Bulgaria has moved up two places to 14th out of 65 countries in a new Allianz Research ranking of progress on the green transition, scoring 35.2 points. The report says the world will not reach carbon neutrality before 2064, 14 years after the 2050 target.
Allianz Research is the analysis arm of a global insurer. It published the report ahead of the 31st UN Climate Change Conference. The report says progress towards net zero emissions is too slow to meet climate goals.
The ranking covers economies that produce 81% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The index uses five measures: carbon intensity, energy intensity, consumption-based emissions per person, territorial emissions per person, and the share of low-carbon sources in power generation. Progress is counted from 2015 against each country's own target of net zero by 2050. The data run to 2025.
Bulgaria added 3.2 points, against 2.0 on average worldwide and 2.2 for the EU. It has met more than a third of its goals for 2050. The report says this is down to lower emissions and cleaner energy. Consumption-based emissions per person earned it 6.8 points, and territorial emissions 6.5.
Carbon emissions in Bulgaria are 22.2% below the 2015 level. In 2025, electricity from renewable sources rose by 9.4%, and solar power by 26.3%.
Transport remains a problem. Electric cars make up only 6% of new car sales, and carbon intensity improved by just 0.2 points.
Just ahead of Bulgaria in the table are the Netherlands in 11th place, Germany in 12th and Latvia in 13th. Sweden, Romania and Spain follow. Luxembourg, Denmark and Estonia lead, and no country outside Europe is in the top ten. Oil producers in the Persian Gulf are at the bottom.
Scores rose in 56 countries, by 2 points on average. About a third are cutting emissions at the pace set out in the Paris Agreement. Colombia made the biggest gain, 16.5 points, thanks to restored hydropower and new solar systems. The top half of the ranking gained 2.6 points on average, and the bottom half 1.3, half as much.
The EU remains the leader, but its progress is slowing. It added 2.2 points. Emissions there fell by 0.2% in 2025, against an average yearly drop of 4% in earlier years. In September 2026, electric cars made up 30% of newly registered cars, 11 percentage points more than a year earlier.
The US is in 41st place with 1.2 points. Its emissions are rising for a second year in a row, and coal power output grew by 13%. In China, emissions growth has all but stopped, and its score is 2.3 points better. India added 4.5 points, and its emissions fell for the first time in 25 years without an economic recession.
In 2025, renewables became the world's main source of electricity for the first time, with 33.5% against 33.2% for coal. They supplied 99% of the new power. Global emissions rose by 0.7%, against 1.5% in each of the two previous years.
Battery storage of electricity grew from about 2 gigawatt hours in 2015 to 307 in 2025, and installing it got 91% cheaper. The price gap between an electric car and a petrol or diesel car has narrowed from 49% to 20% since 2019. The report says lower costs speed up the transition, but clean technology is not replacing fossil fuels fast enough.
Allianz Research says geopolitics moves prices more than climate policy does. Because of the conflict with Iran, diesel has risen in price as if a tonne of carbon dioxide were taxed at more than €200, and this is pushing up demand for electric cars. Fossil fuel subsidies are about 70% above the level before the 2022 energy crisis, which the report calls a risk to Europe's progress.
The analysts expect investment in clean energy to grow by 6.5% in 2026, to $2.2 trillion. Spending on power grids could rise by up to 21%, and on energy storage by up to 36%. They also expect fossil fuel emissions to fall, despite strong growth in the world economy.
Emissions are probably nearing a peak, but that does not yet guarantee a lasting fall, the report says. Short-term risks are rising power use and limited grid capacity. Costly financing, trade barriers and uncertain policies could slow the roll-out of the technology. Artificial intelligence and data centres could raise global emissions by about 0.6% by 2030.