Slovenia sets 2025 carbon-leakage aid intensity at 0.728 for industry

Slovenia’s environment minister Polona Rifelj has fixed the maximum aid intensity for compensation of indirect carbon costs at 0.728 for 2025, the multiplier applied to each eligible company’s calculated relief. The decision, Sklep o maksimalni intenzivnosti pomoči za leto 2025 (No. 007-186/2026, EVA 2026-2580-0040), was signed in Ljubljana on 7 October 2026 and published in Uradni list Republike Slovenije No. 1678/2026 of 16 October 2026. It entered into force the day after publication.

The instrument is a two-point decision adopted under the sixth paragraph of Article 9 of the Uredba o nadomestilu za kritje posrednih stroškov zaradi stroškov emisij toplogrednih plinov v korist določenih sektorjev ali delov sektorjev, ki so izpostavljeni tveganju premestitve emisije CO2, za obdobje med letoma 2025 in 2027 (Uradni list RS No. 61/2026, 16 March 2026). That regulation, issued by the Vlada Republike Slovenije under Article 31 of the Podnebni zakon (Uradni list RS No. 56/25), implements Article 10a(6) of Direktiva 2003/87/ES and defines which industrial sectors are exposed to a genuine risk of carbon leakage.

The regulation caps the intensity at 0.75 and requires the competent minister to derive the operative figure from the ratio between the funds available in the Podnebni sklad spending programme and the sum of compensations calculated from the applications received. A figure of 0.728 therefore means the envelope covers 72.8 per cent of the relief calculated for the eligible applicants, rather than the full 0.75 ceiling.

The other variables already fixed

The intensity is one of five inputs in the calculation formula set out in Article 9 of the regulation, and the remaining ones were settled earlier in 2026:

• Emission factor C: 0.69 tCO2/MWh for 2025, instead of the standard 0.75 tCO2/MWh (Article 15 of the regulation).
• Allowance price P(t−1): 68.86 euro, fixed by Sklep o ceni nestandardizirane terminske pogodbe za pravico do emisije za nadomestilo za leto 2025 (Uradni list RS No. 332/2026, 20 April 2026, EVA 2026-2570-0015), signed by minister Bojan Kumer.
• Total envelope: 26,000,000.00 euro, set by Sklep o višini zneska za kritje posrednih stroškov (Uradni list RS No. 1353/2026, 18 August 2026, EVA 2026-2570-0041), signed by Polona Rifelj.
• Sector benchmarks E(t) and production volumes AO(t): taken from the tables in Annex 1 of the regulation and from each applicant’s own output data.

Which sectors are covered

Annex 1 of the regulation lists the sectors and parts of sectors eligible for relief, identified by NACE classification:

• Production of aluminium (24.42), copper (24.44), lead, zinc and tin (24.43) and other non-ferrous metals (24.45).
• Production of crude iron, steel and ferroalloys (24.10) and all product categories in iron casting (24.51).
• Pulp (17.11) and paper and paperboard (17.12).
• Other inorganic basic chemicals (20.13), refined petroleum products (19.20) and leather clothing (14.11).
• Selected products within plastics (polyethylene glycols, 20.16.40.15), glass fibres (23.14) and technical gases (hydrogen and inorganic oxygen compounds of non-metals, 20.11).

Conditions, deadlines and controls

Relief is not unconditional. Beneficiaries must source at least 30 per cent of their electricity from low-carbon sources, and must spend the whole compensation within two years of the last payment on renewable energy projects in Slovenia, on energy-efficiency measures cutting consumption by at least 7.5 per cent, or on investments reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 2.5 per cent. Applications for the 2025 amount had to be filed by 31 July 2026, and the ministry must pay within 30 days of a decision becoming final. The scheme operates as state aid SA.120932, and false data in an application carries fines of 50,000 to 250,000 euro, rising to 100,000 to 500,000 euro for medium-sized and large companies.

The regulation asked for the intensity to be published by 1 September 2026; the decision appeared in the official gazette on 16 October, six weeks later and after the 31 July application window had closed.

The figure matters because it is the last unknown in the payout arithmetic for 2025: energy-intensive producers now know that every euro of calculated indirect ETS cost translates into 72.8 cents of relief, drawn from a 26 million euro envelope. It also signals that the Podnebni sklad programme did not stretch to full coverage, leaving the remaining 2.2 percentage points of the permitted ceiling unfunded for the 2025 claim year.

Source: Uradni list Republike Slovenije, No. 1678/2026, 16 October 2026, section I, p. 1 (official reference: EVA 2026-2580-0040).