When Good Intentions Miss the Mark: Reforming Bulgaria’s €3+ Billion Social Climate Plan

A once-in-a-generation opportunity put at risk

With over €3 billion set aside under Bulgaria’s Social Climate Plan (SCP) for the period 2026-2032, the country has a historic opportunity to reduce energy poverty and accelerate energy-efficient building renovation. But the current draft of the plan risks squandering this opportunity by clinging to outdated, centralised models of grant financing – models that have already proven inefficient and inequitable.

The biggest concern? Despite the sheer volume of funding, there is no guarantee that it will reach those who need it most. Without urgent reform, the SCP may become yet another example of a well-intentioned initiative derailed by poor targeting, lack of transparency, and institutional inertia.

No targeting, no fairness

The plan fails to introduce any objective mechanism for identifying vulnerable households. Bulgaria still lacks a national system to define and verify energy poverty. This means that there is no fair, consistent way to ensure that the funding reaches those who cannot afford to renovate their homes on their own.

In its current form, the plan risks enabling better-off households – simply because they happen to live in the “selected” buildings – to access full public subsidies. Vulnerable groups, on the other hand, may once again be left behind.

A united call for change

This alarming scenario has led 15 Bulgarian organisations – representing civil society, academia, the energy efficiency sector, and the social field – to submit a joint position paper calling for fundamental reforms in the plan. Their message: a Social Climate Plan must be social in both design and impact. They presented the position at a recent press conference, warning that the current model repeats mistakes of the past and fails to offer a sustainable, inclusive pathway for scaling up renovation. This joint voice was not unheard – the media event resulted in more than 50 topical publications, many of which in key TV and radio broadcasts.

Three measures, three systemic failures

The SCP includes three key building-related measures – yet all are underpinned by flawed logic:

Multifamily building renovation: 100% public grants are granted to all owners in the selected buildings, regardless of income level. No need to return anything, not a single cent – the state pays, and the municipality does it all for you. Logically, the resource suffices for a limited number of buildings, and only a fraction of vulnerable households are expected to benefit – less than 3% of the estimated energy-poor population.

Single-family houses: Formally targeted at recipients of heating aid, but without the selection mechanism – municipalities decide who deserves more. Large and energy-hungry homes may be renovated for free, while many truly vulnerable households could remain excluded. No technical consultancy for the owners, too – municipalities decide which measures are suitable (and safe). But hold on: about half of the municipalities have never executed a project in residential building so far.

Energy communities: An ambitious rollout is proposed – over 3,200 projects – but without addressing Bulgaria’s regulatory barriers or building real citizen participation. Municipalities are once more given the central role, despite lacking the expertise, and no funding is foreseen for external technical support. There are currently 3 active energy communities, with 2 municipalities involved – doesn’t it look as a small issue with local capacity, again?

What has been achieved so far? Not enough.

The scale of the challenge is well illustrated by the following data from national renovation programmes since 2015 until now, all implemented at 100% grant rate, blowing away more than 1,3 billion Euro of public resource:

The NRRP renovation programme, coupled with another state financing totaling over 2 billion Euro and operating under the same principle, aim to fund the following modest expansion over the next seven years:

Cold numbers don’t lie – we have clear data for a historically significant period of time that 100% grants lead to exactly nowhere. Still, we aim the same with the SCP. Is that fair? Inclusive? Result-oriented? Is nobody left behind?

The way forward: make renovation work for people

The coalition proposes a tri-component financial model that makes public support more equitable and sustainable. Under this approach:

– Vulnerable households would receive full grants.

– Middle-income households would benefit from partial grants, covering about half the cost.

– The remaining amount would be financed through accessible, soft loans.

This model introduces shared responsibility and enables more households to benefit without draining public resources. It also integrates the growing network of one-stop shops (OSS) across Bulgaria set by SHEERenov+ and other ongoing projects, offering tailored technical and administrative support and reducing the pressure on municipal authorities.

Crucially, the model relies on the involvement of private consultancy services and market intermediaries, ensuring that renovation becomes a scalable, investable, and citizen-driven process – not just another bureaucratic programme.

A fair and functional system is within reach

The current SCP is not beyond repair. The tools, expertise, and institutional infrastructure already exist – many of them piloted successfully through EU-funded projects. What is needed now is the political will to embrace reform, break from past habits, and make real use of the opportunity that the Social Climate Fund offers.

Scaling up building renovation cannot depend on sporadic grant campaigns every 10 or 20 years. If we continue at the current pace, it will take two centuries to renovate the existing stock.

Bulgaria must act now – to protect the vulnerable, to spend wisely, and to lead the region by example as the other members from the CEE region are also now in the phase of finalizing their projects of the SCPs.

About the author:

Dragomir Tzanev is Executive Director of Center for Energy Efficiency EnEffect and official representative of Municipal Energy Efficiency Network EcoEnergy – Bulgaria. Coordinator and team leader for EnEffect in more than 30 international cooperation projects. Member of the Advisory Board of the International Passive House Conference and the UNECE Group of Experts on Energy Efficiency. Author of a series of publications and lecturer at numerous international conferences in the field of sustainable energy development, education and training on energy efficiency and RES in buildings, principles of passive and nearly zero-energy buildings, and municipal energy planning.