Publications

The Cost of Romania’s Industrial Transition

September 18, 2024

Romania’s industrial production is essential for the national economy, but faces multiple challenges. At one-fifth of Gross Value Added and workforce employment, Romania’s industry is a significant economic contributor. Heavy industry (steel, cement, chemicals and others) will face rising emissions costs and major competitiveness issues in the EU’s transition. At the same time, decarbonising heavy industry comes with significant capital and operational costs, as well as competition for high-value resources such as hydrogen. The costs and benefits of overcoming the transition challenge are significant. This study presents a high-level cost assessment of decarbonisation pathways for Romania’s primary steel, cement, and...

Harnessing Solar Power: a Key Driver for Romania’s Decarbonisation Pathway

September 12, 2024

Solar energy is crucial for Romania to meet its decarbonisation goals and to contribute to the European Union’s 2050 climate neutrality trajectory. The REPowerEU initiative sets ambitious targets, aiming for over 320 GW of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity by 2025 and nearly 600 GW by 2030. Romania, with 1.8 GW of installed PV capacity in 2022, has experienced limited growth compared to countries like Hungary (4.2 GW) and Poland (12.2 GW). The solar power development in Romania has been constrained by several factors, such as legislative unpredictability, delays in the approving connection to the grid, and other bureaucratic hurdles....

EPG REPORTS — Assesing the link between climate governance and citizens in Romania: socio-economic impact and public participation

September 10, 2024

The transition towards climate neutrality that the European Union is undergoing may face challenges concerning the social acceptance of decarbonisation policies, due to a lack of effective public engagement and insufficient consideration given to the socio-economic impact of the transition. As climate policies evolve and start becoming more encompassing, potential regressive effects could directly impact consumers and households, especially those most vulnerable. Tackling energy poverty and pursuing a just transition are among the most relevant methods for addressing the socio-economic impact. However, this report highlights the limitation of the current approach to dealing with energy poverty and just transition. Romania’s...

National baseline assessment on underperforming renovations – Romania

July 30, 2024

The renovation of the building stock is one of the key target sectors for energy and CO2 reduction at the EU level. Despite policy efforts, the wide range of regulatory measures, financial instruments, and initiatives that have resulted in notable technical improvements to the building stock, the energy consumption, in both public and residential sectors, has not yet experienced the dramatic reduction necessary to achieve set targets. One of the cornerstone policies aimed at reducing the energy consumption of the building stock, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), introduced the requirement for Member States to establish certification (energy performance...

Ce putem învăța din situația critică în care a ajuns sistemul energetic național în ultimele săptămâni?

July 25, 2024

Pe fondul unor temperaturi caniculare extreme, sistemul energetic național a întâmpinat dificultăți în satisfacerea cererii de consum la orele de vârf în ultimele săptămâni. Contrar unor opinii vehiculate în spațiul public, această situație critică nu a fost cauzată de adoptarea unui calendar de eliminare a capacităților pe bază de cărbune. De fapt, centralele pe bază de combustibili fosili au produs semnificativ sub capacitățile instalate teoretic disponibile în sistem, necesarul fiind acoperit prin creșterea importurilor. Pentru evitarea unor situații similare în viitor, este necesară accelerarea investițiilor în rețelele de distribuție și transport, creșterea capacităților de producție de energie cât mai curată,...

EPG REPORTS — Assessment of Romania’s draft updated NECP

July 22, 2024

Romania’s climate policy is strongly influenced by the European Union’s objectives to reduce emissions and achieve climate neutrality. By adopting the National Long-Term Strategy (LTS), Romania has committed to achieve a net emission reduction of 99% in 2050 compared to 1990 levels. This study assesses the most recent draft version of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) by addressing three key questions: 1) How adequate are the proposed measures to achieve the emission reduction targets? 2) How robust is the evidence base for the proposed measures? 3) To what extent have stakeholders been involved in the development of the...

Why Romania needs to establish an independent scientific advisory body on climate change

July 9, 2024

Independent scientific advisory bodies are consultative organisations composed of various experts with the role of advising governments on climate policy and monitoring progress towards reaching climate targets. Their overarching role includes identifying the shortcomings in climate policy and offering scientific advice to improve it. Climate policy would thus be enhanced by linking the latest scientific evidence to policymaking and filling the gap left by the lack of institutional capacity and in-house expertise of the government. Through this influx of expertise, Romania could also gain more ownership over its climate policies, by enabling domestic debate and initiative, rather than merely transposing...

A Whole-Lifecycle approach to the Romanian construction sector: status and barriers in the context of the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

July 2, 2024

The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) brings new provisions on accounting and managing whole-lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions in buildings. This approach, which implies addressing emissions along a building’s entire value chain (fromthe production of construction materials to demolition and post-demolition phases) can help increase coordination and grow low-carbon construction industries and had already been applied in several EU Member States before the revision of the EPBD. For countries yet institutionally unfamiliar with the concept of whole-life carbon (WLC), such as Romania, implementing the EPBD provisions on lifecycle emissions will imply a major regulatory overhaul. In Romania, the major...

Modelling of the Romanian Electricity Sector, 2025-2040

July 1, 2024

To reach climate neutrality by 2050, the European Union has set a 55% emission reduction target for 2030 and the European Commission has proposed a 90% reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Romania, through its multiple strategies and plans, has set out a vision for gradually decreasing its emissions. While these documents reflect significant strides forward for the energy transition, especially by committing to a coal phaseout calendar by 2032, they are fraught with inconsistencies and partly rely on sizeable investments in fossil capacities. Various projects on nuclear and hydro energy are also constantly announced with limited assessment...

Publication

Topic

Author

Year

The Cost of Romania’s Industrial Transition

Harnessing Solar Power: a Key Driver for Romania’s Decarbonisation Pathway

EPG REPORTS — Assesing the link between climate governance and citizens in Romania: socio-economic impact and public participation

National baseline assessment on underperforming renovations – Romania

Ce putem învăța din situația critică în care a ajuns sistemul energetic național în ultimele săptămâni?

EPG REPORTS — Assessment of Romania’s draft updated NECP

Why Romania needs to establish an independent scientific advisory body on climate change

A Whole-Lifecycle approach to the Romanian construction sector: status and barriers in the context of the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

Modelling of the Romanian Electricity Sector, 2025-2040