The Energy Policy of Bulgaria

Introduction

Renewable energy for foreign dependent countries in energy is important in terms of encouraging the use of local resources of countries, improving balance of payments deficits by reducing energy imports, and reducing energy input costs in the production process. In addition, the promotion of environmentally friendly production techniques is among the issues to be addressed. In addition to the necessity of renewable energy production by environmental pollution, the increasing energy demand due to the rapid increase in the world population made it necessary to both maintain the balance of environment and natural life and increase the energy supply to meet the current demand.

Bulgaria has an important strategic position between the Eastern and Western countries. While it had a centrally planned economy in the period between 1945 and 1989, it can be said that after that, it witnessed to market-based economy. In 2004, the country joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 2007. All these developments have a great impact on the economic and political development of Bulgaria and energy policy. The main priority of the strategy, which forms the basis of Bulgarian energy reform, is to develop a competitive energy market. In addition to this strategy in the long term, it is aimed to secure energy resources, to position Bulgaria as a regional center for the transition of oil, natural gas, and electricity, to provide more conditions for energy production from renewable energy sources (RES) and to ensure environmentally friendly energy production.

In this study, the connection between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) is presented by the sustainable corporate finance concept. Responsible investment is a phenomenon that is growing rapidly. And according to recent research, it now affects all generations. The mentality is changing in work, consumption, and even investment. Increasingly, consumers, citizens, and workers are seeking to integrate and take into account the dimensions of sustainable development to promote a healthier, greener and more positive society.

It is known, this is especially among young people. For years, many studies have shown that young people are changing paradigms. More and more young people are turning to the professions for sustainable development, they are putting sustainability at the heart of their career concerns, and would even be willing to pay less to work for a greener company. Responsible consumption is developing and with it the desire to invest in more responsible projects.

The different and strengths of our study from other studies examining a similar subject, and the objectives to be achieved can be listed as follows:

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  Determining the effects of renewable energy consumption and nuclear power generation on economic growth;

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  Environmental impacts of renewable energy and nuclear power generation;

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  Discussion of the impact of renewable energy and green business on the national economy and employment;

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  The effects of nuclear power generation and renewable energy consumption for the country on sustainable energy supply.

Literature Review

Empirically, the direction of the causality between energy consumption and economic activities has been tried to be put forward to a great extent by using the granger technique in both developed and developing countries. Since Granger (1969)’s new horizons, the literature on granger causality has developed considerably. A significant amount of work in practical studies is dedicated to addressing the aforementioned causality problem between energy consumption and economic development.

Some studies have found unidirectional granger causality from energy consumption to economic growth or from economic growth to energy consumption, while others have identified the ‘neutrality hypothesis (no causality in any direction) and others have found a two-way causality. Some results vary depending on the estimation methods applied (univariate or multivariate models using different causal techniques), although similar data sets are used for the same countries and sample periods.