Bulgaria is among the countries with the largest reduction in carbon footprint

Bulgaria is among the countries with the largest drop in energy CO2 emissions compared to the 1990 baseline. Latest data of the EC shw the reduction is -46%, i.e.52%.

And according to Eurostat data for 2018, the most significant decline in carbon emissions was reported in Portugal (down by 9.0%), followed by Bulgaria (down by 8.1%) and Ireland (by 6.8%).

Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia appear to have already met the EU average target of -40% by 2030.

This means that Bulgaria can safely maintain all its TPPs by 2030 and develop without exceeding the EU average target, according to one of Bulgaria's leading environmental experts, Boyan Rashev.

The UK is the only major country in the EU with a really significant reduction of -36%. Without it, the EU's CO2 emissions from 1990-2018 fell from 22% to 19%. This sharp decline is mainly due to the switchover of some of the large coal-fired thermal power plants to biomass.

For 30 years, the EU has managed to reduce its CO2 emissions by around 22%. The Union pledges to reduce its emissions by further 8% in 10 years. The greenest, renewable energy and wealthiest countries in Europe - Norway, Austria, the Netherlands have increased CO2 emissions since 1990.

The EU reached its peak in coal consumption and CO2 emissions in 1979. Since then, they have declined as a major contributor to nuclear energy in the 1980s and gas in recent years; the collapse of the communist industry in the 1990s; the export of heavy industry from the EU after 2000 and finally energy efficiency and RES, Boyan Rashev says.