Climate change policy

The EU ambassadors of the member states confirmed, on behalf of the Council, the provisional agreement reached on 19-20 June between the Bulgarian Presidency and the European Parliament on the Energy Union governance regulation.

The Council today adopted a regulation on monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions as well as fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles. This regulation forms part of the EU's overall efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, and it is a step towards a competitive low carbon economy.

Maritime energy has taken center stage at this year's Posidonia shipping exhibition, as the deadline for all companies to conform to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements for cleaner fuel is leading to significant changes in the industry as well as new business opportunities.

The Council today adopted a regulation on greenhouse gas emission reductions. The regulation sets out binding emission reduction targets for member states in sectors falling outside the scope of the EU emissions trading system for the period 2021-2030.

California has become the first U.S. state to require solar panels on all new residential buildings as part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Bulgaria ranks third in increase of harmful emission in the EU in 2017 according to data provided by Eurostat for the previous year, quoted by bTV. For the past year, the increase in Bulgaria was 8.3%, with Estonia (11.3%) and Malta (12.8%) was worse. After us, in growth of harmful emissions is Spain (7.4%) and Portugal (7.3%).

Although, according to the Climate Mirror 2018 (Podnebno ogledalo 2018) report, emissions from buildings significantly decreased during 2005-2014, over the last two years emissions have been increasing.

The biggest challenges in the international process in the climate negotiations in 2018 and the EU's actions to deal with them were discussed on the second day of the informal meeting of EU environment ministers in Sofia.

During the second day of the Informal Council of Ecologists of the European Union at the National Palace of Culture, the participants discuss the results of the international negotiations on climate change.

The focus is on the challenges facing the EU at the end of the year, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Emissions regulated under Europe's carbon market rose for the first time in seven years in 2017 due to stronger industrial output, data published yesterday by the European Commission and examined by carbon analysts at Thomson Reuters showed.