Businesses want from the state a platform for Green Transition and “Ready for 55”

Kristian Kosturkov

The state to create an online platform to synchronize the actions between central government, business and local authorities regarding the Green Transition. It must publish all the requirements that our country and its industry must meet according to the EU, but also through this platform businesses can be informed in which direction to work and how they can receive support. Such a proposal was made by the chairman of the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) Dobri Mitrev during the forum "Power Summit Power, listen!".

According to him, a specialized structure should be created, an internet platform on which all information about the Green Transition and the "Ready for 55" plan should be published and thus be brought to the attention of every Bulgarian, every entrepreneur to know what are the requirements and capabilities. Only in this way can the goals be achieved, Mitrev believes. He added that the industry needs to be aware of how to transform in order to reduce its carbon footprint and ultimately reduce it to zero.

The chairman of BIA noted that the results of the traditional for the business organization survey of its members on the state of the economy and enterprises in our country, presented yesterday, showed that over 50% of small and medium enterprises in our country do not know what the Green Deal means and "Ready for 55". Therefore, the state must ensure communication with business by building such an Internet platform. "Bulgarian business and especially micro, small and medium enterprises do not have the capacity to read thousands of pages of regulations. That is why the state must become an active communicator, to present in accessible language the key parameters of the European green deal," Mitrev called. He added that this platform should have an option for feedback, through which companies can send their comments and inquiries to the state.

He also noted that digitalization must also be one of the main priorities of the state, as it can replace the infinitely valuable resource that businesses lose due to the demographic crisis and the lack of labor, especially skilled. "Over the last 30 years, Bulgaria has reduced its emissions by 60%. But this costs us a 40% drop in employment, a reduction in population by over 20%, "Mitrev said. To overcome these problems, the state must develop a new Energy Strategy, a new Integrated Plan "Energy and Climate", while giving priority to all backward projects, so that as soon as possible to respond to new challenges. "We must not leave the generations a messy, dirty analog state," Mitrev was adamant.

His idea to create a digital platform for the purposes and methods of decarbonisation met with the support of the new Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov. He promised that one of the things the new regular government would focus on was describing all the specific instruments that different businesses could have access to under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, as well as other funding mechanisms. "It really is not necessary to read thousands of pages, but to describe specific steps so that the absorption of funds can happen very quickly and therefore have an impact on these projects," he said.

Stoyan Stavrev from CEIBG expressed hope that not everything will be digitized. He noted that digitalization is undoubtedly necessary and useful, but there are still analog technologies that have an advantage over digital. "Digitalization is just a tool. Whether it will be used in a positive and constructive and innovative way depends on ourselves. On the road ahead, I believe that we will be able to find a way to preserve our identification and not necessarily be digital. Or the digital one should be put in favor of human identification, "Stavrev said.