A special "Textbook on the Future History of Bulgaria" presents the possible positive development of our country in the next three decades, if today we start key reforms and design with an intelligent and long-term vision the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) through which the country will receive additional 12 billion from the recovery fund "Next Generation EU".
In the Textbook Bulgaria grows from a modest innovator with a high resource-intensive and carbon-intensive economy to one of the leading countries in Europe with developed innovative and green business, protected nature, and happy home of enlightened people who create projects and businesses solving global challenges.
Published a few days after the parliamentary elections, the “Bulgaria’s Future History Textbook” shows the importance of long-term expert planning, beyond specific election cycles and governing configurations. Through the Textbook, the Coalition “Green Restart” insists that Bulgaria should not miss the historic window of opportunity for reforms created by the corona crisis, climate change, and the processes of digitalization and automation in the world.
The project is the latest initiative of the Coalition, which unites representatives of innovative business and environmental organizations: MOVE.BG, WWF Bulgaria, Greenpeace-Bulgaria, and the Institute of Circular Economy. The union, established at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 at the initiative of MOVE.BG, works to support the green recovery of Bulgaria and the green and digital transformation of the Bulgarian economy.
The story we are writing together today
The “Bulgaria’s Future History Textbook” tells the process of change by 2050, if today we start introducing specific reforms in seven areas, presented as separate lessons in the Textbook: Innovative Economics, Industry 4.0, Skills of the Future, Alternative Energy, Climate, Circular Economy, as well as Biodiversity and Agriculture. The reforms are based on more than 200 expert proposals in five Coalition's opinion papers, set up to improve Bulgaria's Next Generation EU Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The format of the Textbook was designedly chosen to tell in a comprehensible way why today is the time for significant bold decisions for a green restart of the economy and society, why we must improve the NRRP without further delay, and why everyone's participation in this process is decisive for our future tomorrow, next year, in 10, 20 or 30 years. The project does not present at length the full scope of the reforms but shows that in Bulgaria there are experts with a vision of how our country can be reformed so that it becomes one of the green, digital and innovative leaders in Europe. Experts, whose voice, unfortunately, remains poorly heard in the process of drafting the Bulgarian Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Why are those reforms needed today?
The coronavirus pandemic has shown humanity the dimensions of a global crisis. The experience of solving it with unprecedented mobilization and transnational cooperation is a lesson for successfully dealing with a potentially much more destructive climate crisis, the authors of the Textbook notes. This task, along with providing an environment for economic development in the age of automation, is set by the European Union in the ambitious program for recovery from the COVID crisis and reforms - "Next Generation EU". It provides not only additional financial resources, but also a historic chance for the transformational development of the Member States towards an innovative and green economy, catching up with the digitalization of processes and skills, and paving the way for prosperity for generations to come.
With smart planning of the additional multibillion-dollar financial resources provided for Bulgaria, qualitative reforms are possible in the direction of education for the future, scientific research of benefit for the innovative industry and to remove our country from its role as a supporting player in other countries' economic programs. The future we all want is possible, the Coalition “Green Restart” explains.
However, the realization of this future does not depend on Brussels. It depends on the decisions that are made today. It depends on the contribution and participation of each one of us. We have a role in creating this possible future together, regardless of the field in which we work - politics, business, science, non-governmental sector.
"With this motivation in June 2020, we created the Coalition" Green Restart"- to support expertly and with program ideas green and digital transition of the Bulgarian economy and society. In order for the long-delayed transformation of our economy from resource-based to happen, we go to one with added value and care for human health and nature.
To solve the challenges facing our country, which cannot be postponed, ” the Coalition “Green Restart” says.
And these challenges are numerous. Our country is in the unenviable 49th place in terms of competitiveness in the world. Greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP in Bulgaria are three times higher than the EU average, and the Bulgarian economy is 6.5 times more resource-intensive. Coal energy is becoming more and more expensive for citizens, both in terms of natural impact and financially. Year after year, Bulgaria comes under the category of "modest innovators" in the Innovation Scoreboard of the European Commission. And only 29% of Bulgarians have basic digital skills.
At the same time, however, there is another Bulgaria: the innovative entrepreneurs, the brave scientists, the thousands who live with thought and care for nature. The people who today create from Bulgaria solutions for global challenges to the world and pave the way for tomorrow in our country. Their practices, businesses, and ideas in favor of constructive sustainable development of our society must be widely supported by the Bulgarian National Recovery and Resilience Plan, through which the “Next Generation EU” will be implemented in our country.
Driven by the desire for such a qualitative change, within five expert opinion papers the Coalition “Green Restart” has made specific proposals for changes in the Plan of the Bulgarian government. With the vision of a possible Bulgaria, we have made the current "Bulgaria’s Future History Textbook". In the story told in Textbook Bulgaria is an economically strong country, a territory with preserved nature, and a place for a dignified life.
The lessons
Three of the lessons in the "Bulgaria’s Future History Textbook" deal with the field of green innovation and prospects for high-tech businesses. The story begins with the much-needed introduction of the legal category of a startup, goes through the establishment of a special Fund for Green Innovation, and draws particularly high international success for future Bulgarian unicorn companies. Along with the legislative and economic conditions for the development of green innovative businesses, the authors pay special attention to professional qualifications, adequate to the future development of the labor market, as well as to education in a broader sense, which creates and reproduces public attitudes with concern for the health of ecosystems and awareness of the benefits of nature-based solutions. Thus major reforms in education unfold in two lines - developing digital skills in direct connection with the needs of the business and broader training programs on the principles and the potential of the circular economy. An entire chapter is dedicated to Industry 4.0 and the future long-term coherent orientation of the Bulgarian economy towards the high-tech productions and services of tomorrow.
According to the described scenario, humanity has failed to stop the rise in temperatures to the desired degree, but just in a few decades Bulgaria has become an iconic example - from a country that does not formally recognize climate change, it is transformed into a model to follow and emulate. Cities are much greener, full of urban farms. Nature-based solutions, postponed for many years, have been actively implemented. Agriculture is based on sustainable and ecosystem approaches, its industrial forms give way to small organic farms that meet mainly local needs. Only boutique retro cars run on fossil fuels. Coal is just a grim memory of the past, and the economy is largely electrified, with energy produced locally according to people's needs. Thanks to efforts to protect forests, sustainable water management, and minimum water use from conventional energy production and agriculture, the risks of a national water disaster are being overcome. Smart network infrastructure and interconnections predetermine the overall successful future of the economy. More and more bio-based solutions are being applied in industry, innovation, and the economy as a whole.
The part dedicated to the energy transition pays special attention to the transformation of energy consumers into producers of energy from renewable sources. The first step is the empowerment of the so-called energy citizens, through legislative changes that will allow them to produce the energy needed for their own needs. Special emphasis is placed on energy sharing, which, on the one hand, optimizes costs and, on the other hand, guarantees access to clean energy for all citizens, regardless of their social status and solvency. In this way, Bulgaria could fulfill the objectives of the Paris Agreement by closing its coal-fired power plants and turning as many of the coal mines as possible into solar parks or fully reclaimed territories. According to the possible course of events described in the Textbook, the country could also decommission its largest operating nuclear power plant by 2042.
