Boyan Rashev: The green deal is a great thing, but it cannot be done quickly and under political pressure

"Anyone who says the energy crisis is because of Russia is just very wrong." This was stated by Boyan Rashev, Managing Partner of Denkstatt Bulgaria, during his participation in the international conference Green Transition 2022 organized by Dir.bg and 3E-news: "The Green Deal - Innovation, Investment and Fair Transition".

The concept of sustainable development has disappeared and ESG has emerged. I have been working for 15 years to help the company grow sustainably. A few years ago, this business was done only with the leading companies in Bulgaria. At the time, our first job was to define what is sustainable development for a particular company, said the expert.

Sustainable development is about developing economically, socially and environmentally well. In each of these components, the balance is very important, and the idea is to make profits so that everyone around us also gains something, benefits and reduces our impact on the environment, "Rashev explained.

According to him, the only thing that continues to grow is carbon emissions, because energy is at the heart of everything we do - "there is no economy without energy, and it is based on fossil fuels, which, when burned, mimic carbon dioxide."

"At one point, the world around Paris decided that stopping these emissions was the top priority, then the whole business learned from politics that there was a new priority on the planet, then the Green Deal came to the EU," he said.

"Then came the taxonomy, where there's only one measure of progress, and that's carbon emissions."

According to Boyan Rashev, we are in an energy crisis because the world has stopped investing in oil and coal production, and finances have been redirected to renewable energy sources, batteries, etc.

"The reality, however, is that these good things are still failing to replace conventional energy. And last year at that time there was an energy crisis in Europe. Anyone who says the energy crisis was because of Russia is just very confused," he said. and continued:

"The energy crisis came long before that, because if you don't invest in oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy, at some point you have nowhere to get them, but you need them because consumption is growing and we all want to forget the coronavirus crisis and the economy to growing, to have more, to afford to purify the air more, water more, to children not think about food problems and whether they have to walk to school, but think about how to save the world. ".

According to him, all the money has gone to the digital economy, but for something digital to work, there must be analog behind it.

"The world has literally forgotten that it actually lives thanks to the analog economy," Rashev said.

"The green deal is a great thing, I've been doing it my whole life, but we have to be aware that it can't happen so fast, all of a sudden, there can be no political pressure. We have to invest a lot in nuclear energy, biomass and waste. "Because we have them, but we don't use them energetically, to invest in adaptation. The goal is great, the road is a bit confusing, we need to slightly adjust the course, but we must not forget that there are many things that need to be done." the expert added:

"We know what needs to be done, but we should not be afraid to say it, because I rarely hear any of the business leaders in this country adjust the course. But I am optimistic and I am sure that things will happen and the climate will not kill us. We need two things for the transition - freedom so that businesses can operate without political direction, and reliable, abundant and cheap energy. "

The conference Green Transition 2022: "Green Deal - Innovation, Investment and Fair Transition" is organized by Dir.bg and 3E-news with the media support of BNT, BNR, bTV Media Group, BTA, Bloomberg, Bulgaria on Air, Euronews and OFFNews. bg.