Carbon finance

Future carbon border tax should be introduced for products of oil refineries and the glass, paper and aluminium industry and not only for the power sector and energy-intensive industrial sectors like cement, steel, chemicals, and fertilisers, European lawmakers said.

The World Bank on Dec. 21 announced that under a new project it will provide a finance of $300 million to help avert the closure of viable micro- and small-enterprises (MSEs) in Turkey amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has arrived in Brussels to participate in the European Council meeting, which will take place today and tomorrow.

In the Belgian capital, European leaders will discuss member states' measures for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Responding to increased demand as a result of nosediving global oil prices, the Greek government is planning a legislative amendment that will extend the period during which the sale of heating oil is permitted to May 15 from the customary deadline of April 30.

The special account for renewable energy sources, through which green power producers are paid, is showing a 423-million-euro annual drop in revenues.

The Parliament has adopted amendments to the Climate Change Mitigation Act on second reading, Focus News Agency reported.
The bill aims to enhance cost-effective emission reductions and low-carbon investments.

The Finance Ministry is attempting to drastically slash the time it takes for the state to pay off its debts to suppliers and to offset debts to taxpayers or suppliers with any dues to all general government entities, in order to stop the creation of new overdue arrears to and by the state.

This will be accomplished through an online platform that has been created for that purpose.

Bulgaria is among the countries with the largest drop in energy CO2 emissions compared to the 1990 baseline.

And according to Eurostat data for 2018, the most significant decline in carbon emissions was reported in Portugal (down 9.0%), followed by Bulgaria (down 8.1%) and Ireland (6.8%).

Coal-fired power plants in the Balkans are failing to hit toxic emissions targets and many face imminent closure if they continue to operate at current rates, the Energy Community warned on Monday in its latest report.

Agriculture production is in a dire state as climate change continues altering temperature and precipitation patterns, a Turkish scientist said.