Minister Popov: The carbon neutrality strategy of the Thrace Economic Zone is already attracting green investments

The entire supply chain focuses and cares about the carbon footprint because, in addition to a social and climate dimension, it has a very specific financial dimension. This was stated for BTA by the Minister of Environment and Water Julian Popov on the occasion of the project of the Thrace Economic Zone (TEZ) for carbon neutral industrial parks (CNIP). Every large company has a special interest in carbon neutrality, these are corporate strategies that are followed, he noted, quoted by BTA.

According to the minister, some of the investors are trying to achieve a certain capacity of renewable energy with direct supply, while others are interested in biogas or green hydrogen. The simplest thing is building a solar park, Popov gave an example.

Earlier today, the project for carbon neutral industrial parks of TEZ was presented to the Ministry of Environment and Water (MoEW).

The main thing we gathered for is to coordinate the work on the development of the carbon neutral industry. The strategy of the Plovdiv industrial zone for this has been developing for five years and makes it the first of its kind in the European Union (EU), the minister said. According to him, this is already attracting investments. According to Popov, this experience can be developed with the help of the state and municipalities in Burgas, Sofia, Ruse, Stara Zagora.

Regarding the objectives of the "Green Deal", the minister pointed out that it is a comprehensive industrial and economic strategy for the EU, which businesses must understand.

"It is very difficult to develop a business if you do not understand the strategic and regulatory environment in which you operate," commented Popov.

The minister said business must be committed to climate change. The world changes when everyone contributes to the change a little or a lot, he believes.

TEZ Executive Director Plamen Panchev said that the main goal of the CNIP project is to increase the competitiveness of the industry. Asked for a specific example, Panchev said that one of the companies in TEZ stopped using natural gas, replacing it with a new heat pump. About 20% of companies use renewable energy. There is a photovoltaic park in the Rakovski area that provides green energy to the companies there. There is also such a project to be implemented for Maritsa municipality.

Regarding the financing of the CNIP project, Panchev said that a lot is also relied on the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, noting that the procedure for the industrial parks has started. So far, we are well implementing the Investment Promotion Law, which provides through the A-class procedure the certification of a specific investor for infrastructure construction, he said.