First National Roundtable in Bulgaria under the INFIRE Project
On the 19th of February, 2025, the first National roundtable with stakeholders within the frame of the project INFIRE (INnovative FInancing solutions for climate planning of REsilient and carbon neutral living areas), co-funded by the Interreg Euro-MED Programme, was organized in Peshtera, Bulgaria. Hosts of the event were the Regional Energy Agency of Pazardjik (REAP) and the associated project partner – the Municipality of Peshtera.
Experts from REAP presented the project in front of the participants – its main objectives, partnership, and pilot actions which are being organized by different project partners, as well as upcoming activities and capacity building and training events.
The main goal of the INFIRE project is to establish a long-lasting support structure to build capacities of public authorities in the involved regions for developing, implementing and monitoring holistic Climate Adaptation and Carbon Neutrality (CACN) solutions and policy instruments.
During the meeting, the Bulgarian partner REAP presented first results and lessons learnt from activities implemented so far. These were mainly related to activities of work packages 1 and 2 like:
- The Assessment report of financing frameworks, and potentials of involved Euro-MED regions
- Gap analyses on innovative green finance mechanisms and investment procedures in involved regions
- SWOT and PESTLE analysis on climate-related objectives in the Bulgarian pilot region, Municipality of Peshtera
There were 17 stakeholders attending the event, representing different types of institutions and expertise like representatives from the energy sector (energy agencies), representatives of financial institutions, representatives of public administrations (Peshtera, Pazardzhik, Panagyurishte and Strelcha), the Peshtera municipal educational department, representatives of the civil society and NGOs (CSEG), and an SMEs association (NEST).
The event concluded with a review of future activities in regards to setting up the pilot in Bulgaria, which is the establishment of an Energy Help Desk to work with vulnerable households on topics like energy poverty, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
Presentation of the INFIRE project
