Sustainable Trade and Climate Change - Slovakia
Climate change is arguably the biggest challenge of our time. As a country mostly below sea level, the impact of global warming for the Netherlands is enormous. International cooperation is the best way to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and halt global warming. To this end, Slovakia and the Netherlands work together in the EU and other international fora. Dutch businesses, entrepreneurs and organisations are also increasingly working together with Slovak partners in the areas of sustainable and circular infrastructure, construction, waste processing and recycling.
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Circular Economy
The Netherlands aims to have a circular economy by 2050 – a waste-free economy that runs as much as possible on sustainable and renewable raw materials, and in which products and raw materials are reused. That is why together with organisations and businesses in Slovakia the embassy took the initiative to found the platform Circular Slovakia in 2019. Since then, this platform is used by public and private partners to share their know-how and best practices to achieve a more circular economy. For example at the popular Pohoda festival the embassy gave space to local circular organisations and projects in the area of upcycling clothes, creating accessories from industrial materials or reusing furniture and household items.
Sustainable Trade & Investment
To fight climate change and preserve natural ecosystems, businesses play an important role int facilitating the transition to a carbon neutral and circular future. That’s why our embassy supports and connects Dutch circular businesses who want to do business in Slovakia. In 2022, we facilitated a circular economy trade mission where we introduced NL companies to potential Slovak business partners. Some of them are advancing quickly in entering the Slovak market such as BlueCycle, a company creating innovative ways to turn plastic waste into fuel, FiberCore Europe, building bio-based bridges, is planning the implementation of their Slovak pilot project in 2023.
Circular business delegation was also an important part of the State Visit of HM the King and HM the Queen to Slovakia in March 2023. Most of the 34 Dutch companies (50 entrepreneurs and business leaders) who participated in the business delegation, reported that the outcome of the visit exceeded expectations. Circular construction companies, FiberCore Europe and Leadax, and green urban development companies, Cityförster, and TreeBuilders signed MoU’s during the visit. Others had fruitful discussions during the matchmaking and roundtables at Bratislava Castle and many started discussing possibilities to enter the Slovak market.
Climate Change
In November 2022 the embassy organised a four day workshop in Bratislava for eleven talented photo-journalists from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to develop their journalistic, investigative skills and photography skills to visualize the effects of climate change. The workshop was conducted by award winning photographers Kadir van Lohuizen (NL) and Esther Horvath (HU). An exhibition of the work of the eleven photographers was launched in Bratislava in June 2023 and will travel to Poland, Hungary and Czechia in the upcoming months.
Realizing our own responsibility in minimizing negative effects of the climate change, the embassy underwent a sustainability make-over. We reconstructed our office to comply with zero-waste principles, are recycling and reusing our waste, only printing when necessary and have chosen new materials and furniture from local or recycled sources.