Final press conference on the “Black Sea E-mobility” project
On 15.04.2024 a final press conference on the “Black Sea E-mobility” project was held. The meeting was hosted by the municipality of Kavarna, which is also a leading partner in the project, which united the efforts of six Black Sea municipalities Kavarna, Byala, Dulgopol, Dolni Chiflik, Nesebar and Primorsko to adapt to the changing climate and reduce their emissions by implementing innovative measures in the transport sector and increase the capacity of its municipal employees.
Project BGENVIRONMENT-4.004-0010 “Black Sea E-mobility” is implemented in the period 31.03.2023 – 30.04.2024 with the financial support of the “Environmental Protection and Climate Change” Program through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014-2021. The Union of Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities (UBBSLA) and the Norwegian research and innovation company Smart Innovation Norway AS (SIN) are project partners and have provided the necessary technical expertise to achieve project results. The overall idea of the project was, through a series of trainings, research and borrowing of good practices from donor countries, to improve the capacity of local authorities to plan socially acceptable policies related to adaptation, implement measures to prevent or minimize damages that may to cause climate change.
For this purpose, the so-called “Black Sea Corridor for Electromobility” was built on the territory of the partner municipalities through the installation of charging stations. Thus, through the newly built infrastructure, free charging of electric vehicles for citizens and tourists became available throughout the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. In addition, within the framework of the project, one electric car was purchased for each of the six municipalities, which are already being used for municipal social activities. A mobile application has been developed that connects the charging stations and provides information about their location and status in real time.
To improve the capacity of municipal employees in the partner municipalities, two specialized trainings were held: one for reviewing and evaluating the effectiveness of municipal strategic plans and measures already taken for mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and the second for improving their expertise in the field of climate change action planning. In addition, municipal experts learned about Norway’s achievements in developing and implementing innovative climate change adaptation measures at the local level, with an emphasis on transport, during a working visit to the city of Halden, where the Norwegian partner is based.
The experts of UBBSLA developed for the six municipalities – partners in the project a Municipal Plan for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to climate change until 2030, taking into account the main strategic documents at the European and national level, as well as sectoral and horizontal documents related with climate change policies and adaptation to climate change.
Interesting podcasts about the environmental and economic advantages of electric cars, useful tips and charging infrastructure are available to the general public on the website (www.bse-mobility.eu) and on the social networks (www.facebook.com/BlackSeaEmobility) of the project. There you can also find prepared good examples from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein in the field of adaptation to climate change at the local level in the form of short interactive videos.
