improving air quality in cities and towns through the use of more environmentally friendly heating methods and energy savings. This was the main topic of the conference organized by the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic (MoE SR) and the Slovak Environmental Agency (SAŽP) together with the partners of the LIFE IP project - Improving Air Quality on March 29-30, 2023. The conference was intended mainly for representatives of local government and state administration bodies, who can play a key role in improving air quality. The event offered them a space for discussion and mutual sharing of experiences. An important task is to appeal to the population and support a positive change in behavior in connection with minimizing air emissions from heating in households, as well as to actively use legislative and economic instruments. Heating with solid fuel is the main cause of air pollution with fine dust particles and benzo(a)pyrene in cities and towns in Slovakia. Some households, in an effort to obtain heat and save on fuel costs, burn low-quality fuel, wet or insufficiently dried wood, coal or even household waste. This increases the amount of emissions, especially fine dust particles PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅, benzo(a)pyrene, or other carcinogenic pollutants. Long-term exposure of residents to such pollution can cause serious health problems, with particularly vulnerable groups of the population (children, pregnant women, seniors and chronically ill people) at risk. Emissions can be the cause of many diseases, especially respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and even cancer. Emissions from household heating contribute approximately 80 % to total annual PM₂.₅ emissions and approximately 70 % to total benzo(a)pyrene emissions. The Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic is focused on improving air quality in Slovakia, which is why it has been working intensively on new legislation that was recently approved. The new Air Protection Act expands the powers of the state, district offices and local governments in the fight against air pollution. One of the new competencies of municipalities is the ability to prohibit or restrict activities that contribute to the deterioration of air quality, whether they are small sources of air pollution or other activities on their territory. These regulations are of general application. Topics presented during the conference included current challenges in the field of air quality, information on the new Air Protection Act, new financial schemes for the implementation of measures, sustainable energy and heat for all, measures to improve air quality in cities and municipalities, and other topics. More information, outputs and presentations from the conference are available at this link