republic's industrial and agricultural emissions, which have stagnated over the long term, according to the ministry's press release .

More specifically, the funding will primarily be directed towards the replacement, refurbishment or installation of additional equipment for combustion and other stationary pollution sources.

This should lead, among other things, to reductions in particulate matter emissions and harmful oxides (sulphur and nitrogen oxides).

„Air quality in the Czech Republic has stagnated despite the adoption of numerous legislative and financial measures in recent years. Around one third of the population lives in areas where daily ambient air concentration limits for fine particulate matter are exceeded.“

Richard Brabec, Czech Minister of the Environment

Most of the funding will go to industrial companies that performed best against the main indicators assessed, including the potential reduction of particulate matter known as PM10 and PM2.5.

The Ministry of the Environment estimates that implementation of the additional 56 projects should result in annual reductions of 963 tonnes of particulate pollutants, 2 249 tonnes of SO2 and 396 tonnes of NOx.

According to Petr Valdman, director of the State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic (SFŽP), the administrative aspect is also important to ensure the timely allocation of funds and reasonably swift implementation of the requested projects. He added: „We have set up the administration of applications so that, even with such a large number of applications received, we can assess them all on time and meet the deadlines we promised applicants.“

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