Great article by
Hanna Sankowska @
it's called "Kinda green: five myths about sustainable development in Bulgaria". Here it is:
Myth 1: ‘Bulgaria is not doing anything to be green’
Not true. On 10 December Ivelina Vasileva,
the Bulgarian environment deputy minister, participated in the twelfth
meeting of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube
in Vienna, to help protect the river and the Black Sea ecosystem.
According to a recent Deutsche Bank report, Bulgaria is expected to
significantly overachieve its Kyoto target of 8% below base 1988 emissions level for the period 2008-2012, potentially reaching 35%
below base year level by 2010. Already in 2002, Bulgaria’s government
created a new energy strategy, further strengthened by a 2007 bill
promising to increase the share of energy produced from renewable
sources. Sounds great? Curb your enthusiasm, because 1988 was still in
the dark communist era times, with its environmental neglect and high
level industrial pollution. Besides, even today most of Bulgaria’s
energy is produced using lignite.
Myth 2: There are no environmentally sustainable companies in Bulgaria
‘Environmentally
sustainable’ means zero environmental impact. Yet even the staunchest
advocates realise that this is quite hard to achieve. ‘Until we reorient
our economy to reflect biological metabolism, to be ‘cradle to cradle’
from ‘cradle to grave’, not much else can be effective,’ says Georgi Stefanov, 32, of the WWF (world wide fund for nature) NGO.
‘For every truck of laptops we produce eighteen trucks of waste!’ There
are scarce international examples of truly environmentally sustainable
companies, apart from Interface, a global carpet company annually
inching closer to their goal of zero emissions.
 |
| Green telecoms giant Globul tries to be in its street campaigns |
Bulgarian
businesses have their own ways to define ‘green’. For mining and
industrials, green equals legally compliant: ‘It’s a cost game. They
don’t want to be stuck with costly overpolluting fines or expensive
legal battles,’ says Boyan Rashev,
32, managing partner at Denkstatt, a sustainability consultancy. For
the large service players, green equals profit. Creative marketing
techniques inflate their environmental accomplishments to gain a
competitive edge with green-loving customers. Apart from just having a
green logo, Telecom giant Globul also has an ambitious and comprehensive
campaign: handset recycling, environmental heritage protection - you
name it, they do it.
Myth 3: ‘Crisis is bad for the future of Bulgarian sustainable policies’
Once, green regulations were just necessary evils.
Today, companies are doing anything to cut costs without losing a
valuable work force. The easiest way to do it now in Bulgaria is to go
green – sustainable policies reinforcing energy and resource use
efficiency help them stay in business and protect jobs.
Myth 4: ‘Environmental sustainability relies mostly on industrial reform’
‘Europe’s 160 million buildings use 40% energy and produce 40% of emissions’, says Petar Tashev, 27, from Facilities
magazine. Greening out the real estate is a very important step; in
Europe it’s easier to make decisions regarding repairs and improving the
energy efficiency of old residential buildings. ‘It will be a major
hurdle here because unlike western Europe, where the landlord frequently
owns an entire block of flats, Bulgaria has a strong tradition of
personal flat ownership,’ says Tashev. For the renovation of buildings
and facades, you have to ensure that all one hundred flat-owners agree
to make that investment.
By 2018 all newly built buildings in Europe need to be energy efficient
By 2018 all the newly built buildings in Europe
need to be energy efficient, in line with a 2002 energy performance of
buildings directive. After seven years in political limbo, this was
finally re-launched by the European parliament and European commission
in November 2009. In Bulgaria, it will certainly mean changing more
than the light bulbs. ‘When western companies want to buy an office
building, they are looking for ones with central management systems and
that are energy efficient,’ says Tashev.
Myth 5: ‘Businesses in Bulgaria don’t want to be green’
A grain of truth.
More policies are needed to guide the transition from fossil fuels to
renewable energies. ‘Our companies don’t want to be green. Our
government doesn’t use the right mechanisms to make them want to be
green,’ says Borislav Sandov,
26, from the green party. Rashev precises that government support
should emphasise taxing the polluters. ‘There are ingenious projects in
Bulgaria,’ says Rashev, ‘but not many hear about them. One industrial
company uses molten copper heat to generate its own electricity which
now covers their needs up to 40%. The best way? Encourage companies to
go green their own way.’
The question for Bulgaria is how to continue
building green momentum. They should learn the lessons from their more
economically advanced peers in western Europe whose green policies are
much more mature. It takes time and a multi-pronged approach suited to
the specific locale. ‘With a web of very effective NGOs, you can involve
other people to back your ideas and involve them as partners,’ says
Stefanov. These bring the issues to the national stage, especially in
Bulgaria, where no debates garner public interest without significant
economic interests backing them.
