Today, Deputy Prime Minister for Climate Policy and Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov participated in a round table on “Government Policies and Sustainable Business.” The event was hosted by the Regional Governor of Plovdiv Yordan Ivanov. It was attended by executive directors and heads of leading businesses in the region, the director of the Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Water-Plovdiv and mayors of municipalities.

Minister Sandov announced to participants that 50 billion BGN will enter the Bulgarian economy in a few years. This will take place through a number of financial instruments - European funding under operational programs, the National Recovery Plan, the Fair Transition Fund. “Nature conservation and decarbonisation targets are not an obstacle for the business,” he told participants. “On the contrary, it is an opportunity for innovative solutions and high resource efficiency. Environmental practices are the basis for a sustainable business model that creates many economic benefits for companies,” said the minister.

The regional Governor Yordan Ivanov shared that it is a real challenge for him to sit at the same table with the business and highlighted that the doors of his administration are open to any company whose efforts have an environmental and social responsibility focus.

Tsvetelina Tsvetanova-Weisbruck, Head of the Balkan Institute for Sustainable Development and Cooperation, on whose initiative the round table is organized, presented the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda to ensure a stable, sustainable and prosperous economy. She emphasized the need (and a somewhat missing part in the management of both the business and the administration in our country) for active communication with stakeholders and to achieve a balance of interests.

Minister Sandov underlined that this is the first of a series of meetings with investors in our country, which aim to discuss sustainable development, the transition to green energy, and the presentation of successful company projects.

The active participants in the round table included representatives of “Cluster Trakia” Economic Zone, “Schneider Electronics Bulgaria”, PSS Manufacturing, “Omnikar”, “Hannon Systems”, the Non-ferrous metals plant, “Milara International”, “Veolia” and others.

Veolia, a company with 230,000 employees worldwide, presented its projects aimed at achieving energy and resource efficiency, including the Kubratovo WWTP as an excellent example of a public-private partnership. Putting into operation a cogeneration system for green energy production allows the company to meet the challenges of the energy crisis and this allows it to be the only water operator today who has not requested an increase in the final prices for its customers from the Commission on Energy and Water Management.

Other “green” business practices were shared, such as the use of sewage sludge to fertilize and enrich the soil, as well as biodiversity conservation in and around adjacent production areas. The Thrace Economic Zone has been named one of the six businesses in Europe identified by the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development as a leader in solving climate problems through decarbonisation.