Public debate “Climate change policies in Bulgaria after COP21”

What happened at the 21nd United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris, and what does that mean for Bulgaria – what actions should be undertaken in our country in the coming months and further?

• Despite the officially recognized optimistic results, it is probable that Bulgaria will find it hard to live up to its engagements in fulfilling the goals of the EU in energy efficiency, as well as the future engagements resulting from Paris Agreement;
• Bulgaria needs to undertake:
(1) Real actions for achieving economic growth in the long term, but without increasing greenhouse emissions (development of low-carbon economy in our country);
(2) Adequate to the present situation actions for ensuring the implementation of more ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement and of the EU till 2030 in view of the share of renewables in the consumption of energy;
(3) Actions for maximum speeding of the work on the development of the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change – as a base document covering all sectors of the economy, and as a necessary condition for successful and effective adoption of EU funds at the very start of the Operative Programmes (OP) for Bulgaria for the period 2014-2020.
• It is possible Bulgaria to develop policies for support of high technology and/or traditional sectors in view of alleviating the consequences and/or the adaptation – energy and renewables, systems for management, agriculture, transport and nanotechnology.

The debate on the future climate change policies will take place today (December 16, 2015) 16:00-18:00 hrs. in the hall Pesha Nikolova at the Center for Culture and Debate the Red House. Official guests of the debate will be: Boryana Kamenova (director of the department “Climate Change Policies”, Ministry of the Environment and Water), Eng. Spas Todorov (director of the section “Strategies and Planning in Forestry”, Ministry of Agriculture and Food) and Georgi Stefanov from “Coalition for the Climate”.
Moderator of the debate will be Prolet Velkova, and on behalf of Green Laws will be Antoaneta Yotova.
During the debate we will ask and look for the answers of the questions”

• What happened at the 21 UN Conference on Climate Change Policies in Paries?
• What does that mean for Bulgaria?
• What actions it is imperative to be undertaken in our country in the following months in order to manage climate change issues?
Why is the debate important for Green Laws?

Although concrete supranational engagements are not available and ambitious goals are not supported by mechanisms for their achieving, there is no doubt that “the ship is slowly changing its course”. In this relation, Bulgaria has to find its place, in order to get the most benefit for its citizens.

The importance of the Paris Agreement for Bulgaria comes mainly from this that it sets a framework for action in the European Union for alleviating the impact of climate change after 2020, and it will have to be corresponding transferred to national policies for managing these changes. It is also very important for Bulgaria to undertake adequate action for climate change adaptation.