COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 2025 Environmental Implementation Review Country Report - ROMANIA Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 2025 Environmental Implementation Review for prosperity and security
Date: 2025-07-07
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, Romania, application of EU law, biodiversity, circular economy, climate change policy, environmental law, governance, pollution control measures, waste management

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 7.7.2025  SWD(2025) 322 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 2025 Environmental Implementation Review          Country Report - ROMANIA                   Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 2025 Environmental Implementation Review for prosperity and security         {COM(2025) 420 final} - {SWD(2025) 300 final} - {SWD(2025) 301 final} - {SWD(2025) 302 final} - {SWD(2025) 303 final} - {SWD(2025) 304 final} - {SWD(2025) 305 final} - {SWD(2025) 306 final} - {SWD(2025) 307 final} - {SWD(2025) 308 final} - {SWD(2025) 309 final} - {SWD(2025) 310 final} - {SWD(2025) 311 final} - {SWD(2025) 312 final} - {SWD(2025) 313 final} - {SWD(2025) 314 final} - {SWD(2025) 315 final} - {SWD(2025) 316 final} - {SWD(2025) 317 final} - {SWD(2025) 318 final} - {SWD(2025) 319 final} - {SWD(2025) 320 final} - {SWD(2025) 321 final} - {SWD(2025) 323 final} - {SWD(2025) 324 final} - {SWD(2025) 325 final} - {SWD(2025) 326 final}  
 
 
Romania  2 

Contents 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 3 

PART I: THEMATIC AREAS ...................................................................................................................................... 5 

1. CIRCULAR ECONOMY .................................................................................................................................................. 5 
Transitioning to a circular economy ..................................................................................................................... 5 
Waste management ............................................................................................................................................. 7 
2. BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL CAPITAL ........................................................................................................................... 15 
Global and EU biodiversity frameworks ............................................................................................................. 15 
Nature protection and restoration – Natura 2000 ............................................................................................. 15 
Recovery of species ............................................................................................................................................ 17 
Recovery of ecosystems ..................................................................................................................................... 18 
Prevention and management of invasive alien species ...................................................................................... 23 
Ecosystem assessment and accounting ............................................................................................................. 25 
3. ZERO POLLUTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 27 
Clean air ............................................................................................................................................................. 27 
Industrial emissions ............................................................................................................................................ 28 
Major industrial accidents prevention – Seveso ................................................................................................. 30 
Mercury Regulation ............................................................................................................................................ 32 
Noise .................................................................................................................................................................. 32 
Water quality and management ........................................................................................................................ 33 
Chemicals ........................................................................................................................................................... 38 
4. CLIMATE ACTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 41 
The EU emissions trading system ....................................................................................................................... 42 
Effort sharing ..................................................................................................................................................... 42 
Land use, land-use change and forestry ............................................................................................................. 43 
Adaptation to climate change ............................................................................................................................ 43 

PART II: ENABLING FRAMEWORK – IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS ............................................................................ 45 

5. FINANCING ............................................................................................................................................................. 45 
Climate finance landmarks ................................................................................................................................. 45 
Environmental financing and investments ......................................................................................................... 45 
Public financial management ............................................................................................................................. 50 
6. ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE ................................................................................................................................. 53 
Information, public participation and access to justice...................................................................................... 53 
Compliance assurance ........................................................................................................................................ 55 
EU-supported environmental capacity building ................................................................................................. 58 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Romania  3 

Executive summary

In  May  2016,  the  European  Commission  launched  the 
Environmental  Implementation  Review  (EIR),  a  regular 
reporting 
tool  based  on  analysis,  dialogue  and 
collaboration  with  EU  Member  States  to  improve  the 
implementation  of  existing  EU  environmental  policy  and 
legislation (1). Following previous cycles in 2017, 2019 and 
2022,  this  report  assesses  the  progress  made  while 
the  main  outstanding  challenges  and 
describing 
opportunities 
legal 
implementation in Romania. The purpose of this report is 
to  provide 
implementation 
performance  and  highlight  the  most  effective  ways  to 
address  the  implementation  gaps  that  impact  human 
health  and  the  environment  and  hamper  the  economic 
development  and  competitiveness  of  the  country.  The 
report relies on detailed sectoral implementation reports 
collected  or  issued  by  the  Commission  under  specific 
environmental legislation. 

information  on 

environmental 

regarding 

the 

The  main  challenges  set  out  below  have  been  selected 
from  Part I  of  this  report,  ‘Thematic  areas’,  taking  into 
consideration 
factors  such  as  the  gravity  of  the 
environmental implementation issue in light of the impact 
on the quality of life of citizens, the distance to target, and 
financial  implications.  In  Romania,  such  challenges  have 
been  lingering  since  the  first  EIR  in  2017  and  require 
urgent action. 

Urgent  reforms  and  investments  on  waste  and  circular 
economy remain insufficient. Further efforts are urgently 
needed to reduce Romania’s reliance on waste disposal in 
landfills,  which  remains  significant.  Despite  Romania 
having  made  some  progress  on  closing  substandard  or 
illegal landfills, progress has been too slow and it is paying 
the consequent financial sanctions.  There has been some 
improving  and  extending  the  separate 
progress 
collection of waste, and using economic instruments such 
as  the  extended  producer  responsibility.  Nevertheless, 
Romania  is  in  the  category  of  Member  States  at  risk  of 
missing both the municipal waste and the packaging waste 
targets for 2025. Romania is also at risk of not meeting the 
2035 target of municipal waste landfilled.  

in 

Urban wastewater collected in Romania is not adequately 
treated as required by EU law.  Given the slow progress of 
compliance with the Wastewater Treatment Directive, in 

(1) 

from 

the  Commission 

the  European 
Communication 
Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions –  Delivering  the 
benefits  of  EU  environmental  policies  through  a  regular 

to 

November 2024 the Commission referred Romania to the 
Court  of  Justice  of  the  European  Union  for  its  failure  to 
comply with the Urban Wastewater  Treatment  Directive 
in relation to agglomerations of above 10 000 population 
equivalent, which benefited from a transitional period in 
accordance with Romania’s Treaty of Accession. Romania 
should  fully  use  the  financial  support  provided  by  the 
cohesion policy and the Romanian recovery and resilience 
plan  to  make  progress  on  reforms  and  building  the 
necessary  infrastructure,  as  the  investment  gap  remains 
significant. 

its 

The  air  quality  in  Romania  continues  to  give  cause  for 
concern  in  some  parts  of  its  territory,  with  severe 
consequences on the health of the population. Romania 
submitted 
first  national  air  pollution  control 
programme  (NAPCP)  with  significant  delay,  but  the 
measures  taken  to  address  air  pollutants  are  still 
insufficient. The latest reported data show continued non-
compliance  with  the  2020–2029  emission  reduction 
commitments  for  NOx  and  PM2.5.  Although  Romania  has 
made some progress, exceedances above the limit values 
remain  for  NO2  and  PM10,  which  require  further  action. 
Despite  some  progress  in  the  air  quality  monitoring 
network, gaps remain concerning the appropriate number 
and type of the air  quality sampling  points and the data 
quality objectives. 

Romania’s  overall  environmental  investment  gap 
is 
EUR 5.4 billion per year, representing 1.9 % of the national 
GDP,  being  significantly  higher  than  the  EU  average 
(0.77%).  The  highest  shares  are  for  biodiversity  and 
ecosystems  and  water  management,  and  pollution 
prevention  and  control.  It  is  necessary  to  ensure  an 
increased 
further  exploit 
opportunities  in  private  financing  to  close  investment 
gaps.  

financing,  and 

level  of 

On environmental governance, Romania has made some 
progress with the implementation of the Infrastructure for 
Spatial Information in the European Community Directive, 
but it should still make spatial data more widely accessible 
and  prioritise  the  environmental  datasets.  Romania  has 
developed  national  guidelines  on  the  preparation  of 
environmental impact assessment reports specifically for 
hydropower projects. However, further efforts are needed 

implementation  review,  COM(2016) 316 
environmental 
final  of  27 May  2016,  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2016%3A316%3AFIN. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Romania  4 

with  regard  to  the  process  of  providing  information 
concerning  strategic  environmental  assessment  and 
environmental impact assessment, as well as information 
provided  to  the  public  on  their  right  to  access  to  justice 
and improved access to courts. 

On  the  positive  side,  some  good  practices  for  nature 
protection and restoration can be identified. The financial 
instrument  for  the  environment  (LIFE)  programme  has 
supported  only  a  few  nature  conservation  projects  in 

recent years, but these have proved to be of paramount 
importance  for  the  protection  of  habitats,  species  and 
forests  in  Romania.  These  include  the  creation  of  a 
wilderness  reserve  in  the  Southern  Carpathians,  the 
in  the  Eastern 
conservation  of  saproxylic  beetles 
Carpathians,  and developing  a  cooperative  approach  for 
the  good  management  of  Natura  2000  grasslands.  LIFE 
projects on sturgeons have also been instrumental. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  5 

Part I: Thematic areas 

1. Circular economy 

Transitioning to a circular economy 

Figure 1: CMUR (%), 2013–2023 

Advancing the transition to a circular economy in the EU 
will reduce the environmental and climate impact of our 
industrial  systems  by  reducing  input  materials,  keeping 
products and materials in the loop for longer and reducing 
waste generation, thus decoupling economic growth from 
circular  economy  has 
resource 
considerable  potential  to  increase  competitiveness  and 
job creation and will also promote innovation and provide 
access to new markets. With the 2020 circular  economy 
in  place  or 
action  plan  (CEAP) (2)  measures  either 
legislatively  advanced,  Member  States  will  now  have  to 
focus on a swift and effective implementation. 

consumption.  A 

The 2020 CEAP launched the legislative process for a set 
of  initiatives  that  will  now  have  to  be  implemented  by 
national  governments  across  the  EU.  These  initiatives 
were all introduced following a holistic life-cycle approach, 
with  measures  addressing  the  different  stages  of  a 
product’s life cycle, from design through use to end of life. 

In the CEAP, the EU sets as its overarching objective the 
doubling of its circular material use rate (CMUR) by 2030. 

The CMUR is a  measure of one aspect of circularity: the 
share of the total amount of material used in the economy 
that is accounted for by recycled waste.  A higher CMUR 
value means that more secondary materials were used as 
a  substitute  for  raw  materials,  thus  reducing  the 
environmental impacts of extracting primary material. 

Romania’s  circular  use  of  materials  has  been  slowly 
declining since 2012 and stood at 1.3 % in 2023. This is the 
lowest rate in EU, considerably below the EU average of 
11.8 % (Figure 1). 

15

10

5

0

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

2023

Romania

EU-27

Source: Eurostat, ‘Circular material use rate’, env_ac_cur,  last updated 
13 November 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/product/view/env_ac_cur. 

December 

accessed 

2024, 

10 

Resource  productivity  measures  the  total  amount  of 
materials directly used by an economy in relation to gross 
domestic product (GDP). Improving resource productivity 
can help to minimise negative impacts on the environment 
and reduce dependency on volatile raw material markets. 
As shown in Figure 2, with EUR 0.34 generated per kg of 
material  consumed 
resource 
productivity  remains  well  below  the  EU  average  of 
EUR 2.23 per kg. 

in  2023,  Romania’s 

Figure 2: Resource productivity (EUR/kg), 2013–2023 

2,5

2,0

1,5

1,0

0,5

0,0

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

2023

Romania

EU-27

NB: The unit of measurement used is EUR/kg chain-linked volume (2015). 
Chain-linked  volumes  focus  on  changes  on  quantities  and  prices  of 
commodities  in  previous  years,  taking  account  of  inflation,  and  are 
indexed to the nearest appropriate year, in this case 2015. 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Resource  productivity’,  env_ac_rp,  last  updated 
7 August 
2024, 
accessed 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/product/view/env_ac_rp. 

9 December 

2024, 

(2) 

from 

the  Commission 

the  European 
Communication 
Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions –  A  new  circular 
economy action plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe, 

to 

COM(2020) 98 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2020%3A98%3AFIN. 

