The Social Climate Fund provides for over 2 billion euros to combat energy poverty

The deadline set for public consultations in connection with the preparation of the Social Climate Fund has expired. It provides for Bulgaria to receive nearly 2.5 billion euros for the period from 2026 to 2032. The funds will be directed to the most vulnerable groups of households and micro-enterprises in a state of energy or transport poverty. Due to concerns that our country will not be able to submit its Social Climate Plan on time, which would mean losing the planned funds, twelve civil society organizations from the environmental and social sectors, including WWF, "Za Zemiata," "Habitat Bulgaria," "EnEffect," etc. united and submitted a statement to the responsible institutions. This was announced by WWF today.

Bulgaria has the highest level of energy poverty in the European Union. As many as 1.8 million people or about 30% of the country's population will have an official income below 728 BGN in 2023, according to data from the Agency for Sustainable Energy Development. According to the definition adopted a year ago, this defines them as "energy poor". This makes the preparation of the Social Climate Plan even more important. Its aim is to mitigate the social consequences of including greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, road transport and additional sectors in the scope of Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS 2).

 Of particular concern is that the Social Climate Plan must be submitted to the European Commission by the end of June this year. At the same time, the coordination unit at the Council of Ministers – the Strategic Planning Directorate – which started work with a huge delay several months ago, but with a serious request to meet the deadlines, was closed a week ago. At present, there is no specific timeframe, clearly defined stages, transparency rules, a work schedule and a structured procedure for its programming with the participation of stakeholders, as well as steps for starting the Plan’s operation.

“The development of the Social Climate Plan must be based on transparent processes with active citizen participation. Public consultations must provide information on the upcoming price changes related to the European Emissions Trading Scheme, as well as the opportunities for relief through the revenues from the Social Climate Fund,” commented Teodora Peneva, Senior Expert “Climate and Energy” at WWF and one of the authors of the opinion. “A significant problem is the lack of a broad information campaign that would explain both the benefits of introducing European policies for Bulgarian citizens and the obstacles we face in their implementation.”

 What do civil society organizations propose?

In the name of the smooth running of the process of preparing the Social Climate Plan, the non-governmental sector proposes the following:

1) to send observers from civil society to the Interdepartmental Commission;

2) to create expert working groups with citizen representation in each line ministry;

3) to appoint a monitoring committee to monitor the process of preparation and implementation of the Social Climate Plan. The NGO sector should also participate in it.

 The state needs help to manage the process

 

Experts from civil society organizations remind that the governing bodies must have sufficient capacity to effectively manage the process. Unfortunately, to date, the Council of Ministers has not yet appointed a responsible institution to create and maintain an information system for households in energy poverty. It is also necessary to strengthen the institutional capacity of local authorities, economic and social partners and civil society organizations so that they can also take an active part in the preparation, implementation, monitoring and subsequent evaluation of the Social Climate Plan.

“We believe that it is extremely important to create a simplified procedure that would make it easier for citizens to apply for the funds under the Fund. This includes reducing administrative barriers and obstacles so that the funds become accessible to all socal groups, including the most vulnerable groups and people with permanent disabilities. Possible solutions include, for example, the provision of mobile IHRS centers, as well as “social mediators”, commented Svetoslav Stoykov, Coordinator of “Building Renovation in the EU”, “Za Zemiata”.

It is important to note that the size of the funds in the Social Climate Fund, set at €65 billion, are only 34% of the revenues from the European Emissions Trading Scheme for the period 2026-2032. A total of 5.746 million allowances will be auctioned and at an average price of €45 per allowance, the total revenues will amount to nearly €260 billion. The remaining 66% will go directly to the Member States, which are free to increase the co-financing rate for their Social Climate Plans above the mandatory minimum of 25%.