Turn green and/or stay warm?  Addressing climate neutrality and energy poverty in Bulgaria

5 November 2020, 13:00-15:45 EET (Sofia time)

Zoom link: https://aubg-edu.zoom.us/j/89985207938

In December 2019 the European Commission announced the European Green Deal – a plan to transform Europe into the climate-neutral continent by 2050. The Deal is an ambitious package of measures that should enable European citizens and businesses to benefit from energy transition. The progressive greening of European economies is also at the heart of Next Generation EU – a resilient and inclusive growth agenda put forward by the Commission in response to the COVID 19- related economic downturn.

Already before the coronavirus outbreak, many Bulgarians struggled to cover their energy bills and could not adequately heat their homes – a condition known as energy poverty. It is therefore particularly important in the Bulgarian context to combine the ambitious climate and development goals with the need to ensure access to affordable energy for the population. How can these goals be reconciled? What EU and national-level actions should be taken to achieve them?

These questions will be addressed during a debate that we planned to stage this spring, but we needed to postpone it in view of the COVID-19 risks and ultimately stage in an online form, via Zoom. Individual presentations and a roundtable discussion, as well as a Q&A session with the audience will highlight the interconnections between the environmental and social aspects of energy transition. Different stakeholders will present their standpoints and, with active involvement of the audience, will jointly discuss possible policy solutions.

The conference is financially supported by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union.