11 March 

2020, 

final 

of 

https://eur-

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
Romania  6 

guide,  which 

Environmental  criteria  have  been  included  in  public 
procurement  in  Romania  since  the  publication  of  Law 
No 69/2016 on green public procurement. A green public 
procurement 
includes  minimum 
requirements  for  environmental  protection  for  certain 
groups  of  products  and  services,  was  produced  in  2018, 
but  has  since  been 
recent 
environmental  criteria  have  been  in  place  since  August 
2024. In 2022, the legislation on public procurement and 
sectoral  procurement  was  amended  and  supplemented 
with  provisions  on  environmental  evaluation  factors.  In 
addition, to  prevent  duplication  of  legislative  provisions, 
Law No 69/2016 was repealed. 

repealed.  The  most 

strategy 

recently, 

the  national 

More 
for  public 
procurement  (2023–2027)  was  adopted  with  the  aim  to 
develop  a  national  green  procurement  plan  establishing 
multiyear  targets  for  contracting  authorities/entities  to 
implement  green  public  procurement 
in  selected 
categories  of  products,  services  or  works  for  which  the 
European  Commission  has  developed  ecological  criteria. 
On 24 April 2025, the government approved the national 
green procurement programme 2025-2030. 

The  EU  Ecolabel  and  the  eco-management  and  audit 
scheme 

The  number  of  EU  Ecolabel  product  groups  and  the 
number  of  eco-management  and  audit  scheme  (EMAS)-
licensed  organisations  in  each  country  provide  some 
indication  of  the  extent  to  which  the  private  sector  and 
national stakeholders in that country are actively engaged 
in the transition to a circular economy. The EU Ecolabel is 
awarded  to  products  with  best-in-class  environmental 
is  a  voluntary  environment 
performance.  EMAS 
management 
the 
scheme 
environmental impacts of organisations. 

reducing 

aimed 

at 

As  of  September  2024,  Romania  had  123  Ecolabel 
products out of the EU total 98 977 (goods and services) 
awarded  with  the  EU  Ecolabel,  and  70  Ecolabel  licences 
out  of  2 983  awarded,  indicating  low  take-up  of  the 
products and licences, but an increase since the last report 
nevertheless (8).  Moreover,  20  organisations 
from 

Policies and measures 

In  parallel  with  European  initiatives  under  the  CEAP, 
Member States are encouraged to adopt and implement 
circular strategies at the national, regional and city levels. 
These should be tailored to each national and local reality, 
to  harness  the  proximity  economy’s (3)  potential,  while 
following  the  principles  of  a  holistic  whole-value-chain 
approach. 

Since the launch of the online European Circular Economy 
Stakeholder  Platform  in  2017 (4)  national,  regional  and 
local  authorities  have  used  the  platform  to  share  their 
strategies,  roadmaps  and  good  practices,  for  example 
alternative business models and innovative technologies. 

Romania adopted its  national  action  plan promoting the 
circular economy in 2023 (5) as part of the 2022 national 
strategy for the circular economy (6). 

Both  the  action  plan  and  the  strategy  were  developed 
within  the  framework  of  the  national  recovery  and 
resilience plan (RRP) (7), with the support of the European 
Commission’s technical support instrument (TSI). 

The  action  plan  sets  a  clear  general  direction  for 
accelerating  the  transition  from  a  linear  to  a  circular 
economy model in Romania. It provides an overview of 14 
economic sectors in terms of their circularity potential and 
identifies 52 priority actions concentrated in 10 sectors. 

These are introduced in parallel with cross-cutting actions, 
which  include  measures  on  education  and  vocational 
training;  research,  development  and  innovation;  green 
procurement;  and  encouragement  of  digitisation.  The 
action plan provides objectives, implementation deadlines 
and tables for monitoring and evaluating progress in the 
implementation  of  actions.  To  further 
improve  the 
monitoring  of 
implementation,  a  monitoring  and 
evaluation plan is being developed. 

Green public procurement 

Public  procurement  accounts  for  a  large  proportion  of 
European 
authorities’ 
consumption,  with  public 
purchasing  power  representing  around  14 %  of  EU  GDP. 
Public  procurement  using  green  or  circular  criteria  (life-
cycle analysis, PaaS (platform as a service), second hand) 
can help drive the demand for sustainable products that 
meet reparability and recyclability standards. 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

website, 

Commission 

European Commission, ‘Proximity and social economy ecosystem’, 
European 
https://single-market-
economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/proximity-and-social-
economy_en. 
Circular 
(https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/en/strategies). 
Department  for  Sustainable  Development,  Planul  de  acțiune 
pentru Strategia națională privind economia circulară, Bucharest, 
https://dezvoltaredurabila.gov.ro/planul-de-actiune-
2023, 

Stakeholder 

Economy 

Platform 

(6) 

(7) 
(8) 

națională 

economia 

pentru-strategia-nationala-privind-economia-circulara-10519261. 
Strategia 
circulară 
privind 
https://dezvoltaredurabila.gov.ro/strategia-nationala-privind-
economia-circulara-13409762 . 
https://mfe.gov.ro/pnrr/.  
European Commission, ‘EU Ecolabel facts and figures’, European 
Commission 
2025, 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/circular-economy/eu-
ecolabel/businesses/ecolabel-facts-and-figures_en. 

6 February 

accessed 

website, 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Romania are currently registered in EMAS, an increase of 
15 organisations since October 2021 (9). 

With regard to the evolution since the 2022 EIR, the CMUR 
of Romania decreased by 0.2 percentage points in 2023, 
remaining the lowest in EU. This does not represent any 
progress  towards  the  2022  priority  action  to  take 
measures to increase the rate. 

The priority action for 2022 to adopt a circular economy 
policy framework has been fulfilled. 

2025 priority actions 

•  Adopt measures to increase the circular material use 

• 

rate. 
Speed  up  the  transition  to  a  circular  economy  by 
implementing  an  updated  national  strategy  and  the 
EU framework and recommendations, in particular to 
complement it with upstream circularity measures. 

Waste management 

Turning waste into a resource is supported by: 

(i)  addressing  the  full 

life  cycle  of  products,  from 
conception to end of life, by setting requirements on 
the design of products to ensure that they are more 
sustainable; 

(ii) fully implementing EU waste legislation, which includes 
the waste hierarchy, the obligation to ensure separate 
collection of waste, landfill diversion targets, etc.; 
(iii) reducing waste generation per capita and in absolute 

terms; 

(iv)  increasing  the  recycling  rates  of  waste  containing 
critical raw materials (CRMs), with a view to reducing 
dependencies and building resilient value chains, and 
stimulating  demand  for  recycled  content 
in  all 
products; 

(v)  limiting  energy  recovery  to  non-recyclable  materials; 

and 

(vi)  phasing  out  landfilling  of  recyclable  or  recoverable 

waste. 

One  of  the  main  objectives  of  the  EU  Waste  Law  is  to 
decouple  economic  growth  from 
its  environmental 
impacts. 

The EU’s approach to waste management is based on the 
waste  treatment  hierarchy:  prevention,  preparing  for 
reuse,  recycling,  recovery  and,  as  the  least  preferred 
landfilling  and 
includes 
option,  disposal 
incineration without energy recovery). 

(which 

Romania  7 

All legislative proposals in the field of waste management 
put forward by the Commission since 2021 are intended 
to encourage Member States to promote better product 
design,  to  require  producers  to  cover  the  costs  of 
managing the waste resulting from their products and to 
ensure that waste is managed at the higher levels of the 
waste hierarchy. 

Romania has seen a decrease in the total amount of waste 
generation over the past 12 years (Figure 3). This trend is 
primarily  driven  by  the  largest  waste  category,  other 
mineral  waste,  which  is  mainly  generated  in  the  mining 
and quarrying sector. When excluding mineral waste, the 
trend is similar to those in previous years, and the largest 
shares  of  waste  include  combustion  waste,  recyclable 
waste and mixed ordinary waste. The trend seems to be 
mainly  influenced  by  a  decrease  in  combustion  waste, 
which nearly halved from 2018 to 2020, before increasing 
again.  This  decrease  happened  while  Romania’s  GDP 
showed steady growth (except for a drop in 2020, which is 
most likely to be due to the COVID-19 outbreak) and the 
population slightly decreased,  indicating  a  decoupling  of 
economic growth and waste generation. 

Figure 3: Generation of waste (total and excluding major 
mineral waste), population and GDP, 2010–2022 

accessed 

15 October 

nama_10_gdp, 

Sources: Eurostat, ‘GDP and main components (output, expenditure and 
income)’, 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/nama_10_gdp__cust
om_9301905/default/table;  Eurostat,  ‘Generation  of  waste  by  waste 
category,  hazardousness  and  NACE  Rev. 2  activity’,  env_wasgen,  last 
2024, 
updated 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_wasgen/default/
table?lang=en; Eurostat, ‘Population change – Demographic balance and 
crude  rates  at  national  level’,  demo_grind,  accessed  15 October  2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/demo_gind/default/t
able?lang=en&category=demo.demo_ind. 

30 September 

22 October 

accessed 

2024, 

Critical raw materials 

Romania  addresses  CRMs  and  CRM-rich  products  in 
several national laws and initiatives. The main categories 
of CRMs and CRM-rich products are, however, not clearly 
listed in the scope covered by specific Romanian legislative 
tools. These tools are, in particular, the Romanian strategy 

(9) 

As of October 2024. European Commission, ‘Eco-management and 
audit scheme (EMAS)’, European Commission website, November 
2021, 

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/emas_registrations/stati
stics_graphs_en.htme. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
for the circular economy (10) and the Romanian CEAP (11), 
which  have  been  supported  under  the  Romanian  RRP; 
some sectoral legal acts, such as  Decision  No 1132/2008 
on  the  regime  of  batteries,  accumulators  and  waste 
batteries (12);  Government 
Emergency  Ordinance 
No 5/2015 on  waste electrical and electronic equipment 
(WEEE) (13) and Law No 212/2015 on the management of 
end-of-life  vehicles (14);  and  the  national  research, 
innovation  and  smart  specialisation  strategy  for  2022–
2027 (15),  which  also  addresses  clean  industry,  circular 
economy and the security of supply of raw materials. 

It should be noted that Romania is developing a national 
strategy  for  non-energy  mineral  resources,  Horizon 
2035 (16), that will tackle the circularity of CRMs and other 
CRM-related aspects. 

Romania’s  efforts  to  moderate  the  expected  rise  in 
demand  for  CRMs  also  include  increased  investments  in 
research  and  development  and  education  through  its 
national CEAP. Envisaged actions include training activities 
on  circular  economy.  The  national  strategy  on  raw 
materials has been adopted by the end of 2024.  

Construction and demolition waste 

Construction  and  demolition  waste  accounts  for  almost 
40 % of all waste generated in the EU. A recent study (17) 
by  the  Joint  Research  Centre  shows  that  preparing  for 
reuse  and  recycling  operations  are  preferred  over 
incineration  and 
landfilling  from  an  environmental 
perspective  for  most  of  the  difference  streams  of 

(10) 

(11) 

(12) 

(13) 

(14) 

(15) 

(16) 

July  2022, 

for  Romania,  18 

Circular  Economy  Strategy 
https://reform-
support.ec.europa.eu/document/download/aa105e25-b9e6-
464e-92af-
7dcf39bbeb50_en?filename=CE%20Strategy%20RO_18072022_F
inal_EN.pdf&prefLang=el  
Circular  Economy  Action  Plan  for  Romania,  29  November  2023, 
https://reform-
support.ec.europa.eu/document/download/d73ac95f-6868-
4747-8235-
11864114ecb3_en?filename=CE%20Action%20Plan%20Romania
_EN_clean.pdf&prefLang=bg. 
https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/97608. 
This 
includes rules on the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal 
of  waste  batteries  and  accumulators,  to  promote  high  levels  of 
collection and recycling. 
https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/167211. 
This 
includes measures for preventing or reducing the negative effects 
of  the  generation  and  management  of  WEEE  by  reducing  the 
overall effects of resource use and by improving the efficiency of 
the use of these resources. 
https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/170043. 
This 
includes measures to prevent the generation of waste from end-
of-life vehicles, and the reuse, recycling and other recovery of end-
of-life vehicles and components to reduce waste disposal. 
https://www.mcid.gov.ro/wp-
content/uploads/2022/12/strategia-na-ional-de-cercetare-
inovare-i-specializare-inteligent-2022-2027.pdf. 
https://economie.gov.ro/structura-organizatorica/resurse-

Romania  8 

construction  and  demolition  waste.  However,  the 
economics are often unfavourable for preparing for reuse 
and recycling compared with incineration and landfilling. 
If available technology were to be applied, it is estimated 
that the increase in preparing for reuse and recycling  of 
construction and demolition waste would lead to 33 Mt of 
greenhouse  gas  (GHG)  emission  savings  annually  (more 
than  the  combined  annual  GHG  emissions  from  Estonia, 
Latvia and Luxembourg). 

