Bulgaria

Expenditure on environmental protection and restoration amounted to EUR 1.58 billion in 2022, which is the highest level of annual expenditure over 2018–2022. The relative share of GDP is 1.8%, which is slightly lower than the EU average of 2.1%. The highest rates of expenditure are for waste management, clean air and wastewater treatment. The contributions of the environmental economy to the overall economy (i.e. GDP) increased to 2.7% in 2022. Total environmental taxes amounted to EUR 3.18 billion in 2023, representing 3.4% of Bulgaria’s GDP (compared with an EU average of 2.0%), with energy taxes having the largest share of total environmental tax revenue (92%). In 2023, environmental tax revenue amounted to BGN 6.21 billion, corresponding to 11.2% of total government revenue from taxes and social contributions (more than double the EU average of 5.1%).

The green economy growing despite low resource efficiency. The low growth of circular material use and resource productivity, as well as enterprises’ low levels of interest in eco-innovation, explains the high resource intensity of Bulgarian economy.

There has been a subtle change in recent years in social attitudes towards sustainability, but with notable inequalities between urban and rural populations, in terms of both social and economic aspects. Despite a slight improvement in overall inequality indicators (the Gini coefficient and energy poverty indicators), these indicators remain higher than the EU average. In 2023, 20.6% of the population was at risk of poverty and 20.7% reported being unable to keep their homes adequately warm (well above the EU average of 10.6%). Public expenditure on education is slowly increasing, but is still below the EU average. Governmental efforts to support students and to promote education in priority professional fields are insufficient to overcome the recent shortage of qualified individuals needed to support the green transition.

The main challenges in the transition process are incorporating eco-innovation and investing in scientific research. Although the country is catching up in terms of eco-innovation performance, Bulgaria’s regional leadership in information and communications technology is particularly important, which is favoured by an increase in students’ interest in this field.

The food system

Despite some social and behavioural changes in habits and lifestyles towards a healthier diet and greater participation in sports, Bulgaria is among the Member States with the highest scores for health risk factors. National policies have therefore been put in place to promote and support health and quality of life. The 2021–2025 national programme for the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases aims to reduce premature mortality, morbidity and the long-term consequences of the health risk factors. The government has put in effort to promote healthy nutrition at a young age with a national strategy: it provides fruits, vegetables and milk products in nurseries and schools (although ecological considerations or short food chains are not a criterion for product selection). Another national food programme targets the most vulnerable social groups, providing them with food and contributing to the overall national poverty alleviation policy. The 2021–2026 national food loss prevention and reduction programme defines the scope of the food system in Bulgaria and provides a framework aiming to reduce food loss by 25% by 2026 and to make further reductions by 2030 to meet the targets of UN sustainable development goal 12.3. One of its operational measures is a shift in societal considerations and attitudes towards food consumption and value. In this context, the national food waste index shows a stable decrease to 78.78% in 2022 (from 100% in 2020).

The largest area to date, representing 79% of the arable land under the direct payment support system, was claimed under the eco-scheme for crop diversification, and another 67% of the area was declared for support under direct payments pledged under the eco-scheme to reduce the use of pesticides. The intervention is applicable to all types of land use (arable land, permanent crops and permanent grassland) until mid 2023.

There are a few major ongoing international and national projects in sustainable resource management, agricultural development and support for farmers, the public sector and small and medium-sized enterprises in the transition to a smart and green agricultural sector (under the 2021–2027 innovation strategy for smart specialisation and the national roadmap for scientific infrastructure of Bulgaria). These projects provide funding for investment, innovation and entrepreneurship in blue economy and sustainable agro-food systems, and improvements in aquaculture and agriculture. Bulgaria is continuing its tradition of investing in space research and technology. Within an agreement with the European Space Agency, the government is providing funding for 127 projects (EUR 8 million) for solutions for the monitoring of agricultural areas. Two national investment projects included in the national resilience and recovery plan aim to accelerate change in the agricultural production model to meet economic and environmental challenges, including through the implementation of digital investments for green production in agriculture, helping farms adapts to climate change, shortening supply chains, and ensuring the digitisation and pooling of agricultural information resources.

The energy system

In line with the Paris Agreement and the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, in 2022, Bulgaria adopted a long-term climate change mitigation strategy for 2050 and a national climate change adaptation strategy. Another key policy document on the energy system is the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (INPEK) 2030, updated in 2024. These documents identify climate change risks and vulnerabilities for the energy sector, adaptation measures to support resilience and sectoral carbon budgets.

