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Reform Support

Support for establishing a National Decarbonisation Fund in Bulgaria

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Supporting reforms to transition to a green economy and fight climate change

Funding Programme
Year
  • 2021

Support for establishing a National Decarbonisation Fund in Bulgaria

The Commission gave technical support to develop the concept of a National Decarbonisation Fund, a financial scheme which aims at supporting more energy efficiency and renewable energy investment in buildings, including residential housing, as well as industrial, commercial and public buildings.

Context

As part of its long-term renovation strategy and its national Recovery and Resilience Plan, Bulgaria identified the establishment of a National Decarbonisation Fund (NDF) as a key milestone to accelerate the decarbonisation of buildings.

The NDF would also improve the use of public funds, by leveraging additional private financing for investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings. In order to make this happen, Bulgaria needed to establish a structure able to provide financial instruments, grants and technical assistance to participating intermediaries and final beneficiaries, for example homeowners who want to make their home more energy efficient.

Against this background, Bulgaria requested support from the Technical Support Instrument in order to assess the barriers to energy efficiency and building decarbonisation in Bulgaria and develop a concept and roadmap for establishing the National Decarbonisation Fund.

Support delivered

The Commission partnered with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support Bulgaria with:

  • A market assessment, identifying financial and non-financial market barriers for energy efficiency investments in buildings as well as quantifying the demand for financing.
  • The development of an investment strategy of the future National Decarbonisation Fund, including targets, delivery modes as well as possible sources of funding and capitalisation of the future financial instrument.
  • The development of several options for the design and structure of the future National Decarbonisation Fund, as well as recommendations for the design of a project development assistance scheme.
  • High level recommendations for human resources planning and internal procedures of the NDF.
  • A roadmap outlining the key steps to be taken by Bulgaria to establish the NDF.

Results achieved

The project is expected to result in the following outcomes:

  • Adoption of legislation to establish the National Decarbonisation Fund including the main features of its governance model, and selection of an appropriate entity managing the NDF and its sub-funds.
  • Start of operation of the NDF, including a phase in of financial and technical assistance programmes tailored to the residential, public, and commercial buildings sectors in Bulgaria.

Over the longer-term the project is expected to accelerate the decarbonisation of buildings in Bulgaria, by mobilising additional private financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments and improving the available project development assistance, for example for homeowners who want to make their home more energy efficient.

More about the project

You can read the final report here: