site.btaBulgaria's Greenhouse Emissions Down 48% from 1988 but Edging Up - Environment Minister

The greenhouse gas emissions generated in Bulgaria have dropped by 48 per cent compared to 1988 but have nevertheless been edging up since 2011, especially in transport, where the increase is 40 per cent from the baseline year, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for Climate Policies and Environment and Water Minister Borislav Sandov said here on Monday.

He was speaking at an international conference on "Energy Security and Climate Change: New Dimensions after the Aggression against Ukraine," organized jointly by the Center for the Study of Democracy and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).

At this point, the energy sector accounts for the largest share of greenhouse emissions (58 per cent of the total), mainly due to the lignite coal on which Bulgarian power plants and some industrial operations run. Transport is responsible for 26 per cent of the emissions, and industry for 11 per cent.

Reforms and investments included in Bulgaria's National Recovery and Resilience Plan are intended to result in an enhancement of energy security based on renewable energy sources and other mechanisms, Sandov said. One hundred million trees are planned to be planted by 2030, as part of the 3 billion trees European target, and natural sites are to be increased and restored considerably.

Addressing the event at its opening, Thorsten Geissler, Director of the KAS Sofia Office, said that Europe's energy dependence on Russia is a fact. in 2021 the EU relied on Russia for 90 per cent of its natural gas supplies, for 46.7 per cent of the coal and 26.9 per cent of the oil. "Obviously, we can't rely on that country any longer," he argued.

Climate change is a fact, too, Geissler added. He specified that, according to a study of the impact of climate change published by his foundation, temperatures in Bulgaria will rise by 4.4 C by the year 2100. Precipitation will decrease by up to 20 per cent, which will pose a risk to the availability of water for human and farming use, and severe droughts are expected almost annually until 2090.

The participants in the conference are discussing the risks and the possible effects of a disruption of oil and gas deliveries from Russia, the most appropriate strategy to improve European energy and climate security, and whether the energy dependence will be eliminated by the transition from fossil to renewable energy sources or this will merely shift geopolitical risks and their sources.