Part of the Bulgarian energy system, like those of other Member States, is based on fossil fuels. Coal mining plays an important role in ensuring national energy security and independence. Bulgaria relies partially on lignite-fired electricity production for its transition period, but this is to be phased out by 2038. According to the annual Bulletin on the State and Development of the Energy Sector,the share of lignite coal in gross energy production for 2023 was 28.9%. The sustainable shift to low-carbon energy will require expanding the use of new low-emission technologies.

The energy sector has a key position in Bulgaria’s economy; meanwhile, it is the sector with the largest share of total GHG emissions (77.19% of aggregated GHG emissions for 2022), which determines its paramount importance for meeting national emission reduction targets. In recent years, the share of RESs in gross final energy consumption has fluctuated. In 2023, the gross final consumption of energy from RESs reached 2 371.7 ktoe, forming a 22.55% share of the gross final consumption of energy in Bulgaria. Compared with 2022, the share of RESs in the gross final consumption of energy in Bulgaria increased by 3.51%.

Energy efficiency gains have slowed, and there is untapped potential. Therefore, this is the priority of the government in the area of energy policy. The process of improving efficiency requires an increase in renewable energy use, the building of an internal market and the deployment of new technologies. With regard to the 2030 target for reducing energy consumption in buildings, funds were invested in the insulation of large residential buildings, including social housing.

In the context of the challenges in the energy sector due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bulgaria plays an important role in gas security in south-east Europe because of its strategic location and good connectivity with neighbouring countries.

To cope with energy poverty, the most significant long-term measure is a targeted heating grant, provided since 2008 to the most vulnerable families during the cold season. With regard to improving air quality, the government is putting effort into long-term investments (through EU funds) for transitioning from old solid fuel heating appliances (wood and coal) to green alternatives (electricity / heat pumps) in many municipalities.

Further policies and measures to achieve the 2030 energy and climate targets are identified in the updated INPEK, submitted to the European Commission in June 2024.

The mobility system

The Bulgarian mobility system is characterised by the dominance of road transport, at the expense of rail transport, and dependence on fossil fuels (diesel and petrol) for both passenger and freight transport. Despite an increase in renewable energy use, transport still has the highest share of final energy consumption (road transport is the main consumer). Taking measures in the road transport sector is vital, as the sector is one of the largest GHG emitters.

The policy framework in terms of climate targets has been strengthened for the transport sector. In line with achieving climate neutrality by 2050, the national long-term climate change mitigation strategy for 2050 and the climate change adaptation strategy focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy. The national plan for combined transport by 2030 is also a key document for Bulgaria’s sustainable transport policy. The plan envisages the construction of intermodal terminals in Sofia and northern Bulgaria by 2030, the development of logistics centres, and improvements in rail infrastructure of existing port and railway terminals.

The density and quality of rail and road infrastructure in Bulgaria are below the EU average, and there are significant territorial disparities, with northern regions lagging behind the southern ones. Bulgaria’s recovery and resilience plan includes measures to address a series of necessary structural reforms. Major developments in recent years were carried out in two main areas: extending the metro in the capital (through EU funding) and increasing the share of rail transport, where essential investments are focused on the purchase of zero-emission railway stock and infrastructure. There is an emerging trend of building self-sustaining photovoltaic plants in some railway stations in Bulgaria.

Sustainable transport plans were adopted for a number of urban areas, and low-emission zones were introduced in some cities for vehicles (in five environmental groups), but municipalities still need to strengthen the development of green public mobility at the local level, especially for urban cycling.

New technological and digitalised solutions were deployed recently, including hydrogen technologies in e-mobility and the construction of charging infrastructure for personal and commercial vehicles.

Since 2016, Bulgaria has operated a dedicated pilot scheme to ensure the use of 139 electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to support the central and regional administrations. Significant progress has been made in improving the regulatory and financial framework to introduce economic incentives, like an exemption from vehicle tax for electric vehicles and an adjustment of the product tax for new/old cars. A key tool for fostering the role of the public sector in green transportation services is a recent legislative amendment on procurement procedures, which introduced requirements for clean vehicle use and their required proportion in transport services. Through this, it is expected that Bulgaria’s car fleet will be renewed with zero-emissions vehicles, which will contribute to improving air quality and road safety.