Aurubis Bulgaria presented its successful decarbonisation experience at COP28

Martin Katinov, Energy Projects Manager at Aurubis Bulgaria, participated in a special panel "Bulgarian Business Leadership Towards Decarbonisation of Heavy Industry", which took place on 6th of December 2023 under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment and Water at the Bulgarian Pavilion at the COP28 Climate Conference in Dubai. There, he presented the main challenges that the heavy industry in Bulgaria faces on the road to decarbonisation and the measures that Aurubis Bulgaria has taken.  The COP is organised by the UN and is the largest global forum on climate change. For the first year Bulgaria is represented with its own pavilion.
Given that the company is one of the largest consumers of electricity in the country, the difficulties on the road to carbon neutrality and sustainable consumption for Aurubis Bulgaria are significantly greater.

Aurubis has a clear vision and strategy for decarbonization and has set itself the goal of achieving carbon-neutral production before the year 2050. Recognizing that the shortest path to carbon neutrality is through electrification of production, the plant has already succeeded in electrifying a substantial part of its processes. The next goal in this direction will be to increase sustainable energy production as much as possible from its own renewable energy sources. However, as presented in the panel discussion, one of the big challenges here is to build the optimal mix of own renewable energy sources. Aurubis is currently developing several renewable energy projects based on different types of resources - solar, wind, water and waste heat.

Another important aspect in the sustainable energy resources process at Aurubis, touched upon during the conference, was energy efficiency and the drive to reduce consumption by replacing old inefficient equipment with new more energy efficient ones, as well as process optimization. At the same time, it plans to increase its Refinery until 2026, which will lead to higher consumption by about 10%.

The third topic outlined by Mr Katinov was the planned replacement of high emitting fossil fuels first with gas and then with hydrogen, with gasification of the plant expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

In addition to its own projects, Aurubis is also engaged in various social ones, both with local municipalities and other organizations. One such initiative is the "Energy Scouts" project organised by the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry, where it has been acting as a mentor for several years, helping teams of students to develop their own energy projects, guiding them to understand the importance of environmental protection, energy conservation and green energy production.

In addition to copper, which Aurubis Bulgaria produces and is vital for the energy transition, playing a key role in electrification, digitalization and renewables, work is also being done to change people's mindsets about climate change.