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Description
While Europe, and Bulgaria in particular, is reeling from rising energy prices and the need to wean itself off dependence on Russian fuels, governments are facing an unprecedented challenge: to ensure energy for their citizens and economies in a short-term, while accelerating efforts to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Coal, oil and gas production may be revived in the near future. These short-term measures risk creating a long-term dependence on fossil fuels and making it impossible to limit global warming. The fight against climate change should not only be an initiative of governments and companies, but also of individual citizens. The project aims to increase the awareness and commitment of the people of Sliven municipality regarding this struggle, as well as to monitor the policy of the local authorities, increasing the pressure of civil society and impact on them to adopt acts for support citizens actions. For this purpose, activities are planned for the study of regulatory frameworks and good practices in other European municipalities/regions, related to energy efficiency and overcoming the dependence of households and institutions on traditional sources of energy (gas, coal, wood, petrol). Through an advocacy campaign among local institutions, measures should be adopted to help the local people (especially the poor ones) to replace traditional sources of energy with alternative ones and achieve energy efficiency in housing. As a result, we expect more and more citizens to engage and contribute to the protection of the environment through everyday actions and individual projects, and the local authority to define this area as a priority in its legislative activity. The general public and people at risk of poverty in the territory of the municipality of Sliven, to get knowledge and opportunities on how to ease the family budget and at the same time achieve a better living environment.
Summary of project results
The project addressed the consequences of the war in Ukraine /rising energy prices, dependence on Russian fuels, etc./ by monitoring of the local government policy, and enhancing the civil society pressure and influence legislative measures and civic actions and campaigns.
The project promoter executed a desk research on the regulatory framework and good practices related to energy efficiency, overcoming the dependence of households and institutions on traditional sources of energy (gas, coal, wood, oil) at the local and national level. An information campaign was conducted among the local community as well as an advocacy campaign.
3 videos were produced that reached over 40,000 people in the area and raised the awareness of the local community in the fight against climate change and environmental protection. Based on the review of the national and local legislation, 3 proposals were made and submitted to the Municipal Council and the Mayor of Sliven Municipality. Numerous conversations were held with the municipal leadership, which as a result started working on the proposals, opening opportunities for cooperation with the local government and other NGOs. As a result, the recognition and authority of the project promoter have increased.
The information campaign coincided with the opening of programs to support civil initiatives for energy efficiency, which motivated active participation in the procedures of the Recovery and Resilience Plan. In the city of Sliven, 91 associations of the owners of multi-family residential buildings prepared energy surveys of the buildings and 84 applied for the rehabilitation procedure; the program for financing photovoltaics in households also caused great interest, especially among those living in remote villages in the district.
A good practice was to use the information system of the public transport in Sliven for the awareness-raising campaign. The monitors of 22 city buses broadcast a banner of the project. About 33,000 people were reached through this information channel in one month (this statistic is based on the number of tickets sold during the month).
The Internet platform "Green Sliven" and the Facebook page will continue to be accessible and used together with all the resources created under the project. Some other organizations working in the field of environmental protection and youth are already interested to use the platform for sharing events and recruiting people.
The proposals made to the Municipal Council and the Mayor are not finalized by the end of the project period, but will have an impact on changing the municipality''s policy in the field of energy efficiency and environmental protection.