Decarbonisation in Bulgaria | 2025 Edition

By 2023, Bulgaria had achieved the EU’s fifth-largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cut since 1990, yet remained the bloc’s most carbon-intensive economy. SeeNext’s latest analysis, Decarbonisation in Bulgaria: Fifth in cuts, first in carbon intensity, examines the country’s progress, bottlenecks and opportunities as it moves toward EU climate targets and the global goal of limiting warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

The study evaluates Bulgaria’s GHG emissions through the complementary lenses of technical processes and economic activities, identifying where reductions are happening, where they are not and what is needed to accelerate the country’s path to net-zero.

Key Insights:

• Strong cuts, high intensity: Bulgaria reduced net GHG emissions by 55% since 1990, yet still has the bloc’s most carbon-intensive economy at 968 gCO2-eq per euro of GVA.

• Demographics shaping emissions: A population decline of over 26% since 1990 contributed to emission reductions, but per-capita progress lags behind the EU.

• Energy use dominates emissions: The energy sector remained the largest emitter through 2023, followed by industry.

• Net exporter of emissions: From 2010 to 2023, Bulgaria was one of the EU’s few net exporters of emissions, with production-based emissions exceeding those tied to domestic consumption.

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