Industrial decarbonisation is key to achieving the EU’s climate objectives, with the next decade representing a critical window for the rapid reduction of emissions from carbon-intensive industries. Against the backdrop of deepening structural challenges in energy-intensive sectors, the low-carbon transition is becoming not only a climate imperative but also a decisive factor for the long-term competitiveness and technological leadership of the EU economy, including Bulgaria.
Recognising this, the Net-Zero Lab organised a high-level discussion on 5 February 2026 titled “Co-Creating Industrial Decarbonisation: Turning European Ambition into a National and Industrial Priority.” The event brought together researchers, members of the academic community, representatives of public institutions, and leading industrial companies. The discussion was informed by the Net-Zero Lab’s latest analytical report on carbon emissions, trade dependencies, and structural transformation in the Bulgarian chemical industry.
Although the chemical industry accounts for a relatively small share of Bulgaria’s total national emissions, it concentrates the most structurally hard-to-abate process emissions in a limited number of installations and industrial clusters, placing it at the core of industrial decarbonisation. The potential of first-wave measures such as energy efficiency and fuel switching is largely exhausted, meaning that future progress will depend on technologically complex and capital-intensive solutions addressing calcination processes and fossil-based hydrogen production. At the same time, rising energy and carbon costs combined with tightening EU regulatory requirements are already reshaping the sector’s market structure, making decarbonisation a prerequisite for long-term competitiveness, energy security, and economic resilience.
During the event, Dr. Maria Trifonova, Deputy Head of Net-Zero Lab, Faculty of Economics, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” highlighted that high energy costs in Europe—driven by dependence on energy imports and compounded by delayed investments in infrastructure, storage systems, and green technologies—are calling into question the economic sustainability of industrial assets. In Bulgaria, electricity prices in the “Day-Ahead” market have remained above the EU average across all seasons, further intensifying competitive pressure on domestic industry.
Corporate managers from Holcim Bulgaria, Aurubis Bulgaria, and Heidelberg Materials shared practical experience from the implementation of low-carbon solutions, while a guest speaker from the European Energy Research Alliance presented best practices for effective cooperation between industry, academia, and the public sector in the context of intensifying global competition for clean industrial investments.
Prof. Atanas Georgiev, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” emphasized that industrial transformation and decarbonization processes require joint efforts between the academic community, institutions, and business for European goals to be translated into applicable national solutions.
Ivan Matejak, The Director for SET Plan and Strategic Programmes of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), reaffirmed the need for stronger industry–academia collaboration to accelerate the deployment of novel technologies and to redirect scientific efforts toward areas with a shorter pathway to market from an industry perspective. He summarized the European context, which is rethinking the path to climate neutrality through the lens of sustainable competitiveness and industrial autonomy. Systemic shortcomings in the process of scaling up innovation in the sector continue to slow growth but coordinated innovation hubs at the European level can contribute to solving these challenges.
Konstantin Bojinov, ANRAV Project Manager, Heidelberg Materials, presented the experience of Heidelberg Materials’ ANRAV project in developing a comprehensive carbon capture and storage project. The company’s goal is to capture approximately 800 kt/CO2 per year (or 99.2% of the company’s annual emissions). Mr. Bojinov emphasized the need to overcome regulatory challenges that slow down innovation, as well as the development of new technical personnel who have the potential to develop the sector in the future.
Desislava Kirova, Chief Expert, Sustainable Environmental Development, shared Holcim Bulgaria’s consistent path towards decarbonisation from achieving a high share of alternative fuels and raw materials to drastically reducing its carbon footprint on the road to carbon neutrality, to developing low-carbon products and a comprehensive business model for recycling construction and demolition waste.
Ivaylo Georgiev, Head of Sustainability and Institutional Relations at Aurubis Bulgaria, noted the importance of having the necessary regulations, financing, and technologies in place to scale up effective solutions. Without active cooperation between the academic community, industry, and institutions, European goals cannot be turned into sustainable investment solutions in Bulgaria.
The speakers in the panel discussion agreed that in order to achieve genuine and effective decarbonisation of industry, predictable regulations and procedures, appropriate technologies, financing and the development of new labour market skills to meet the needs of the metallurgy, heavy industry, and the chemical industry.
English 
Bulgarian