A national roundtable on financing investments in energy efficiency in Bulgaria will be held today

A national roundtable on financing investments in energy efficiency in Bulgaria will be held today in Sofia.

It is organized by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, the Center for Energy Efficiency "EnEfect" and the Municipal Network for Energy Efficiency "EkoEnergia".

The event will be held in the BSK building on Chataldzha Street, and 3eNews is a media partner.

The topics of the present and future of financial instruments to support the transition to clean energy, solutions to support investments in sustainable energy at the local level, and systemic financing of sustainable energy after the exhaustion of public financial resources will also be discussed.

The participants in the forum are expected to include the Minister of Environment and Water, Julian Popov, the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Angelina Boneva, the Executive Director of the Agency for Sustainable Energy Development (ASED), Ivaylo Alexiev, the Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, Dobri Mitrev.

For the first time in several years, the new political season in Bulgaria begins with a regular government and a working parliament, but despite this, the election topic is again on the agenda. This time the focus is on the local elections, namely the municipalities are a leading factor in the implementation of the policies in the field of climate and energy. Public activity and specific project initiatives related to the implementation of investments within the framework of the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan (NRSP) and the EU's structural and cohesion policy programs are expected from them. Along with this, local authorities have the leading role in the implementation of the financial mechanisms and instruments discussed in the series of energy efficiency financing round tables held in Bulgaria in the last two years.

At the national level, unfortunately, there is still a lack of consensus and strategic vision regarding these policies. Progress on the implementation of the planned reforms is seriously behind, the presentation of the territorial plans for a just transition is also delayed, while the lack of initiatives for the utilization of available resources under instruments such as the Modernization Fund and the delayed update of the NAP under the RePowerEU initiative put a huge financial resource at serious risk.

At the same time, the strategic and regulatory framework at the European level continues to develop towards increased ambitions within the framework of common climate and energy policies. The recently adopted Energy Efficiency Directive sets new, higher and nationally binding targets. The final stage is the work on the new version of the Directive on the energy performance of buildings, for which it is already clear that it will set extremely ambitious minimum goals for the energy performance of both new buildings and the implementation of building renovation projects in Bulgaria.

In this context, the current roundtable on financing energy efficiency projects will discuss the possibilities of adopting a shared vision for national priorities in the field of sustainable energy use. Discussions regarding the national strategic framework will be tied to specific sectoral policies that would make it possible to implement projects in the field of energy efficiency on a market basis in the expected exhaustion of funds under available investment programs and a reduction in the intensity of public support. The focus of the event will also be on issues of building local capacity and introducing solutions for integrated management of energy policies at the local level, which will allow effective cooperation with various stakeholders and facilitate access to alternative resources to replace typical ways of funding used up to this point by Bulgarian local authorities and business.

The event can also be followed on the ZOOM online platform.