Bulgarian Parliament Gives Initial Approval to Carbon Capture

After a much-protracted and divisive debate, the Bulgarian Parliament approved at first reading Thursday legislation that would allow carbon capture in the country.

Bulgarian MPs did not reach a common position about the utility and the environmental friendliness of the technique, with the pro- and contra-lines dividing parliamentary groups.

Some MPs from the ruling center-right GERB party voted for the legislations, while others voiced a vocal opposition or abstained.

A similar situation was present in the rightist Blue Coalition group, while opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party and Movement for Rights and Freedoms generally voted against.

In the end, the draft law was adopted at first reading in plenary, although it had not been approved by the parliamentary Committee on the Environment.

Some MPs have supported the views of environmentalists, who doubt the safety of the carbon capture technique, in which emissions from the industry are captured in a liquefied state and kept underground.

Others have said that the method is sufficiently friendly for the environment, and in the future will present a cost-effective alternative to buying emissions quotas.

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