The  preparing  for  reuse  and  recycling  rate  of  mineral 
construction  and  demolition  waste  in  Romania  in  2022 
was  52 %  compared  to  the  EU  average  of  79.8 %. 
Measures  to  further  increase  the  rate  of  recycling  and 
preparation  for  reuse  of  construction  and  demolition 
waste include separate collection at source – for instance, 
through  digitalised  pre-demolition  audits (18)  (‘resource 
assessments’); extended producer responsibility (EPR) and 
other  economic  instruments;  and  upstream  measures 
such  as  increasing  the  recycled  content  in  construction 
products and the circular design (19) of construction works. 
Various  proposals  for  normative  acts  are  considered  in 
view of better regulating the sector. 

Boosting 
Warning Report 

implementation –  the  2023  Waste  Early 

This  section  focuses  on  the  management  of  municipal 
waste  (20),  for  which  EU  law  sets  mandatory  recycling 
targets.  In  June  2023,  the  Commission  published  the 
Waste  Early  Warning  Report (21)  identifying  the  general 
trends in waste management and the Member States at 

(17) 

(18) 

(19) 

minerale-neenergetice. 
European Commission: Joint Research Centre, Cristobal Garcia, J., 
Caro, D. et al., Techno-economic and environmental assessment of 
construction and demolition waste management in the European 
Union,  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  Luxembourg, 
2024, 
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC1354
70. 
European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Internal  Market, 
Industry,  Entrepreneurship  and  SMEs,  EU  Construction  & 
Demolition Waste Management Protocol including guidelines for 
pre-demolition and pre-renovation audits of construction works – 
Updated edition 2024, Publications Office of the European Union, 
Luxembourg,  2024,  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/d63d5a8f-64e8-11ef-a8ba-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en. 
European Commission, Circular Economy – Principles for buildings 
design, 
2020, 
Brussels, 
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/39984. 

(20)  Municipal  waste  consists  of  (i)  mixed  waste  and  separately 
collected waste from households, including paper and cardboard, 
glass, metals, plastics, biowaste, wood, textiles, packaging, WEEE, 
waste  batteries  and  accumulators,  and  bulky  waste,  including 
mattresses  and  furniture;  and  (ii)  mixed  waste  and  separately 
collected waste from other sources, where such waste is similar in 
nature  and  composition  to  waste  from  households  (Directive 
2008/98/EC, Article 3.2b). 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/waste-early-
warning-report_en. 

(21) 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
risk of missing 2025 waste targets (see Figure 4). Romania 
is  at  risk  of  missing  the  municipal  waste  and  packaging 
waste targets. Romania is also at risk of not meeting the 
2035  target  of  having  a  maximum  of  10 %  of  municipal 
waste landfilled. 

advance  of  the  deadline  and  submit  an  implementation 
plan  laying  down  the  steps  they  envisage  to  reach  the 
postponed targets within a new time frame. Regarding the 
2025 targets, 11 Member States, including Romania, have 
used this prerogative. 

Romania  9 

Figure 4:  Member  States’  prospects  of  meeting  the 
preparing  for  reuse  and  recycling  targets  for  municipal 
waste and packaging waste 

Member  States  not  at  risk  of  missing  the  55 % 
preparing  for  reuse  and  recycling  target  for 
municipal  waste  and  the  65 %  recycling  target  for 
packaging waste 

  Member States at risk of missing the preparing for 
reuse and recycling target for municipal waste but 
not  at  risk  of  missing  the  recycling  target  for 
packaging waste 

  Member States at risk of missing both targets 
  Outside coverage 

Source: European Environment Agency (EEA), ‘Many EU Member States 
not on track to meet recycling targets for municipal waste and packaging 
waste’, briefing No 28/2022, Copenhagen, 2023. Reference data © ESRI. 

Under  certain  conditions,  EU  waste  legislation  enables 
some  Member  States  to  postpone  the  deadlines  for 
reaching certain waste management targets for municipal 
and packaging waste. Member States that want to use this 
possibility  have  to  notify  the  Commission  24 months  in 

On 20 November 2023, Romania notified the Commission 
of  its  intention  to  postpone  the  attainment  of  the 
preparing  for  reuse  and  recycling  target  for  municipal 
waste and submitted an implementation plan laying down 
the  measures  necessary  to  attain  the  target  within  a 
postponed time frame (i.e. by 2030 instead of 2025). 

In  the  Waste  Early  Warning  Report,  the  Commission 
recommended  that  Member  States  accelerate  their 
efforts  to  improve  their  recycling  performance.  The 
Commission  is,  on  one  hand,  working  together  with  the 
national  authorities  and  stakeholders  to  speed  up  the 
implementation  of  measures  necessary  to  meet  the 
targets,  including  through  dedicated  financing.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Commission  is  pursuing  enforcement 
actions against those Member States that, based on data 
submitted to the Commission, do not achieve the targets 
of the Waste Framework Directive (22), the Packaging and 
Packaging  Waste  Directive  (23)  and  the  Directive  on 
WEEE (24). 

The data submitted by Romania show that it missed the 
2020  municipal  waste  targets,  the  packaging  and  waste 
targets  and  the  WEEE  target.  Hence,  an  infringement 
procedure was launched in July 2024 (25). 

Municipal waste 

Romania’s  municipal  waste  generation  has  slightly 
increased  in  recent  years  (Figure 5).  In  2022,  Romania 
generated 303 kg per capita of municipal waste, which is 
significantly below the estimated EU-27 average of 513 kg 
per capita. 

Romania had a low recycling rate of 12 % in 2022, which is 
significantly below the estimated EU-27 average of 49 %, 
and the trend has stagnated since 2010. The landfill rate 
was  74 %  in  2022,  with  no  progress  made  since  2010 
(Figure 6). 

Romania also reported data to show compliance with the 
preparing for reuse and recycling target of 55 % for 2025. 
The difference between these (provisional) data, following 
the  reporting  obligation  of  the  Waste  Framework 

(22)   Directive  2008/98/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  19  November  2008  on  waste  and  repealing  certain 
Directives, Directive - 2008/98 - EN - Waste framework directive - 
EUR-Lex. 

(23)   European  Parliament  and  Council  Directive  94/62/EC  of  20 
December  1994  on  packaging  and  packaging  waste  (OJ  L  365, 
31/12/1994, p. 10–23), Directive - 94/62 - EN - EUR-Lex. 

(24)   Directive  2012/19/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  4 July  2012  on  waste  electrical  and  electronic 

(25) 

- 

- 

EN 

equipment  (WEEE)  (OJ  L 197,  24.7.2012,  p. 38),  Directive  - 
2012/19 
EUR-Lexhttps://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32012L0019. 
INFR(2024)2136; 
‘July 
infringement  package:  Key  decisions’,  European  Commission 
2024, 
website, 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_24_
3228. 

see  also  European  Commission, 

25 July 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
Directive,  and  the  data  shown  in  Figure 6  (voluntary 
reporting)  was  less  than  1 percentage  point  for  the 
preparing  for  reuse  and  recycling  rate  in  both  2021  and 
2022 (26). 

Figure 6: Recycling (including preparation for reuse) and 
landfill rates (%), 2010–2022 

Romania  10 

One  key  reason  for  the  low  recycling  rate  is  the  low 
composting  and  anaerobic  digestion  rate,  as  Romania 
does not have enough capacity for the separate collection 
and  adequate  treatment  of  biowaste (27).  The  estimated 
current  capacity  for  composting  or  digesting  separately 
collected  biowaste  can  only  treat  about  27 %  of  the 
generated 
about 
1.7 million t) (28). The incineration rate in Romania is low 
but increasing and currently stands at 8 %. 

(estimated 

amount 

be 

to 

Figure 5:  Municipal  waste  management  and  recycling 
(including preparation for reuse), 2010–2022 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Municipal  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 
2024, 
env_wasmun, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASMUN/defa
ult/table. 

22 October 

accessed 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Municipal  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 
env_wasmun, 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASMUN/defa
ult/table. 

22 October 

accessed 

Packaging waste 

Romania’s  packaging  waste  generation  has  increased 
during  recent  years  (Figure 7),  especially  since  2017.  It 
rose from 72 kg per capita in 2017 to 127 kg per capita in 
2021,  which  is  still  significantly  below  the  estimated 
European average of 189 kg per capita in the same year. 

In 2021, the overall recycling rate for packaging waste was 
38 %,  which  is  significantly  below  the  estimated  EU-27 
average  of  64 %  in  the  same  year.  The  packaging  waste 
recycling rate fluctuated between around 40 % and 60 % 
throughout  2010–2021  (Figure 8).  The  recycling  rate  is 
mainly  driven  by  the  recycling  of  paper  and  cardboard 
packaging and wooden packaging, as these represent the 
largest  shares  of  packaging  waste.  However,  there  are 
data quality issues regarding packaging waste (29). There is 
a  large  discrepancy  between  the  low  recycling  rate  for 
municipal  waste  and  the  moderate  recycling  rate  for 
packaging  waste,  and  thus  the  datasets  on  municipal 
waste  and  packaging  waste  indicate  inconsistency (30). 
Recently, improvements in the data collection and quality 
assurance  system  have  been  initiated  (e.g.  external 
auditing of EPR schemes) (31). 

(26) 

(27) 

(28) 

Eurostat, information provided by Eurostat on provisional data in 
response  to  the  reporting  obligation  under  Article 37(1)  of  the 
Waste Framework Directive related to the target on the preparing 
for reuse and recycling of municipal waste (Article 11(2c)), 2024. 
Commission  staff  working  document –  The  early  warning  report 
for  Romania,  SWD(2023) 199  final  of  8 June  2023,  https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=SWD:2023:199:FIN. 
European  Environment  Agency  (EEA),  Early  warning  assessment 
related to the 2025 targets for municipal and packaging waste – 
Romania, 
2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 

Copenhagen, 

(29) 

(30) 

(31) 

EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Romania,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 
EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Romania,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 
EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Romania,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  11 

Figure 8: Packaging waste recycling rates (%), 2010–2022 

(Law  No 249/2015)  underwent 

In 2018, national legislation on packaging and packaging 
waste 
important 
changes (32),  which  led  to  a  break  in  the  time  series, 
indicated for reference year 2019. These changes resulted 
in  a  strong  increase  in  the  recorded  packaging  waste 
generated,  while  the  recycled  volumes  stayed  relatively 
stable (33), leading to a drop in the recycling rates for all 
packaging materials. 

Figure 7: Packaging waste generation, 2010–2022 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Packaging  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 
env_waspac, last updated 23 October 2024, accessed 28 October 2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASPAC__cust
om_842634/default/table?lang=en. 

No data available for 2022. In 2018 the national legislation on packaging 
and packaging waste (Law 249/2015) underwent important changes by 
Emergency Ordinance 74/2018. Break in series indicated for 2019. As of 
reference year 2020 the rules for calculating recycled packaging waste 
have  changed,  pursuant  to  Article  6a  of  Directive  94/62/EC.  The  new 
reporting  rules have  been applied in  Romania for  reference  year  2020 
onwards. 

Policies to encourage waste prevention 

Waste  management  plans  and  waste  prevention 
programmes are instrumental to the full implementation 
of  EU  waste  legislation.  They  set  out  key  provisions  and 
investments to ensure compliance with existing and new 
legal requirements (e.g. on waste prevention, on separate 
collection for certain waste streams, on recycling and on 
landfill targets). 

