Climate action in Romania: Latest state of play

The EU's binding climate and energy legislation for 2030 requires Member States to adopt national energy and climate plans (NECPs) for the 2021-2030 period. In October 2020, the European Commission published an assessment for each NECP. Romania's final NECP is from April 2020. More than half (51 %) of Romanians expect national governments to tackle climate change. Romania generates 3 % of the EU-27's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduced emissions faster than the EU average between 2005 and 2019. With several energy-intensive industries present in Romania, the country's carbon intensity is much higher than the EU average, but decreasing rapidly. Energy industry emissions fell by 46 % between 2005 and 2019, reducing the sector's share of total emissions by eight percentage points. Conversely, emissions from the transport sector increased by 40 % over the same period, doubling that sector's share of total emissions. Romania relies to a great extent on fossil fuels. Renewables, along with nuclear energy, but also gas as a primary energy source, are seen as essential to the transition process. Under EU effort-sharing legislation, Romania was allowed to increase emissions until 2020 and must reduce these emissions by 2 % relative to 2005 by 2030. Romania achieved a 24.3 % share of renewable energy sources in 2019. The country's 2030 target of a 30.7 % share is focused mainly on wind, hydro, solar and fuels from biomass. Energy efficiency measures centre on heating supply and building envelopes along with industrial modernisation.