Are Bulgarian households participating in the energy transition to climate neutrality and what are the specific steps being taken in this direction by the country's institutions - these important questions were highlighted at an event organized by the Habitat Bulgaria Foundation.
Habitat Bulgaria is working to accelerate the energy renovation of homes and overcoming household energy poverty, within the framework of the new EU climate policies and support mechanisms.
The discussion was attended by Apostol Dyankov, adviser to the minister at the Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW), Dobromir Vassilev, director of the Directorate "Housing Policy" at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRRD), Ivaylo Alexiev, executive director of the Agency for sustainable energy development and Teodora Peneva from the Institute for Economic Research at BAS and senior expert "Climate and Energy" at WWF Bulgaria.
Changes to the Climate Change Limitation Act
On the first topic - "The proposed changes in the Law on Limiting Climate Change - the new goal of climate neutrality by 2050 and how we will achieve it", spoke Apostol Dyankov from the Ministry of Education and Culture.
"The main change is one - it is very basic, but at the same time extremely important. It is in the new article 2a and reads: "The Republic of Bulgaria sets a common long-term national goal to achieve climate neutrality and zero net emissions of greenhouse gases no later than 2050 in accordance with the provisions of the Paris Agreement and the applicable legislation of the European Union ". It's important to understand one thing - what we have to do is not just because the regulations require it, but because it's good for us too. This climate neutrality policy is not just a national or European goal, it is global in nature.
For Bulgaria, however, the process applies with particular force, because we have unique prerequisites and interest in fulfilling this goal, as it will work for our national interests and economy. However, in no case should the issue of the climate transition turn into some kind of cultural war in our country. I remind you again - this is a global trend, there is no point in dividing into "for" and "against".
What will be the path to these goals – 55% by 2030, 90% by 2040 and full neutrality by 2050? Massive deployment of RES, shutdown of coal power, reliance on new and expensive technologies such as industrial carbon sequestration or nature-based solutions? What will happen to the hydrogen economy? To what extent will the renewable energy mix prevail as a primary solution or will additional reliance be placed on more nuclear power? These are nuances that have yet to be resolved," said Dyankov.
He also emphasized the importance of working in the area of behavioral issues when it comes to the energy transition of households towards climate neutrality.
"Let's take, for example, the reluctance of Bulgarians to give up road transport. Institutions and public organizations must play a major role here and point out the positives of the decision to leave the car in the background. It is possible - cars were widely used in the Netherlands in the 70s. Now everyone is on bicycles," Dyankov pointed out.
Program for energy efficiency of multi-family residential buildings
Dobromir Vasilev from MRRB spoke about the "National Program for Energy Efficiency of Multi-Family Residential Buildings" under the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability. The program is currently in its second stage, where 20 percent co-financing is required from citizens. In the first stage, the provided grant was one hundred percent.
"This difference in funding also explains the difference in interest in the program. In the first stage, with 100% grant funding, the interest was 4 times greater than the secured funds. In the second stage, Sofia has the most projects - nearly 20 percent of them are from the Metropolitan Municipality. This shows the clear distribution of economic activity and income in different parts of the country. In the first stage of the program, projects from the Metropolitan Municipality were about 6 or 7 percent of all. The acceptance of applications under the second stage of the program ended on March 28 after two extensions, with 299 investment proposals received with a total value of the requested grant of more than BGN 120 million. The requested funding is less than what we had available as a budget for the measure, for this reason we will not have reserve lists and everyone who is approved will receive funding," said Vassilev.
He was adamant that in order to have a stable policy of renovation of the building fund, regular financing should be provided, and not rely on the so-called program financing, which is valid for certain periods.
Vassilev also pointed out the problem with applying for financing from buildings in which there are uninhabited dwellings.
Households are most sensitive to the price of energy
Ivaylo Alexiev, executive director of the Agency for Sustainable Energy Development, pointed out that in the Long-term strategy for promoting renovation of the building stock in the country, an analysis was made of the sensitivity of energy efficiency investments and it was indicated that the greatest sensitivity is to the price of energy based on heating or energy expenditure per household.
"Market liberalization has been delayed, not reversed, and energy, when at market price, will put more pressure on it. Then it will be much easier to make decisions to take such actions. In such a situation, the availability of technical support or one-stop service and the possibility of crediting would speed up the whole process," said Alexiev.
He also announced that the current version of the The manual for the procedures for the construction or reconstruction of energy facilities and facilities for the production of energy from renewable sources is now available on the agency's website.
Energy poverty
Teodora Peneva from the Institute for Economic Research at BAS and Senior Expert "Climate and Energy", WWF Bulgaria spoke on the topic of household energy poverty.
"In the public and political space, this issue still does not have much weight and is not considered important," she pointed out.
Peneva also made ten recommendations for solving the problem:
- Priority application of the energy poverty reduction mechanism before the liberalization of the electricity market in a sufficiently long period of active work to support the lowest income households;
- Claiming the need for additional support funds at the EU level;
- Carrying out an active social and investment policy towards citizens not only for current energy costs, but for their long-term reduction;
- Sending a clear signal to the citizens for the termination of 100% grant funding and for the sustainable introduction of effective mechanisms of co-financing with sufficient financial instruments;
- Preparing an adequate assessment of the investment needs and abilities of citizens;
- Estimation of the number of energy poor households upon transmission of the final plan in the field of energy and climate;
- Development of a Long-term Program for reducing energy poverty;
- Timely preparation for a liberalized market;
- Prepare an adequate and regular assessment of the social risks and opportunities, employment and skills implications, or any other distributional impacts of the climate and energy transition;
- Optimization of energy poverty monitoring.