On October 28, 2025, the Bulgarian Green Building Council held a workshop on the Building Life I – Capacity Building project and celebrated Green Building Week. Both events, kinldy hosted by Business Park Sofia, happened with the cooperation of Triple Green Building Group, and the support of Holcim Bulgaria.

The ultimate goal of the Building Life project is to develop decarbonization roadmaps for carbon neutrality in the construction sector in the countries participating in the project.  Currently, BGBC is participating in the first phase of the project: Building Life I - Capacity Building, which aims to identify the gaps, challenges, and advantages related to the decarbonization of the construction sector in Bulgaria. The project was launched in April this year with an online survey among stakeholders in the sector. The seminar aimed to address the identified opportunities and challenges and gaps in decarbonizing the construction sector. The goal was to build capacity, based on existing resources and overcome challenges by establishing a national framework of "supporting actions" to support the development of a roadmap for carbon neutrality in buildings. We hope that this project will contribute to the achievement of the national decarbonization targets.

The seminar started with presentation of the identified gaps and challenges facing the decarbonization of construction in Bulgaria. The survey findings were discussed at a panel discussion entitled "Decarbonization of the construction sector – current status, key actions and main gaps", with the participation of: Ivaylo Aleksiev, Executive Director of the Sustainable Energy Development Agency (SEDA), member of the Advisory Board of BGBC, Marin Marinov, Director of the Climate, Energy and Air Directorate of Sofia Minicipality, Antoniya Novakova, Project Manager in EnEffect, Mariyana Yaneva, Vice Chair of Association for Production, Storage and Trading of Electricity (APSTE) and Tsvetoslava Grazhdanska, Marketing Development Manager in Holcim Bulgaria. The panel discussion was moderated by Elitsa Panayotova, Managing Partner at United Masters Architects and Coordinator of the Sofia Green Municipal project. The leading experts from the sector shared their useful experience, data they have collected, the challenges of various kinds they face and the progress of the decarbonization process in the specific areas in which they work.  The experts also discussed the current progress on acheiving national goals for decarbonization and climate sustainability in the construction sector.

The workshop continued with brainstorming to validate supporting actions in line with the set objectives and indicators, defining a mechanism for monitoring and tracking progress to ensure the sustainability and measurability of the actions taken. The participants focused on priority steps in the technical, regulatory and financial areas that are expected to contribute the decarbonization of construction. The results of their work will be analyzed and presented at the end of the first phase of the project.

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Here is the opinion of Dipl.Eng. Ivaylo Alexiev on the topic of decarbonization of the sector in the context of the Building Life project:

“The transposition of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) poses new challenges for all participants in the construction process for the construction of new buildings and the renovation of existing ones. The implementation of the "zero-emission buildings" criteria after 2028, utilization of solar potential, charging infrastructure, calculation of "global warming potential" (GWP) for the life cycle, and other new and higher requirements are a challenge for consultants, designers, architects, and builders. These changes require not only regulatory changes but also new competencies in the sector. The Building Life project aims to address some of these challenges and can significantly support efforts to decarbonize the building sector and assist in the development of regulations and professionals to implement them.”

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The second part of our event was dedicated to Green Building Week under the slogan #BeBoldOnBuildings.

Buildings surround us everywhere, but when we plan for the future, they are too often overlooked. Most countries still lack sustainable building standards, and some do not even mention the building and construction sector in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and climate plans. Many of them make only superficial commitments that do not lead to real change. Without strong, policy-backed measures in this sector—which is among the largest sources of emissions—it is impossible to build a future that is consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Therefore, as we enter the cycle for updating NDC documents in 2025, the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and the network of national green building councils organizations are calling on countries to raise the level of their commitments, actions, and policies. Our global organization has announced its Business Action Statement, which is also supported by BGBC. The statement will be presented at COP 30. This year, governments have a critical opportunity to take bold action on buildings—if they to implement these recommendations will lead to increased costs for all countries and, more importantly, to the loss of human lives and livelihoods.

We invited some of Bulgaria's leading construction experts to a panel discussion on the topic #BeBoldOnBuildings to share the decarbonization efforts of the local construction business: Ekaterina Radeva, Asset Management & ESG Initiatives at Business Park Sofia, Rossen Papazov, CEO of Holcim Bulgaria and BGBC Board Member, Tanya Kosseva- Boshova, Managing Director of Lion's Head Investments, Chairperson of the Association of commercial building owners in Bulgaria, Iva Petkova, Director Development, Green Financing and Communications Department FUND FLAG, Katerina Novakova, Council at Wolf Theiss and Chavdar Chenkov from Triple Green Building Group. The panel discussion was moderated by Vessela Valtcheva-McGee, Director Market Development EE in GBCI Europe.

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Here is how they see the decarbonization process in construction:

 

„The low-carbon concrete we produce is a real, existing opportunity to significantly reduce the carbon footprint in construction today.The exact extent of this reduction can be seen in the EPD (Environmental Product Declaration), which makes it a key tool for architects, engineers, and builders, helping them make informed decisions. Projects with a measurable environmental impact, in turn, have the advantage of receiving a higher rating when certified to leading standards such as LEED or BREEAM.“

Rossen Papazov

 

"We have all embarked on the path of decarbonization, and I hope that business and the state will proceed at the same pace."

Ekaterina Radeva

 

“The Bulgarian office space market offers high-quality, high-tech buildings. All modern office buildings are certified by one of the established green certificates, which is in line with the requirements of our tenants and financing banks.”

Tanya Kosseva-Boshova

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"The big challenge facing decarbonization and energy efficiency is the renovation of the existing building stock, which is huge and requires a serious, decisive, and financially backed fund. The problems are there and are being postponed. I hope there will be political will to solve them."

Iva Petkova

 

"Measurement is the first step toward change. Only by accurately accounting for emissions from building materials can we achieve true decarbonization."

Chavdar Chenkov

 

"As a person, I think the development of regulations for substantial decarbonization is very positive, as we now have much more information about sustainability in all aspects of our daily lives. This helps us make better choices not only for ourselves but also for the future of our children — and that's really important."

Katerina Novakova

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