26/11/2025
SeeNext’s latest analysis, Decarbonisation in Bulgaria: Fifth in cuts, first in carbon intensity, explores Bulgaria’s decarbonisation progress, evaluating its performance in light of climate policy ambitions and the EU’s progress.
The analysis reviews long-term GHG trends, sector performance and the forces shaping the country’s path to net-zero, putting Bulgaria’s progress in the wider context of European climate goals.
Key insights:
▪️ Strong progress, but deep challenges ahead: Bulgaria slashed its net GHG emissions by 55% between 1990 and 2023, marking the fifth largest drop in the EU, but still remains the most carbon-intensive economy in the bloc.
▪️ Demographics matter: With a population decline of over 26% since 1990, demographic change has played a major role in reducing emissions, although per-capita progress is slower than the EU average.
▪️ Energy remains the largest emitter: From a technical process perspective, fuel combustion in energy industries is the main emitter. An economic activity lens also identifies the energy supply sector as the largest source of Bulgaria’s GHG footprint.
Sectoral divergences: Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply achieved the largest emissions cuts since 2008, while transport and logistics recorded the biggest increase.
▪️ Net exporter of emissions: Production-based emissions have exceeded consumption-based ones every year since 2010, making Bulgaria one of the EU’s few net exporters of GHG emissions.
Download the full study and index here to explore Bulgaria’s decarbonisation journey: https://seenext.org/reports/decarbonisation-in-bulgaria-2025-edition/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=decarbonisation-bg-2025
Special thanks and acknowledgement to our content partners, the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Sources Fund (EERSF), the Bulgarian Federation of the Industrial Energy Consumers (BFIEC), MindYourFuture (Boyan Rashev) and Wolf Theiss for sharing their expertise and supporting the study.
