NEWS

The legislation that individual countries adopt in response to climate change has to be supported by action on an international level. This was the appeal made by President Rosen Plevneliev in his speech today at the Climate Change Summit meeting, held at UN headquarters in New York. The Head of State underscored that climate change occurs on a global scale and requires a global response. 

 

“Climate change is not an illusion”, said the President and emphasized the efforts of our country to deal with the heavy damage brought about by the unexpected severe rainfall in Bulgaria during the last several months. “This year marks the 20th anniversary since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force and the time has come to coordinate our efforts and secure the safety and prosperity of future generations”, said Rossen Plevneliev.

 

Bulgaria is developing a national 2030 Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change. The Head of State said that it will be a document based on a “sector-by-sector approach and targeted actions in public health, water management, forests, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, transport and energy”. 

 

In 2014 we adopted a Bulgarian Climate Change Act, which is complemented by the Third National Action Plan on Climate Change, said in his speech the President. “In practice, this is a program of action for transition to a low carbon and resource efficient economy which includes effective measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Bulgaria by over 18.5% by 2020” said Rosen Plevneliev. The President pointed out that 1/3 of Bulgaria’s territory has been declared special preservation area under the highest environmental standards by including it in “Nature 2000”. 

 

“Bulgaria supports the creation of a European Energy Union and is working towards the construction of interconnector links with the gas pipelines of its neighbours”, said the President.  According to the Head of State the change of attitude towards the energy sector is of key importance for the curbing of global warming and the access to energy resources – a matter of security for every country. “Energy should not be used as a weapon but as a resource to be traded and shared. That is why national economies should liberalize their energy markets and diversify their sources of energy” said the President. 

 

The President also said that in the South-Eastern Europe region there is a huge potential for the development of “clean energy” by means of solar and wind installations. 

 

“Our real energy dependency is rooted in energy waste and that is why we consider energy efficiency one of the priorities on the political agenda”, said the President. Rosen Plevneliev stated that building a low-carbon economy is the foundation of sustainable development. It increases business competitiveness, reduces household spending and creates new jobs.

 

“When it comes to protecting the environment, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources are vital”, said the President and confirmed his support for UN efforts for reaching a new collective agreement by 2015 to strengthen resilience in the face of climate change on a world scale. 

 

Before journalists the Head of State once again voiced his appeal to Bulgarian politicians to make efforts towards achieving one of the most important national priorities – elaboration of the National Programme for Energy Efficiency.