National Program for Improving Ambient Air Quality (2018-2024)

This Bulgarian National Program for Improving Ambient Air Quality for the period from the year 2018 until the year 2024 was developed on the basis of an Agreement for the provision of consulting services concluded between the Ministry of Environment and Water and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in support of the management of ambient air quality. The program aims to assist municipalities in implementing measures to achieve sustainable compliance with the fine particulate matter indicator. The document does not result in the seizure by the state of the competences and obligations of the local authorities to ensure the purity of the atmospheric air, but proposes the implementation of policies and measures at the national level, which the municipal authorities are unable to implement independently. The national program includes measures aimed at the sectors that have been found to be major contributors to fine particulate matter pollution – domestic heating and transport. The implementation of the measures should lead to an improvement of the quality of the atmospheric air and contribute to the achievement of the norms determined by the legislation in the municipalities with excessive pollution.