Poor families often have no clear housing status or cannot prove they own their homes, which makes it hard for them to switch to cleaner heating. Experts said this at a conference in Sofia on air quality and energy poverty.
The conference presented findings from a study under the project "Reducing Pollution for Poor Communities in Sofia – Advocacy Stage". The Trust for Social Alternative runs the project with support from the global Breath Cities initiative. It aims to bring cleaner air to the Fakulteta district of the capital.
The study says energy poverty in Bulgaria is as much about housing as about income. Many of the barriers to joining the programmes come from people's housing status, not from energy laws. The authors therefore link clean heating to the lack of an up-to-date housing strategy.
In 2024, 30.3% of Bulgaria's population were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, the study's data shows. Romania follows in the EU with 27.9%, then Greece with 26.9%.
The analysts say Bulgaria is among the countries where climate policies have a direct social effect. Every rise in energy and fuel prices hits a large share of people, who are already close to the line of material security or below it.
The systems are not linked, said Daniela Mihaylova, head of the legal programme at the Equal Opportunities Initiative association. Energy, social and housing policy, and the local councils, each act on their own, she added.
Cecilia Vaca Jones, executive director of Breath Cities, said she wanted to learn in Fakulteta whether people see the benefit of alternative heating and whether they know how it can improve their lives.
Replacing solid-fuel stoves and improving how people live needs an all-round approach, said Jenna O'Keefe, chair of the board of the Trust for Social Alternative foundation. She believes every child should have a warm and clean home.
The project's findings say such programmes should not be judged only by the number of heating appliances replaced and the energy saved. The experts write that "the climate transition will be socially sustainable only if the state accepts that energy poverty is not a peripheral social problem, but a structural risk".