Overall,  Romanian  waste  legislation  follows  EU  waste 
legislation.  EU  waste  management 
legislation  was 
transposed  into  national  law  through  a  number  of  laws, 
including Government Emergency Ordinance No 92/2021 
on the waste regime; Government Emergency Ordinance 
No 195/2005 on environmental protection; the Sanitation 
Law  (Law  No 101/2006),  which  sets  out  objectives, 
organisational  principles  and  obligations 
the 
administrative territorial units; the Environment Fund on 
defining  economic  instruments  for  (inter  alia)  waste 
management  and landfill diversion, as well as provisions 
for  administration  of  the  fund;  and  various  other  legal 
norms covering specific waste streams, such as packaging, 

for 

env_waspac, last updated 23 October 2024, accessed 28 October 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASPAC
__custom_842634/default/table?lang=en. 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Packaging  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 
env_waspac, last updated 23 October 2024, accessed 28 October 2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASPAC__cust
om_842634/default/table?lang=en. 

No data available for 2022. In 2018 the national legislation on packaging 
and packaging waste (Law 249/2015) underwent important changes by 
Emergency Ordinance 74/2018. Break in series indicated for 2019. As of 
reference year 2020 the rules for calculating recycled packaging waste 
have  changed,  pursuant  to  Article  6a  of  Directive  94/62/EC.  The  new 
reporting  rules have  been applied in  Romania for  reference  year  2020 
onwards. 

(32) 

(33) 

packaging 

Eurostat,  Country-specific  notes  referring  to  data  on  packaging 
2024, 
and 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/Annexes/env_w
aspac_esms_an_3.pdf. 
Eurostat,  ‘Packaging  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 

Luxembourg, 

waste, 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  12 

WEEE, batteries, tyres, single-use plastic and the deposit 
return system. 

Romania’s national waste management plan (NWMP) and 
national waste prevention programme are valid until the 
end of 2025 (34). The NWMP needs to be revised to cover 
the  years  beyond  2025  and  to  ensure  compliance  with 
European waste legislation. 

The  priority  waste  streams  for  prevention  are  food  and 
organic  waste,  construction  and  demolition  waste, 
hazardous waste, household and municipal waste, paper 
and  cardboard,  packaging,  WEEE  and  batteries  and 
manufacturing waste (35). 

Quantitative waste prevention targets are specified, along 
with  proposed  indicators  for  follow-up.  Notably,  these 
include reducing household waste per  capita by 10 % by 
levels  and  decoupling 
2027  compared  with  2017 
packaging  waste  generation  from  economic  growth  (i.e. 
the  increase  in  packaging  waste  should  be  at  least  10 % 
lower than GDP growth in 2017–2025). 
To  reduce  household  waste,  food  waste  is  addressed  in 
public procurement and through awareness raising, date 
marking food packaging and introducing waste prevention 
topics into pre-university education (36). Actions to target 
the reduction of packaging waste are established through 
design and redesign, and the optimisation of packaging to 
minimise resource use (37). 

In 2018, Romania established Law No 217/2016, on food 
waste  reduction,  which  aims  to  reduce  food  waste 
throughout the food supply chain. The law simplifies the 
donation of surplus food. Several food waste prevention 
projects  have  been  initiated,  such  as  the  ‘Food  bank’ 
project,  which  aims  to  redistribute  food  waste  in  three 
cities in Romania (38). 

measures  have  not  been  evaluated  yet.  Information 
regarding budget or financial incentives are not specified 
in  the  current  national  waste  prevention  programme 
(covering 2018–2025) (39). 

The  NWMP 
is  underpinned  by  41  county  waste 
management plans and the Bucharest municipality waste 
management plan. 

Policies to encourage separate collection and recycling 

The  separate  collection  system  does  not  distinguish 
between household and non-household waste.  Separate 
collection for non-household packaging waste  streams is 
mandatory.  The  system  relies  on  bring  banks  for 
recyclables. Romanian legislation lacks a clear definition of 
the  separate  collection  service  that  is  to  be  provided  to 
residents, and no enforcement measures are expected. In 
2020,  the  National  Environmental  Guard 
identified 
deficiencies in the implementation of the requirements on 
waste collection services. More detailed information is not 
available on the degree of service provision for separate 
collection (40). 

Romania  has  firm  plans  to  increase  separate  collection 
services in 2024–2026 for at least biowaste, wood, WEEE, 
paper, metal, plastic and glass waste (41). The aim is for the 
capture  rates  of  separate  collection  to  be  increased  by 
extending  the  coverage  of  the  bring  point  system, 
establishing civic amenity sites, and providing composting 
units  for  households  in  rural  areas.  Investments  in  the 
infrastructure  for  separate  collection  and  recycling 
facilities  is  supported  by  the  EU  not  only  through  the 
cohesion policy but also the recovery and resilience facility 
(RRF),  and  it  is  planned  for  these  investments  to  be  in 
place by mid 2026 (42). 

The  2014–2020  NWMP  was  the  first  national  document 
addressing waste prevention, though the impacts of these 

In  Romania,  EPR  applies  to  the  main  packaging  waste 
streams for both households and non-households, and no 

(34) 

EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Romania,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 

(35)  Government  of  Romania,  Planul  Național  de  Gestionare  a 
2017, 

[National  waste  management  plan], 

Deșeurilor 
https://anpm.ro/documents/16755/42624324/Planul+National+
de+Gestionare+a+Deseurilor.pdf/49fb72f1-81e2-4892-b0a9-
669c74ce95e4; EEA, Waste Prevention Country Profile – Romania, 
Copenhagen, 
2023, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/waste-
prevention/countries/2023-waste-prevention-country-fact-
sheets/romania_waste_prevention_2023. 
EEA,  Waste  Prevention  Country  Profile –  Romania,  Copenhagen, 
2023, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/waste-
prevention/countries/2023-waste-prevention-country-fact-
sheets/romania_waste_prevention_2023. 
EEA,  Waste  Prevention  Country  Profile –  Romania,  Copenhagen, 
2023, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/waste-
prevention/countries/2023-waste-prevention-country-fact-
sheets/romania_waste_prevention_2023. 

(36) 

(37) 

(38) 

(39) 

EEA,  Waste  Prevention  Country  Profile –  Romania,  Copenhagen, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/waste-
2023, 
prevention/countries/2023-waste-prevention-country-fact-
sheets/romania_waste_prevention_2023. 
EEA,  Waste  Prevention  Country  Profile –  Romania,  Copenhagen, 
2023, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/waste-
prevention/countries/2023-waste-prevention-country-fact-
sheets/romania_waste_prevention_2023. 
EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Romania,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 
(41)   As noted in the reply to the  

infringement 

case 

(40) 

(42) 

INFR(2024)2136. 
Council  of  the  European  Union, 
‘Annex  to  the  Council 
implementing  decision  amending  the  implementing  decision  of 
29 October  2021  on  the  approval  of  the  assessment  of  the 
recovery  and  resilience  plan  for  Romania’,  2023/0428(NLE), 
22 November 
2023, 
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15833-
2023-ADD-1/en/pdf. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
advanced  fee  modulation  is  applied  (i.e.  fee  modulation 
beyond the broad material categories, such as higher fees 
for  difficult-to-recycle  plastic  types  or  combinations  of 
materials).  Romania  does  not  apply  packaging  taxes 
except for those on plastic carrier bags. A deposit return 
system is mandatory for refillable glass bottles. At the end 
of  2023,  a  system  was  launched  to  cover  non-refillable 
primary packaging made of glass, plastic and metal (43). 

In order to incentivise sorting at the source, Romania has 
implemented a volume-based, pay-as-you-throw scheme 
in around two thirds of the administrative territorial units. 

Policies to discourage landfilling or incineration 

In  2019,  Romania  introduced  a  ban  on  the  landfilling  of 
recyclables  and  a  landfill  tax  of  RON 80/t  (EUR 16/t)  in 
2020,  which  does  not  distinguish  between  residual  and 
biodegradable waste. The landfill tax is considerably lower 
than  the  average  landfill  tax  applied  across  Member 
States.  Romania  has  no  tax  on  waste  incineration,  as 
Romania has low incineration capacity (44). 

Romania  has  to  speed  up  its  progress  towards  reaching 
the 2025 target for the preparing for reuse and recycling 
of 55 % for municipal waste, the 2025 target for recycling 
of 65 % for packaging waste, and the 2035 target to reduce 
landfill to 10 % of the generated municipal waste (45). Until 
2022,  Romania  had  not  made  progress  on  improving  its 
preparing for reuse and recycling rate for municipal waste 
or on reducing the landfilling of municipal waste. 

is 

in 

involved 

currently 

landfills;  for  the  first 

Romania 
four  ongoing 
infringement procedures. Two concern its failure to close 
infringement 
and  rehabilitate 
proceedings Romania is paying penalties since the end of 
2023. So far, Romania has paid EUR 4 816 200.00. Another 
infringement  (46)  concerns  the  obligation  to  treat  waste 
before  landfilling.  Romania  does  not  yet  have  a  waste 
network infrastructure to treat all the waste generated in 
the country. Finally, another infringement, as mentioned, 
concerns  Romania’s  failure  to  attain  the  2020  recycling 
target  for municipal waste, the 2021  recycling target  for 

(43) 

(44) 

(45) 

Copenhagen, 

https://returosgr.ro/en;  see  also  EEA,  Early  warning  assessment 
related to the 2025 targets for municipal and packaging waste – 
Romania, 
2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 
EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Romania,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 
EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Romania,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 

(46)     INFR(2020)2355, Judgment in case C-109/22 

Romania  13 

packaging waste and the 2020 collection target for WEEE 
(47). 

In the 2022 Environmental Implementation Review (EIR), 
the Commission recommended that Romania ensure the 
closure  and  rehabilitation  of  substandard  landfills,  and 
take action against illegal landfills and fly-tipping; improve 
and  extend  the  separate  collection  of  waste,  including 
biowaste;  use  economic  instruments;  set  mandatory 
recycling  targets  for  municipalities;  and  improve  the 
functioning  of  EPR  systems,  in  line  with  the  general 
minimum  requirements  on  EPR (48).  Romania  has  made 
some progress  on closing substandard or illegal  landfills, 
with more than half of the landfills subject to infringement 
case INFR(2017)2024 already closed; to date, 29 landfills 
remain  open,  with  Romania  paying  the  consequent 
financial sanctions. Romania has made good progress on 
the implementation of the NWMP and waste prevention 
programme, 
to 
revise/update the NWMP for the period after 2025. It has 
made  some  progress  on  improving  and  extending  the 
separate  collection  of  waste,  and  use  of  economic 
instruments.  No  clear  assessment  can  be  made  of  the 
development 
implementation 
running 
of 
programmes 
for  municipalities  regarding  organising 
separate collection and improving recycling performance. 
Finally,  Romania  has  made  good  progress  on  improving 
the functioning of EPR. 

although 

Romania 

needs 

and 

still 

Romania has not yet ratified the Hong Kong Convention on 
Ship Recycling. 

2025 priority actions 

In  response  to  the  results  of  the  EEA’s  early  warning 
assessment  for  Romania (49),  the  Commission  issued  a 
number of policy recommendations to improve Romania’s 
waste management performance (50). 

• 
• 

Complete closure of non-compliant landfills.  
Improve  separate  collection  at  source  e.g.  through 
economic instruments, investing in infrastructure for 
separate  collection,  sorting  and  recycling,  and 
increasing public awareness.  

(47)     INFR(2024)2136 

(48) 

(49) 

(50) 

EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Romania,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 
EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal 
2022, 
packaging  waste, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/romania/view. 
Commission staff  working  document –  The  early  warning  report 
for  Romania,  SWD(2023) 199  final  of  8 June  2023,  https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=SWD:2023:199:FIN. 

Copenhagen, 

and 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Romania  14 

• 

• 

• 
• 

• 

Increase  reuse  of  products  and  scale  up  waste 
recycling  infrastructure  associated  with  the  higher 
steps  of  the  waste  hierarchy.  In  particular,  improve 
collection  and  increase  treatment  capacity  for  bio-
waste. 
Improve  municipal  waste  preparation  for  reuse  and 
recycling. 
Increase the recycling rates of packaging waste. 
Increase  the  collection  and  recycling  rate  of  waste 
electronic and electric equipment (WEEE). 
Improve the system for managing the quality of data 
on  packaging  waste  in  order  to  build  coherent  and 
verifiable data sets. 

