site.btaEU Provides Additional Resources for Environmental Projects in Bulgaria

114 ECONOMY - ENVIRONMENT - BULGARIA Amplified

EU Provides Additional
Resources for Environmental
Projects in Bulgaria


Brussels, February 15 (BTA) - New LIFE programme funding will
unlock more than 3.2 billion euro of additional support to 12
large-scale environmental and climate projects in ten Member
States to support Europe's transition to a low-carbon, circular
economy, the European Commission (EC) said in a press release
Friday. Bulgaria is among these countries, together with
Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy,
Portugal, and Slovenia.

The 12 projects selected have a total budget of 215.5 million
euro, including 116.1 million euro of EU co-funding. The EU
funding will mobilise investments leading to an additional 3.2
billion euro, as Member States can also make use of other EU
funding sources, including agricultural, regional and structural
funds, Horizon 2020, as well as national funds and private
sector investment, the press release reads.

The EC said that substantial support is provided to Bulgarian
and Hungarian cities to tackle air pollution, through actions
such as the replacement of polluting household heating systems
or developing sustainable public transport and infrastructure
for cycling and electric vehicles. These two integrated projects
have a combined budget of 32.6 million euro.

In Bulgaria, the LIFE IP CLEAN AIR project brings together six major municipalities (Sofia, Bourgas, Veliko Turnovo, Montana, Rousse, and Stara Zagora), where one-third of the Bulgarian population lives. The project builds capacity to implement air quality programmes as required by the EU Air Quality Directive and national legislation. For instance, the project will pilot the replacement of polluting household heating systems and will draft national recommendations for the transition to alternative forms of heating.

Air pollution from domestic heating and transport is a significant problem in Bulgaria. Nearly 90 per cent of the urban population was exposed to excessive levels of particulate matter in 2016, well above the EU average. Levels of fine particulates and benzopyrene also greatly exceeded target values in many towns and cities, the press release recalls.

RY, LI/DS

/ДЛ/