Ministry of Environment and Water

State of the Environment Bulgaria 2003

Transport

How does the transport influence environment

What is being done to make the transport more environment-friendly

The transport sector has a considerable impact on all environmental components through emissions of harmful substances by motor vehicles, namely carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, lead, sulphur dioxide, small dust particles etc. Data on emissions from transport are based on the annual inventories carried out by the National Statistics Institute and the Executive Environment Agency with the MoEW. The emitted harmful substances quantities are calculated on the basis of the quantities of fuels used.

The total quantity of main pollutants emitted into ambient air by the transport sector for 2001 was calculated to be 367,4 thousand tons, which is 15 600 tons less than the previous year, as the trend of reduction of the emissions during the past years is maintained (see the figure). This is due to the decreased overall fuel consumption by the transport sector during the year. In 2001 motor vehicles burned 567,04 thousand tons of petrol. This is 88,59 thousand tons less as compared to 2000. The data analysis reveals that the consumption of unleaded petrol for 2001 is 380 161 tons, which represents 67 % of the overall petrol consumption and shows a 53 % increase compared to 2000 (see the figure).

Fuel consumption by transport (x1000 tons/year)

Year	Fuel/ Transport	Leaded petrol	Unleaded petrol	Diesel fuel	Propane-butane gas	Jet engine kerosene
1999	Road transport	634.8	148.9	377.1	63.4	-
1999	Other transport*	-	-	777.5	-	187.3
2000	Road transport	406.49	249.14	434.05	172.89	-
2000	Other transport *	-	-	627.64	-	134.45
2001	Road transport	186.88	380.16	387.29	232.95	-
2001	Other transport *	-	-	744.93	-	-

*railway, water, air, auxiliary activities in transport

It should be noted that the trend towards the increase of CO₂ emissions due to transport, as compared to the overall emissions from all anthropogenic sources, observed in the last few years, continues. For 2001 carbon dioxide emissions from the road and other types of transport amounted to 6 207 849 tons compared to 6 138 thousand tons for 2000. This represents 13,4 % of the total quantity of carbon dioxide emitted by different anthropogenic sources compared to 12,7 % for 2000.

Per capita carbon dioxide emissions are one of the main indicators for the evaluation of the level and development of relative environmental sustainability. The development of these emissions for the period from 1994 through 1998 is traced on the figure (based on data supplied by the NSI).

Last update on March 2003