• 

• 

• 

the  recommendations  made  by 

Invest  in  waste  prevention  measures  to  reduce  the 
total amount of waste generated. 
Ensure  the  achievement  of  the  2025  waste  targets, 
following 
the 
Commission  in  the  early  warning  reports  where 
applicable. 
Ensure  the  achievement  of  the  2025  waste  targets, 
following 
the 
Commission  in  the  Early  Warning  Reports  where 
applicable. 

the  recommendations  made  by 

•  Ratify the Hong Kong International Convention for the 
Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
2. Biodiversity and natural capital 

Global and EU biodiversity frameworks

Romania  15 

Biological  diversity  and  healthy  ecosystems  are  critical 
for our societies, underpin our economies and well-being 
and  are  essential  for  climate  change  adaptation  and 
mitigation.  The  Kunming–Montreal  global  biodiversity 
framework  (GBF),  adopted  in  December  2022,  sets 
comprehensive  and  measurable  targets  to  tackle 
biodiversity  loss  by  2030.  To  implement  this  global 
framework and integrate biodiversity considerations into 
national decision-making, the EU – as well as all Member 
States –  had  to  submit  national  biodiversity  strategies 
and action plans (NBSAPs), or to communicate national 
targets  aligned  with  the  global  targets,  by  the  end  of 
2024. The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 (BDS) aims to 
put EU biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030. It sets 
quantified targets intended to protect and restore nature 
and manage ecosystems in a sustainable manner, as well 
as  measures 
and 
commitments  to  support  global  biodiversity.  A  BDS 
actions  tracker (51)  and  a  dashboard  of  indicators (52) 
provide  information  on  implementation  progress.  The 
recently adopted EU Nature Restoration Regulation (53) is 
the first EU-wide, comprehensive law of its kind and a key 
instrument  for  the  EU  to  deliver  on  the  global 
biodiversity targets for 2030. It lays down an overarching 
objective  at  the  EU  level  to  put  in  place  effective 
restoration measures on 20 % of EU land and sea by 2030 
and for all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. To 
achieve this, it sets binding targets for Member States to 
restore and maintain ecosystems, as well as an effective 
implementation 
national 
restoration plans. 

implementation 

framework 

enable 

based 

on 

to 

The BDS is the main instrument used by the EU to deliver 
on  its  obligation  under  the  GBF.  The  Commission  has 
submitted  to  the  Convention  on  Biological  Diversity 
(CBD)  its  report  on  GBF-aligned  EU  targets  that  stem 
from the BDS and from other policy instruments under 
the European Green Deal. 

Member  States’  NBSAPs  need  to  provide  coherent 
frameworks  for  national  delivery  on  the  global  and  EU 

(51) 

(52) 

(53) 

Actions 

Tracker 

Strategy 

Strategy 

Dashboard 

Biodiversity 

Biodiversity 

EU 
(https://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/kcbd/actions-tracker/). 
EU 
(https://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/kcbd/EUBDS2030-
dashboard/?version=1). 
Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 24 June 2024 on nature restoration and amending 
Regulation  (EU)  2022/869  (OJ  L,  2024/1991,  29.7.2024), 
the 
see  also 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1991/oj; 
Commission 
law 
the 
on 
(https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-

page 

web 

In 

2030  biodiversity  targets. 
line  with  the  global 
obligations,  NBSAPs  should  also  include  a  biodiversity 
financing  plan  and  a  capacity-building  plan,  based  on 
needs  assessments,  as  well  as  an  overview  of  the 
national indicators used to measure progress. 
Romania has not yet submitted to the CBD an updated 
NBSAP or national targets following the adoption of the 
GBF. 

The EU aims to allocate to biodiversity objectives at least 
7.5 % of annual spending under the EU budget in 2024, 
rising to 10 % in 2026 and 2027. Details on the Romanian 
situation for biodiversity financing are in Chapter 5. 

2025 priority action 

• 

Submit  to  the  CBD  an  updated  NBSAP  or  national 
targets  following  the  adoption  of  the  Kunming-
Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. 

Nature protection and restoration – Natura 
2000 

Natura  2000 (54),  the  largest  coordinated  network  of 
protected areas in the world, is key to the achievement 
of  the  objectives  set  out  in  the  Birds  and  Habitats 
Directives. These objectives are to ensure the long-term 
protection,  conservation  and  survival  of  Europe’s  most 
valuable  and  threatened  species  and  habitats  and  the 
ecosystems  they  underpin.  Key  milestones  towards 
meeting  the  objectives  of  the  Birds  and  Habitats 
Directives  are  (i)  the  setting  up  of  a  complete  and 
coherent  Natura  2000  network;  (ii)  the  designation  of 
sites of community importance (SCIs) as special areas of 
conservation (SACs) (55); and (iii) effective management 
of  all  Natura  2000  sites  through  the  setting  of  site-
specific conservation objectives and measures. 

Setting up a complete and coherent network of Natura 
2000 sites 

The  setting  up  of  a  complete  and  coherent  network  of 

biodiversity/nature-restoration-law_en). 

(54)  Natura  2000  comprises  sites  of  community  importance  (SCIs), 
designated pursuant to the Habitats Directive, as well as special 
protection  areas  (SPAs),  classified  pursuant  to  the  Birds 
Directive. Numbers of protected areas in Figure 9 do not add up 
to  the  total  of  SCIs  plus  SPAs,  because  some  SCIs  and  SPAs 
overlap. An SAC is an SCI designated by a Member State. 
SCIs are designated pursuant to the Habitats Directive, whereas 
SPAs are designated pursuant to the Birds Directive. Figures of 
coverage do not add up because some SCIs and SPAs overlap. 

(55) 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
is  a  cornerstone  of  the  EU’s 
Natura  2000  sites 
international commitments, under the BDS and GBF, to 
legally  protect  a  minimum  of  30 %  of  its  land  area  and 
30 % of its sea area by 2030. 

Figure 9:  Natura  2000  terrestrial  protected  area 
coverage per Member State (%), 2023 

Romania  16 

the 

these 

requires 

commitments 

Meeting 
full 
implementation of Article 3 of the Habitats Directive. The 
Natura 2000 network should represent a complete and 
coherent  ecological network composed of sites hosting 
natural habitat types and species of community interest. 
Natura 2000  shall  enable the natural habitat types and 
the  species’  habitats  concerned  to  be  maintained  or, 
favourable 
a 
restored 
where 
conservation status in their natural range. 

appropriate, 

to 

Romania hosts 87 habitat types (56) and 245 species (57) 
covered by the Habitats Directive. The country also hosts 
populations of 148 bird taxa listed in the Birds Directive 
Annex I (58). 

As  shown  in  Figure 9,  in  2023,  22.7 %  of  the  Romanian 
national land territory was covered by Natura 2000 sites 
(EU  coverage:  18.6 %).  Special  protection  areas  (SPAs) 
classified  under  the  Birds  Directive  covered  15.6 %  (EU 
coverage:  12.8 %)  and  SCIs  designated  under  the 
Habitats  Directive  covered  16.9 %  of  the  territory  (EU 
coverage: 14.3 %). 

There are 606 Natura 2000 sites in Romania, including 9 
marine sites. The latest assessment of the SCI part of the 
Natura 2000 network shows that there are a number of 
insufficiencies,  meaning  that  Romania  still  has  to 
complete  its  Natura  2000  network.  An  infringement 
procedure has been open since July 2019 (59). 

Considering  both  areas  covered  by  Natura  2000  and 
other  nationally  designated  protected  areas,  Romania 
legally  protects  23.5 %  of  its  terrestrial  areas  (EU-27 
coverage: 26.1 %) and 21.4 % of its marine areas (EU-27 
coverage: 12.3 %) (60). 

(56) 

(57) 

(58) 

EEA,  ‘Number  of  habitats  and  species  per  Member  State’, 
Article 17  dashboard,  Annex I 
total,  19 December  2019,  
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/maps-and-
charts/general-information-on-habitats-and-species-article-17-
national-summary-dashboards-archived 
EEA,  ‘Number  of  habitats  and  species  per  Member  State’, 
Article 17 
2019, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/biodiversity/state-of-
nature-in-the-eu/article-17-national-summary-
dashboards/general-information-on-habitats-and-species. 
EEA,  ‘Number  of  bird  species/populations  per  Member  State’, 
Article 12 dashboard, Annex I total, last updated 11 May 2023, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/biodiversity/state-of-
nature-in-the-eu/article-12-national-summary-

19 December 

dashboard, 

Source: European Environment Agency (EEA), ‘Natura 2000 Barometer’, 
2023  data,  accessed  March  2025,  https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-
and-maps/dashboards/natura-2000-barometer. 

Designating  special  areas  of  conservation  and  setting 
site-specific conservation objectives and measures 

In order to ensure that SCIs contribute to the objectives 
of the Habitats Directive, Member States must designate 
them  as  SACs,  setting  site-specific  conservation 
objectives based on the ecological needs of the species 
and  habitats  present  on  the  sites.  The  site-specific 
conservation  objectives  must  be  defined  in  terms  of 
attributes  and  targets  that  cover  the  properties  of  the 
feature  of  interest  that  are  necessary  to  describe  its 
condition  as  either  favourable  or  unfavourable.  These 
objectives  must  address  the  key  pressures  and  threats 
present  on  the  site.  Article 6  of  the  Habitats  Directive 
requires  Member  States  to  establish  and  implement 
conservation  measures  for  the  realisation  of  the 
objectives of the site. 

As  Romania  had  not  designated  SCIs  as  SACs  and  had 
failed  to  set  site-specific  conservation  objectives  and 
measures,  the  Commission  opened  an  infringement 
procedure in July 2020 in relation to 383 sites (61). In 2023 
and 2024, Romania designated 213 SCIs as SACs as part 

dashboards/general-information-on-bird-species-populations. 
This  counting  only  takes  into  account  bird  taxa  for  which 
information was requested. 

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/INF_1
9_4251. 
Eurostat dataset env_bio4, protected area percentage for 2022, 
accessed 
2025, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_bio4/de
fault/table?lang=en. 

March 

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/INF_2
0_1212. 

(59) 

(60) 

(61) 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
of  the  infringement  proceedings  and  designated  9 
further sites that were not covered by the procedure. 

monitoring  and  reporting,  to  ensure  that  data  are 
not provided only ad hoc on a contract basis. 

Romania  17 

Out of a total of 606 Natura 2000 sites, 339 already have 
approved management plans, while 267 still lack them. 
Romania  has  committed  to  continuing  the  work  of 
drafting  management  plans  for  the  sites  without 
management plans. There has been a significant delay in 
preparing and approving the management plans. There 
is  also  a  need  to  update  the  existing  and  outdated 
management plans. 

Cohesion policy funds for 2014–2020 financed, through 
the  large  infrastructure  operational  programme,  the 
preparation  of  243  management  plans  and  the 
implementation of active conservation measures for 45 
sites (covering 243 735 ha). Those projects, which were 
not  finalised  at  that  time,  have  been  phased  into  the 
2021–2027  programming  period  within  the  sustainable 
development programme. In addition, the programme is 
supporting  the  preparation  of  new  management  plans 
for Natura 2000 sites, the preparation of species action 
plans  and  the  implementation  of  measures  for  the 
maintenance/improvement of the conservation status of 
species  and  habitats.  Support  is  also  provided  by  the 
Romanian RRP for updating management plans. 

Protected  Areas 

In August 2024, the Ministry of Environment, Waters and 
Forests announced the merger of the National Agency for 
Protected  Natural  Areas,  the  National  Environmental 
Protection  Agency  and  their  subordinate  bodies.  The 
newly established National Agency for the Environment 
and 
assumed 
responsibility  for  managing  most  Natura  2000  sites, 
for 
previously  overseen  by  the  National  Agency 
Protected Natural Areas, which had long faced capacity 
challenges.  However, 
the  agency  only  became 
operational on 3 April 2025. It will be necessary to build 
up  its  administrative  capacity  so  that  protected  areas 
benefit from solid management. 

