Problems have been identified with Hristo Kovacki’s coal plants. The institutions have even been notified, including the eco-ministry. That is why now the official minister should not be silent, write Emilia Milcheva for “Deutsche Vele”.
After the inspections of the European Prosecutor’s Office on the manipulations of CO2 emissions from enterprises connected to Hristo Kovacki, Bulgarian institutions are passing the ball to themselves, and the acting Eco-Minister Rositsa Karamfilova-Blagoeva is silent. The prosecutors of Laura Chiovesitogether with DANS and GDBOP teams, searched over 40 addresses, seizing laptops, phones and documentation as part of an investigation into knowingly submitting false data to emissions of greenhouse gases produced by thermal power plants and heating systemsin order to lower the amount of emissions produced by them within the framework of the European CO2 trading scheme.
The silence of a minister
However, the eco-minister appointed by the president should speak, as she headed the Environmental Executive Agency (EPA) – the office responsible for monitoring whether emissions are properly accounted for. In 2021, she was contacted by journalists from OCCRP (The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) on the same issue – because of understated greenhouse gas emissions from the Bobov Dol and Brickell TPPs, which they doubted after checking public data. In the July 28, 2021 post, Rositsa Karamfilova-Blagoeva says that the IAEA does not directly revise the data, but accepts it after “calculations are made by an accredited laboratory and the report is verified,” and directs journalists to the national body – The Bulgarian Accreditation Service (BSA), which licenses the verifiers. BSA issued one to “GMI Verify” EOOD, which guaranteed the reliability of the data in the reports of the enterprises from the Kovacki empireas they were his clients.
In fact, the IAEA may request from the verification body access to the internal verification documentation, as well as information from the operator proving their correct calculation.
“When calculating the emissions, when a deviation from the reference values of the calculation coefficients determined within the framework of the applicable legislation is found, the laboratory analyzes with a stamp from the laboratory confirming the results when they are carried out are also required,” it says in response to an inquiry by Deutsche Welle to the IAEA.
What does the EEA say?
IAEA publishes the annual verified reports on greenhouse gas emissions for the previous year on its website after approving them. By March 31 of the current year, installation operators and aviation operators are required to submit them to the agency after the data is guaranteed by a verifier.
When asked whether they never doubted the data confirmed by the company (given the case with the inspections of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, b.a), it is clear from the response of the IAEO that they had certain doubts. But the BSA assured that “the competence of the verification bodies is confirmed through regular supervisory assessments, which for the validation and verification bodies are conducted every 12 months”.
What are the doubts about?
According to the response from the IAEO, in 2021 the agency provided the Bulgarian Accreditation Service with data from an inspection of the reports verified by GM Verify EOOD for the period 2018 – 2020 based on laboratory analyzes of coal in accredited laboratories to: TPP “Bobov dol” EAD; “Brickel” EAD; TPP “Maritsa” 3 AD, “Toplofikatsia Pernik” AD and “Toplofikatsia – Sliven-eng. Angel Angelov” EAD. Information was requested from BSA whether and for what they checked the verifier and what administrative measures were imposed on him. The IAEA has also requested “information on the applied approaches for verifying the competence of the BSA-accredited laboratories performing coal analysis”, as well as on the procedure for evaluating the verifiers.
In 2022, when reporting separate emissions in 2021, “GM Verify” EOOD has verified 19 annual reports on greenhouse gas emissions, including those of “Brickel” EAD; TPP “Maritsa” 3 AD, “Toplofikatsia Pernik” AD and “Toplofikatsia – Sliven-eng. Angel Angelov” EAD. In its response, the IAEA states that it found deviations when “comparing the emission factor values for used fuel coal with the values from the national inventory report and the reference values from Regulation 2018/2066 for the emission factor (which is determined through laboratory analyses)”. The agency requested opinions from the relevant operators, laboratory analyzes and justification for the achieved emission factors through laboratory analyzes and the reported emissions , as well as additional information from the verification authorities.
After receiving them, it notified the BSA of the identified problems. In addition, it has sent letters to the relevant RISW and a report to the Minister of the Environment and Waters “about all the remarks of the verifiers and the discrepancies found during the verification of the reports for the year 2021”.
That is why the Minister of Environment and Water Rositsa Karamfilova-Blagoeva should not remain silent.