(ANMAP) 

has 

2025 priority actions 

•  Complete the Natura 2000 site designation process. 
• 
Ensure the effective implementation of Natura 2000 
management  plans  and  sufficient  administrative 
capacity and financing for both Natura 2000 and the 
the  Nature  Restoration 
implementation  of 
Regulation. Ensure the implementation of Prioritised 
Actions Framework 2021–2027 PAF. 
Enhance  efforts  to  collect  reliable  data  on  the 
conservation status of habitats and species as well 
as their prevalence at the site level. In view of this, 
consider  the  creation  of  a  body  in  charge  of 

• 

(62) 

EEA, State of Nature in the EU: Results from reporting under the 
Nature  Directives  2013–2018,  Publications  Office  of  the 
2020, 
European 

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

Recovery of species 

One  objective  set  by  the  BDS  is  that,  by  2030,  there 
should be no further deterioration in conservation trends 
or  the  status  of  any  protected  species.  The  BDS  also 
states  that  Member  States  should  ensure  that  at  least 
30 % of species not currently in favourable conservation 
status  achieve  that  status  or  show  progress  towards 
doing so (e.g. by exhibiting positive population dynamics 
or stable or increasing range and habitat size), by 2030. 
According  to  the  European  Environment  Agency  (EEA), 
based  on  reporting  required  under  Article 17  of  the 
Habitats Directive, a quarter of species in the EU were of 
good conservation status as of 2018 (62). 

One of the primary objectives of the Habitats Directive is 
the  maintenance  of  or  restoration  to  favourable 
conservation status of all species of community interest. 
Moreover, the Birds Directive also aims to ensure that all 
wild  birds  in  the  EU  enjoy  a  secure  status.  In  order  to 
achieve these objectives, it will be necessary to address 
key  pressures  and  threats.  The  Birds  Directive  and  the 
Habitats  Directive  lay  down  a  framework  of  species 
protection rules and rules on the conservation of habitats 
and species in order to combat these threats. 

According  to  the  report  submitted  by  Romania  on  the 
conservation  status  of  habitats  and  species  covered  by 
Article 17  of  the  Habitats  Directive  for  2013–2018,  the 
conservation status of  around 68 % of the habitats and 
46 % of species was good. Regarding birds, about 19 % of 
the  breeding  species  showed  short-term  increases  or 
stable  population  trends  (for  wintering  species,  the 
figure was 15 %). 

However, for the 2013-2018 report there were problems 
with  the  reported  data, 
in  particular  uncertainties 
regarding the true extent and condition of ecosystems in 
Romania.  Romania  adopted  a  guidance  document  for 
monitoring  birds  of  Community  interest  in  2021  and 
another for monitoring habitats of Community interest in 
2023.  

Under  Article 17  of  the  Habitats  Directive,  Member 
States are required to report on the conservation status 
of  habitats  and  species  every  six  years.  The  current 
reporting cycle, covering the years 2019 to 2024, is due 
for submission in July 2025. Figures 10 and 11 show the 
latest available conservation status data. 

https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/state-of-nature-in-
the-eu-2020. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Figure 10:  Assessments  of  conservation  status  of 
habitats  for  the  2007–2012  and  2013–2018  reporting 
periods 

NB:  The  values  shown  for  2007–2012  and  2013–2018  are  not 
necessarily directly comparable because changes in area conservation 
status in a Member State may result from changes to methods or use 
of better data, rather than reflecting genuine changes. The assessments 
were carried out at the level of biogeographical regions.   
Source: EEA, ‘Conservation status and trends of habitats and species’, 
19 December 
2025, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/maps-and-
charts/conservation-status-and-trends-article-17-national-summary-
dashboards-archived. 

February 

accessed 

2019, 

Figure 11:  Assessments  of  conservation  status  of 
species  for  the  2007–2012  and  2013–2018  reporting 
periods 

NB:  The  values  shown  for  2007–2012  and  2013–2018  are  not 
necessarily directly comparable because changes in area conservation 
status in a Member State may result from changes to methods or use 
of better data, rather than reflecting genuine changes. 
Source: EEA, ‘Conservation status and trends of habitats and species’, 
2025, 
19 December 

February 

accessed 

2019, 

Romania  18 

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/maps-and-
charts/conservation-status-and-trends-article-17-national-summary-
dashboards-archived. 

Agriculture is by far the greatest pressure on habitats. For 
species,  the  development,  construction  and  use  of 
infrastructure and the extraction and cultivation of living 
resources  are  the  main  pressures.  Romania  has  made 
progress on adopting management plans for Natura 2000 
sites, but nearly half of the plans are still missing. It also 
needs to make a lot of progress on effectively managing 
these sites. 

supported  only  a 

The  financial  instrument  for  the  environment  (LIFE) 
few  nature 
programme  has 
conservation projects in recent years (63). The number is 
particularly low for a country like Romania. Nonetheless, 
the  projects  include  the  protection  and  restoration  of 
forests in the Southern Carpathians (LIFE Carpathia) (64), 
the  conservation  of  saproxylic  beetles  in  the  Eastern 
Carpathians (LIFE Rosalia) (65) and the development of a 
cooperative  approach  to  the  good  management  of 
Natura 2000 grasslands (LIFE TransilvaCooperation) (66). 

Under  the  Romanian  RRP,  a  reform  was  introduced  in 
relation  to  the  system  of  managing  protected  natural 
areas for the coherent and effective implementation of 
the BDS. The reform’s objective is to operationalise the 
current  framework  for  designating  protected  nature 
areas,  in  particular  by  establishing  a  mechanism  for 
interlinking legislation specific to individual sectors that 
have  an  impact  on  biodiversity –  namely,  education, 
agriculture, 
spatial 
hunting, 
organisation, transport and energy. 

forestry, 

tourism, 

In the 2022 EIR, Romania received a number of priority 
actions.  While  it  has  made  some  progress  on  the 
implementation of measures included in the  prioritised 
action 
(PAF)  and  drafting  site-specific 
conservation objectives, progress in most areas has been 
scant  or  non-existent.  Therefore,  most  of  the  previous 
priority actions are still relevant. 

framework 

Recovery of ecosystems 

Agricultural ecosystems 

The BDS works alongside the common agricultural policy 
(CAP) to support the transition to sustainable agriculture. 
The  strategy  has  set  five  common  agriculture-related 
targets for 2030, namely to: 
—  reduce by 50 % the overall use of – and risk from – 

chemical pesticides; 

(63) 

Council  of  the  European  Union, 
‘Annex  to  the  Council 
implementing decision amending the implementing decision of 
29 October  2021  on  the  approval  of  the  assessment  of  the 
recovery  and  resilience  plan  for  Romania’,  2023/0428(NLE), 
2023, 
22 November 

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15833-
2023-ADD-1/en/pdf. 
https://www.carpathia.org/ro/life-carpathia/. 
https://liferosalia.ro/. 
https://fundatia-adept.org/projects/life-transilvacooperation/. 

(64) 
(65) 
(66) 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  19 

biodiversity.  The  indicator  ‘share  of  agricultural  land 
covered  with  landscape  features’  is  the  ratio  between 
the  area  covered  by  landscape  features  and  the  area 
covered  by  agricultural 
land.  Based  on  the  Land 
landscape  features 
Use/Cover  Area  Frame  Survey 
estimates, the share of agricultural land covered by non-
productive landscape features in Romania is 3.4 %, below 
the EU average. At the EU level, landscape features cover 
5.6 % of agricultural land. 

In  2024,  the  CAP  basic  regulations  were  amended (69) 
regarding, inter alia, the standards for good agricultural 
and  environmental  condition  (GAEC)  of  land.  These 
changes  removed  the  obligation  for  farmers  benefiting 
from CAP area-related support to have a minimum share 
of 3–4 % of non-productive areas or landscape features 
in their farm.  The amended  regulations do not  remove 
the obligation under GAEC 8 to retain existing landscape 
features, but they do set out an obligation for Member 
States to establish and provide support for eco-schemes 
covering  practices 
for  the  maintenance  of  non-
productive areas, such as land lying fallow, and for the 
establishment of new landscape features on arable land. 

The recently adopted Nature Restoration Regulation (70) 
focuses on the restoration of agricultural ecosystems and 
requires  Member  States  to  put  in  place  measures  that 
aim to achieve an increasing trend at the national level in 
at  least  two  out  of  three  indicators  for  agricultural 
ecosystems (71). One of these indicators is the ‘share of 
agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features’. 

Organic  farming  practices  are  highly  beneficial  to 
biodiversity. As shown in  Figure 12, it is estimated that 
5.08 %  of  Romania’s  land  area  is  used  for  organic 
farming. This is the sixth lowest result in the EU and well 
below  the  EU  average  of  10.50 % (72).  Romania  is  not 
sufficiently contributing to achieving the target of 25 % 
of  the  EU’s  agricultural  land  being  used  for  organic 
farming by 2030. 

—  reduce  by  50 %  the  use  of  more  hazardous 

pesticides; 

—  reduce  by  50 %  losses  of  nutrients  from  fertilisers 
(which  will result in a  20 % reduction in the use of 
is  no 
fertilisers)  while  ensuring 
deterioration of soil fertility; 

there 

that 

—  restore  at  least  10 %  of  agricultural  area  to  have 

— 

high-diversity landscape features; and 
increase the area under organic farming to at least 
25 %. 

The “Vision for agriculture and food” (67), adopted by the 
European Commission in February 2025, sets a roadmap 
to  an  agri-food  system  that  is  attractive,  competitive, 
sustainable and fair for  current and future generations. 
To  ensure  a  sustainable  future  for  EU  agriculture,  it  is 
crucial  that  these  four  priority  areas  are  pursued 
together,  and  that  public  and  private  support  are 
adequately targeted toward this objective. 

The  CAP  and  national  CAP  strategic  plans  are  key 
instruments  to  facilitate  and  strengthen  the  efforts  of 
European  farmers  to  protect  biodiversity  and  the 
environment  at 
large.  The  Commission  approved 
Member States’ CAP strategic plans in 2022 for the 2023-
2027 programming period. The CAP is the largest source 
of funding dedicated to supporting biodiversity and plays 
a  significant  role  in  implementing  EU  environmental 
policy.  Strategic  plans  should  continue  to  support  the 
protection of soil, water, air quality and biodiversity. 

indicators 

certain  CAP 

While 
focus  on 
result 
interventions favouring sustainable agriculture practices 
impact  of  these 
that  regenerate  ecosystems,  the 
measures  is  difficult  to  assess.  The  uptake  of  eco-
schemes is voluntary for farmers. 

The utilised agricultural area in Romania increased from 
13 733 140 ha in 2012 to 13 904 640 ha in 2013, and then 
decreased to 12 677 580 ha in 2022 (68). 

Landscape  features  are  small  fragments  of  non-
productive  and  typically –  but  not  exclusively –  semi-
natural vegetation present in or adjacent to agricultural 
land.  They  provide  ecosystem  services  and  support  for 

(67) 

(68) 

(69) 

5 December 

https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/overview-vision-agriculture-
food/vision-agriculture-and-food_en . 
Eurostat,  ‘Utilised  agricultural  area  by  categories’,  tag00025, 
accessed 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tag00025/de
fault/table?lang=en. 
Regulation (EU) 2024/1468 of the European Parliament and of 
the  Council  of  14 May  2024  amending  Regulations  (EU) 
2021/2115 and (EU) 2021/2116 as regards good agricultural and 
environmental  condition  standards,  schemes  for  climate, 
environment  and  animal  welfare,  amendment  of  the  CAP 
strategic plans, review of the CAP strategic plans and exemptions 
from  controls  and  penalties  (OJ  L,  2024/1468,  24.5.2024), 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1468/oj. 

(70) 

(71) 

(72) 

in  cropland  mineral  soils’  and 

Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 24 June 2024 on nature restoration and amending 
Regulation  (EU)  2022/869  (OJ  L,  2024/1991,  29.7.2024), 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1991/oj. 
The  three  indicators  are  ‘grassland  butterfly  index’,  ‘stock  of 
‘share  of 
organic  carbon 
agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features’. 
This is based on the latest available information from Eurostat, 
which 
is  currently  under  review;  European  Commission, 
Agriculture biologique au sein de l’Union européenne, factsheet, 
2024, 
Brussels, 
https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/document/download/c67458e
d-ec50-4762-ae68-341763ab93c2_fr?filename=factsheet-
organic-farning_fr.pdf&prefLang=en. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Figure 12:  Share  of  total  utilised  agricultural  area 
occupied  by  organic  farming  per  Member  State  (%), 
2022 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Area  under  organic  farming’,  sdg_02_40,  accessed 
5 December 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sdg_02_40/default/
table?lang=en. 

Romania is the Member State with the highest number 
of farms (some 2.9 million farm holdings); 9 in every 10 
farms  (90.3 %  or  2.6 million  farms)  were  smaller  than 
5 ha,  but  the  0.9 %  of  farms  of  50 ha  or  more  in  size 
farmed  a  little  over  half  (54.0 %)  of  all  the  utilised 
agricultural  area  in  the  country.  The  combination  of 
intensive  agriculture  by  large  farms  and  subsistence 
agriculture  by  small  farms  results  in  a  relatively  good 
overall situation in terms of GHG emissions, nitrate levels 
in groundwater and the state of biodiversity. Among the 
land 
key  challenges 
management  are  the  dual  pressures  of  the  risk  of 
abandonment of agricultural activities in some areas, and 
pressures 
Large 
agricultural  areas  are  affected  by  soil  degradation 
phenomena  (erosion,  landslides  and  desertification), 
risks  that  are  expected  to  intensify  as  the  effects  of 
climate  change  increase.  The  irrigation  systems  are 
mostly degraded and function poorly (73). 

the  environment  and 

intensification 

in  others. 

from 

for 

2025 priority actions 
• 

Implement  environmental  eco-schemes  and  agri-
environmental  measures  and  practices  to  address 
the environmental needs of Romania. 
Implement  and  scale  up  the  uptake  of  organic 
farming practices. 

• 

(73)   Commission 

document – 

staff  working 

for  Romania’s  CAP 

Commission 
strategic  plan, 
final  of  18 December  2020,  https://eur-

recommendations 
SWD(2020) 391 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020SC0391. 
Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the 
Council on soil monitoring and resilience (Soil Monitoring Law), 
https://eur-
COM(2023) 416 

2023, 

5 July 

final 

of 

(74) 

Romania  20 

Soil ecosystems 

Soil is an essential, finite and extremely fragile resource. 
Its  increasing  degradation  poses  a  threat  to  EU  food 
resilience,  adaptation  and 
security  and  climate 
mitigation. 

The EU soil strategy, adopted in November 2021, aims to 
support  soil  protection,  sustainable  soil  management 
and  the  restoration  of  degraded  soils  to  achieve  the 
Green  Deal  objectives  as  well  as  land  degradation 
neutrality by 2030. 

This entails: 

—  preventing further soil degradation; 
—  making  sustainable  soil  management  the  new 

normal; 

—  taking action for ecosystem restoration. 

The  proposed  directive  on  soil  monitoring  and 
resilience (74) aims to introduce the first comprehensive 
legislation on the protection of all soils in the EU. Should 
the  directive  be  adopted,  Member  States  will  have  to 
transpose  it  into  national  legislation  and  implement  it, 
starting  with  putting  in  place  the  governance  systems 
and a sound monitoring framework building on existing 
national  soil  monitoring  frameworks.  The  objective  of 
the  proposed  directive  is  to  provide  better  and  more 
comparable  soil  health  data  with  the  view  of  attaining 
healthy soils by 2050. 

Degradation  of  soil  ecosystems  encompasses  several 
aspects. The proposed directive requires Member States 
to  assess  soil  health  according  to  a  set  of  common 
indicators  and  to  define  the  necessary  regeneration 
measures. The area of soil that is sealed is an important 
factor in monitoring land-use change and represents an 
important pressure on nature and biodiversity. Other soil 
issues  related  to  land degradation  are  soil  erosion,  soil 
compaction, 
soil 
contamination, soil salinisation and the presence in soil 
of  nitrogen  and  phosphorus  in  excess.  The  impact 
assessment accompanying the proposal, which builds on 
the data available in the EU Soil Observatory, points to 
the following soil degradation issues in Romania (75). 

soil  organic 

loss  of 

carbon, 

(75) 

lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52023PC0416. 
Commission  staff  working  document –  Impact  assessment 
report: Annexes – Accompanying the proposal for a directive of 
the European Parliament and of the Council on soil monitoring 
and  resilience  (Soil  Monitoring  Law),  SWD(2023) 417  final  of 
2023, 
5 July 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  21 

The greatest contributor to Romania’s unhealthy soils is 
loss  of  soil  organic  carbon  in  mineral  soils (76),  which 
affects  31 %  of  the  national  territory  and  71 %  of 
cropland  and  grassland  areas.  22 %  of  the 
land 
experiences  unsustainable  soil  erosion  by  water,  wind, 
tillage  and  harvest,  which  represents  59 %  of  the  total 
cropland area. 8 % of the national territory has a high or 
very high susceptibility to topsoil compaction. 

Grasslands 

Grasslands  are  among  the  most  diverse  ecosystems  in 
the EU; they can contain as many as 80 different  plant 
species per square metre and are home to a large variety 
of animals, ranging from small insects, birds and rodents 
to 
for 
large  herbivores.  Grasslands  are  essential 
agriculture and livestock herding. Natural grasslands also 
play  an  important  role  in  storing  carbon.  However, 
changes  in  agricultural  practices  and  land  uses  have 
caused  grasslands  to  disappear  at  an  alarming  rate, 
making  them  one  of  Europe’s  most  threatened 
ecosystems.  Extensively  managed  grasslands  include 
meadows, mountain pastures, dry calcareous grasslands 
and steppic grasslands.. 

Romania hosts 15 grassland types listed in Annex I to the 
Habitats  Directive.  These  include  some  of  the  most 
biodiversity-rich  grasslands  in  Europe  and  have  been 
linked to traditional land stewardship and management. 
Changes over the past decades  have endangered these 
grasslands,  including  ploughing  up,  overgrazing  and 
abandonment.  To  prevent  their  continuing  loss,  it  is 
imperative that  Romania’s grasslands  are appropriately 
managed. 

Wetlands/peatlands 

Wetlands act as water sources and purifiers; they are the 
planet’s  greatest  natural  carbon  stores  and  they  are 
crucial  to  agriculture  and  fisheries.  Peatlands  are  a 
special  type  of  wetland  dominated  by  peat-forming 
plants such as Sphagnum mosses. Nearly all peatlands in 
the EU are habitat types listed in Annex I to the Habitats 
Directive. Drained peatlands under intensive agricultural 
use  constitute  only  3 %  of  the  EU’s  utilised  agricultural 
area. At the same time, they are responsible for 25 % of 
the  GHG  emissions  from  the  EU’s  agricultural  sector. 
Restoring  peatlands  brings  multiple  benefits,  as 
peatlands  improve  water  retention  and  quality,  store 
carbon, reduce GHG emissions and increase biodiversity. 

Among bogs, fens and mires, eight habitat types listed in 
Annex I  to  the  Habitats  Directive  are  protected  in 
Romania. Of these, only one has favourable conservation 
status.  The  modification  of  hydrological  conditions, 
mixed-source  pollution,  drainage  and  land  reclamation 
are some of the threats to these habitats. 

Romania has worked on actions to restore some of the 
degraded peatlands, for instance the peatlands identified 
through  projects  "Strategies  for  the  restoration  of 
degraded  peatland  ecosystems  in  Romania  (PeatRO)", 
funded  under  the  RO02  Programme  "Biodiversity  and 
ecosystem services", by an EEA Grant 2009-2014, and the 
project "Restoration of degraded bogs and peatlands in 
the  North-East  2  region  of  Romania  (PeatRO3)", 
supported  by  an  EEA  and  Norway  Grant  2014-2021. 
Romania will consider these peatlands priorities for the 
designation of new SCIs. 

2025 priority action 

• 

Implement  peatland  conservation  and  restoration 
measures and include such measures and objectives 
in the national restoration plan. 

Forest ecosystems 

Forests are important carbon sinks, and conserving them 
is vital if the EU is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. 
The EU forest strategy for 2030, adopted in July 2021, is 
a  plan  of  actions  to  promote  the  many  services  that 
forests  provide.  Its  key  objective  is  to  ensure  healthy, 
diverse  and  resilient  EU 
forests  that  contribute 
significantly to the achievement of the EU’s biodiversity 
and climate ambitions. About 27 % of the forest area in 
the EU is covered by habitat types listed in Annex I to the 
Habitats  Directive.  Moreover,  forests  host  several 
species  protected  under  the  Birds  and  Habitats 
is  a 
Directives, 
requirement  to  designate  Natura  2000  sites  and  to 
protect breeding sites and resting places. 

including  those  for  which  there 

Several  guidelines  on  forestry  management  were 
published  in  2023.  They  covered  biodiversity-friendly 
afforestation, reforestation and tree planting; closer-to-
nature  forest  management;  and  defining,  mapping, 
monitoring  and  strictly  protecting  primary  and  old-
growth  forests.  Further  guidance  on  payment  schemes 
for ecosystems services has also been published. 

In  2023,  the  Commission  proposed  a  new  forest 
monitoring law (77) that aims to create a comprehensive 

https://environment.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
07/IMPACT 
REPORT_ANNEXES_SWD_2023_417_part4.pdf. 

ASSESSMENT 

lost in the past decade?’, Global Change Biology, Vol. 30, No 1, 
2023, e16992, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16992. 

(77)   Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the 

(76)  De  Rosa,  D.,  Ballabio,  C.,  Lugato,  E.  et  al.,  ‘Soil  organic  carbon 
stocks in European croplands and grasslands: How much have we 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Romania  22 

forest  knowledge  base,  address  information  gaps  and 
enable  a  better  response  to  growing  pressures  on 
forests. 

Assessments  show  that,  of  the  27 %  of  EU  forest  area 
protected under the Habitats Directive, less than 15 % is 
of  favourable  conservation  status (78).  The  share  of 
forested areas in the EU with a bad conservation status 
increased from 27 % in 2015 to 31 % in 2018. 

In  Romania,  forests  covered  30 %  of  the  territory in 
2020 (79) and more than 40 % of the assessments reveal 
a bad or poor status (80). Primary forests cover a total of 
165 000 ha (81). 

Figure 13:  Conservation  status  of  forests  protected 
under  the  Habitats  Directive  per  Member  State  (%  of 
assessments), 2013–2018 

Source: Commission staff working document – New EU forest strategy 
final  of  16 July  2021,  p. 24,  eur-
for  2030,  SWD(2021) 652 
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021SC0652. 

The  EU  Timber  Regulation  (EUTR) (82)  prohibits  the 
placing on the EU market of illegally harvested timber.  

Council  on  a  monitoring  framework  for  resilient  European 
forests, 
2023, 
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-
register/detail?ref=COM(2023)728&lang=en 

COM(2023)728, 

November 

22 

(78) 

(79) 

(80) 

(81) 

Union, 

Luxembourg, 

EEA, State of Nature in the EU: Results from reporting under the 
Nature  Directives  2013–2018,  Publications  Office  of  the 
European 
2020, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/state-of-nature-in-
the-eu-2020. 
Forest information system for Europe, ‘Countries – FISE country 
factsheets’,  forest  information  system  for  Europe  website, 
accessed 
2025, 
7 February 
https://forest.eea.europa.eu/countries. 
Commission staff working document – Stakeholder consultation 
and  evidence  base,  SWD(2021) 652  final  of  16 July  2021, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/NL/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021SC0652. 
European  Commission:  Joint  Research  Centre,  Mapping  and 
assessment  of  primary  and  old-growth  forests  in  Europe, 

(EUDR) (83)  entered 

On  29 June  2023,  the  Regulation  on  Deforestation-free 
(84).  The 
Products 
regulation  seeks  to  guarantee  that  products  in  the  EU 
that  are  made  using  any  of  seven  listed  commodities 
have  no  links  to  deforestation.  The  EUDR  repeals  the 
EUTR.  

force 

into 

In the framework of its RRP, Romania has initiated some 
reforms in the forestry sector. It has adopted a national 
forest strategy for 2020–2030, some legally binding acts 
laying down the rules on afforestation and reforestation 
set out in the national forest strategy for 2020–2030, and 
acts amending and supplementing the existing legislation 
on  forests  with  the  aim  of  streamlining  the  legal 
framework,  combating  illegal  logging  and  improving 
forest  management.  These  will  have  to  be  checked  in 
light of the new EUDR and the new Environmental Crime 
Directive (ECD). 

illegal 

In  the  2022  EIR,  Romania  received  priority  actions  to 
urgently  take  further  action  against 
logging 
activities, to carry out efficient and appropriate checks to 
verify  operators’  compliance  with  the  obligations 
imposed by the EUTR and to apply appropriate penalties 
and  remedies  for  damage  done  to  Natura  2000  sites. 
Although some progress has been registered since then, 
the priority actions are reiterated, as more needs to be 
done. The 2022 EIR also identified the need to adopt a 
national 
to  ensure  genuine 
protection  of  what  should  be  ‘protected  forests’ under 
EU  and  national  law.  It  was  mentioned  that  specific 
national  guidelines  are  needed  on  managing  protected 
forests and should offer guidance to all those involved in 
forest  planning  and  management.  Finally,  the  need  to 
ensure that afforestation and reforestation projects are 
subject to the relevant environmental legislation and in 
line with the requirements of the national forest strategy 
was  stressed.  On  this  front,  some  progress  could  be 
observed  thanks  to  the  adoption  of  the  national  forest 

forest  strategy  and 

Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  Luxembourg,  2021, 
p. 13, 
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC124
671. 

(83) 

(82)   Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of 
the  Council  of  20 October  2010  laying  down the  obligations  of 
operators who place timber and timber products on the market 
(OJ  L 295,  12.11.2010,  p. 23), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32010R0995.  
Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 31 May 2023 on the making available on the Union 
market and the export  from the Union of certain commodities 
and  products  associated  with  deforestation  and 
forest 
degradation  and  repealing  Regulation  (EU)  No 995/2010  (OJ 
L 150,  9.6.2023,  p. 206),  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023R1115&qid=1687867231
461. 

(84)   The law will apply to large and medium-sized companies starting 
on  December  30,  2025,  and  to  micro  and  small  enterprises 
starting on June 30, 2026. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
strategy  and 
reforestation. 

legal  acts  on  afforestation  and 

2025 priority action 

• 

Take  action  against  illegal  logging  activities  and 
apply  appropriate  penalties  and  remedies  for 
damage done to Natura 2000 sites. 

Marine ecosystems 

The  Marine  Strategy  Framework  Directive  (MSFD) 
requires Member States to achieve good environmental 
status  (GES)  for  their  marine  waters.  To  that  end, 
Member States must draw up marine strategies for their 
marine waters and cooperate with other Member States 
sharing  the  same  marine  region  or  subregion.  These 
marine  strategies  comprise  different  steps  to  be 
developed and implemented over six-year cycles. 

Since the 2022 EIR report, no additional data regarding 
Member  States’  set  of  GES  characteristics  for  each 
descriptor 
in  the  MSFD  have  become  available. 
Nevertheless, Member States had to report updates by 
15 October  2024,  and  these  are  being  assessed  by  the 
Commission. In the context of this round of reporting, in 
accordance  with  the  MSFD  and  the  Commission  GES 
decision (85), Member States must include as part of their 
set  of  GES  characteristics  any  threshold  values  for  the 
descriptors in the MSFD that may have been established 
in  cooperation  with  other  Member  States  at  the  EU  or 
regional level (86). Romania reported the Article 8, 9 and 
10  data  required  by  Article 17  of  the  MSFD,  which  are 
now under the assessment of the Commission. 

The  Commission  assessed  the  updated  monitoring 
programme reported by Member States in 2020 (87). At 
that  time  their  updates  on  the  elements,  features  and 
parameters identified monitoring gaps. The Commission 
recommended  that  Member  States  should  prioritise 
work 
levels  of 
implementation of the MSFD. 

those  gaps  at  all 

to  address 

Member States also reported their updated programmes 
of measures, which are required under Article 13 of the 
MSFD and  which must  be updated every  six years. The 
Commission has assessed Member States’ programmes 
of measures. 

Romania  23 

Figure 14:  Level  of  adequacy  of  Romania’s  updated 
programme of measures under  Article 13 of the MSFD 
(2022 reporting exercise) 

Source: Technical assessment carried out by the European Commission, 
pursuant  to  Article 16  of  the  MSFD,  based  on  the  data  reported  by 
Romania in March and April 2023. 

The  assessment  of  Romania’s  updated  programme  of 
measures  reveals  persisting  gaps  for  most  descriptors, 
although some progress has been made in some areas. 

While  measures  on  litter  (D10)  address  input  from 
activities like fisheries, tourism and shipping, they do not 
include riverine litter, which is still a prominent pressure. 

integrity  (D6)  and 
For  food  webs  (D4),  sea-floor 
hydrographical  changes  (D7),  most  measures  focus  on 
monitoring activities rather than direct actions to tackle 
important pressures. 

For non-indigenous species (D2), eutrophication (D5) and 
contaminants (D8), despite the gap analysis showing that 
environmental objectives had not been reached, no new 
MSFD-specific  measures  were  developed  for  these 
descriptors. 

Prevention and management of invasive alien 
species 

Invasive  alien  species  (IAS)  are  a  major  cause  of 
biodiversity  loss  in  the  EU.  Besides  inflicting  direct  and 
indirect damage on nature and the economy, some IAS 
also carry and spread infectious diseases, posing a threat 
to  humans  and  wildlife.  Regulation  (EU)  No 1143/2014 
(the  IAS  Regulation)  aims  to  prevent,  minimise  and 
mitigate  the  adverse  impacts  of  IAS  on  biodiversity.  It 

(85) 

(86) 

Commission  Decision  (EU) 2017/848  of  17 May  2017  laying 
down  criteria  and  methodological  standards  on  good 
environmental  status  of  marine  waters  and  specifications  and 
standardised  methods  for  monitoring  and  assessment,  and 
repealing  Decision 2010/477/EU  (OJ  L 125,  18.5.2017,  p. 43), 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2017/848/oj. 
Communication  from  the  Commission  of  11 March  2024 – 

Commission notice on the threshold values set under the Marine 
Strategy  Framework  Directive  (Directive  2008/56/EC)  and 
Commission  Decision  (EU)  2017/848  (OJ  C,  C/2024/2078, 
11.3.2024), http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2078/oj. 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
04/C_2023_2203_F1_COMMUNICATION_FROM_COMMISSION
_EN_V5_P1_2532109.PDF. 

(87) 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
focuses action on a list of IAS of EU concern (the ‘Union 
list’), which is regularly updated (88). 

Figure 15:  Number  of  IAS  of  EU  concern,  based  on 
available georeferenced information for Romania, 2024 

Romania  24 

The third update of the Union list entered into force on 
2 August 2022 (89). The fourth update is in preparation. 

The IAS Regulation (90) currently lists 88 species subject 
to  restrictions  on  keeping,  importing,  selling,  breeding, 
growing  and  releasing  into  the  environment.  Member 
States are required to take measures to (i) prevent the 
introduction of IAS, (ii) ensure early detection and rapid 
eradication  of  IAS  and  (iii)  manage  species  that  are 
already widespread on their territory. 

This  aligns  with  target 6  of  the  GBF  to  reduce  the 
introduction of IAS by at least 50 % by 2030 and minimise 
their impact. 

Preventing  the  introduction  and  spread  of  IAS,  and 
managing  them, 
including  through  eradication  and 
control,  can  result  in  a  substantial  cost  saving.  Studies 
estimate  that  the  total  cost  of  IAS  in  Europe  (damages 
and  management)  amounted  to  EUR 116.61 billion 
between  1960  and  2020 (91).  More  recent  studies  have 
put  this  cost  at  USD 28 billion  per  year  in  the  EU, 
increasing  to  USD 148.2 billion  by  2040 (92),  and  at 
USD 423 billion annually at the global level (93). 

supported  by 

There are 22 IAS of Union Concern in Romania according 
to  data  collected  and  reported  in  the  framework  of  a 
Infrastructure 
project 
Operational Programme under EU cohesion policy, which 
relates to the adequate management of invasive species 
in Romania. Some IAS, previously reported for Romania 
have not been confirmed during the field research (e.g. 
Cabomba caroliniana, Myriophyllum aquaticum).  

Large 

the 

Romania  has  not  yet 
International 
Convention  for  the  Control  and  Management  of  Ships’ 
Ballast Water and Sediments of 2004 (BWM Convention). 

ratified 

the 

(88) 

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1141 of 13 July 
2016 adopting a list of invasive alien species of Union concern 
pursuant  to  Regulation  (EU)  No 1143/2014  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  (OJ  L 189,  14.7.2016,  p. 4),  as 
amended  by  Commission 
Implementing  Regulations  (EU) 
2017/1263,  (EU)  2019/1262  and  (EU)  2022/1203,  https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02016R1141-
20220802&from=EN. 

(89)   Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1203 of 12 July 
2022  amending  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2016/1141  to 
update  the  list  of  invasive  alien  species  of  Union  concern  (OJ 
L 186,  13.7.2022,  p. 10),  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022R1203. 
Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and 

(90) 

In  the  2022  EIR,  Romania  received  a  priority  action  on 
IAS,  stressing  the  need  to  draw  up  and  implement  an 
action  plan  or  a  set  of  action  plans  to  fulfil  the 
requirements of the IAS Regulation. 

Romania has taken appropriate measures to comply with 
Article 13 of the IAS Regulation related to action plans on 
the pathways of IAS. 

2025 priority action 

• 

Step  up  implementation  of  the  IAS  Regulation, 
including  with  regard  to  enforcement  and  capacity 
of inspection authorities. 

•  Ratify the International Convention for the Control 
and  Management  of  Ships’  Ballast  Water  and 
Sediments of 2004 (BWM Convention). 

of  the  Council  of  22 October  2014  on  the  prevention  and 
management  of  the  introduction  and  spread  of  invasive  alien 
species (OJ L 317, 4.11.2014, p. 35). 

(91)  Haubrock, P. J., Turbelin, A. J., Cuthbert, R. N. et al., ‘Economic 
costs of invasive alien species across Europe’, NeoBiota, Vol. 63, 
2021, pp. 153–190. 

(93) 

(92)  Henry, M., Leung, B., Cuthbert, R. N. et al., ‘Unveiling the hidden 
economic  toll  of  biological  invasions  in  the  European  Union’, 
Environmental Sciences Europe, Vol. 35, No 1, 2023, p. 43. 
on 
Platform 
IPBES 
Biodiversity 
for 
Summary 
Policymakers –  Invasive  alien  species  assessment,  Bonn,  2023, 
https://www.ipbes.net/document-library-catalogue/summary-
policymakers-invasive-alien-species-assessment. 

Science-Policy 
Services), 

(Intergovernmental 

Ecosystem 

and 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Romania  25 

making  processes.  An  inventory  of  the  responsible 
institutions,  an  institutional  map  and  a  questionnaire 
aiming  to  identify  institutional  needs  related  to  the 
ecosystem assessment process have been created. 

‘Ecosystems 

classification 

Romania’s  major  achievements  in  this  area  have  been 
the  mapping  of  ecosystems  at  the  national 
level, 
achieving 
in  Romania 
EUNICE 3’  (intermediate  version)  and  the  development 
of tools for updating this classification (land field guide 
on  identifying  ecosystems,  methodological  guide  on 
assessing ecosystem services). The selection of methods 
for assessing the ecosystem services based on the matrix 
of indicators and on the comparative analysis of existing 
methods is also a major achievement. 

Natural  capital  assessments  help  private  businesses  to 
better  understand  both  the  negative  and  positive 
impacts that they have on nature, and to appreciate how 
nature contributes to their success. Such understanding 
contributes to the implementation of the EU’s BDS. 

increasing  number  of  platforms,  networks  and 
An 
communities of practice involve businesses in protecting 
biodiversity,  including  the  EU  Business  &  Biodiversity 
Platform (98). These platforms and communities are key 
tools  for  promoting  and  facilitating  natural  capital 
assessments  among  businesses  and  financial  services 
providers. 

There is no Romanian business and biodiversity network 
member of the EU Business & Biodiversity Platform. 

In 2022, Romania received a priority action on supporting 
the  mapping  and  assessment  of  ecosystems  and  their 
services,  and  ecosystem  accounting  development,  as 
well  as  on  supporting  the  development  of  national 
business  and  biodiversity  platforms.  While  there  has 
been progress on the mapping of ecosystems at national 
level and on assessing the ecosystem services, there is no 
progress  on  the  creation  of  a  Romanian  business  and 
biodiversity  network  member  of  the  EU  Business  & 
Biodiversity Platform. 

Ecosystem assessment and accounting 

The  BDS  calls  on  Member  States  to  better  integrate 
biodiversity  considerations  into  public  and  business 
decision-making  at  all  levels  and  to  develop  natural 
capital accounting. 

Similarly, target 14 of the GBF (94) aims to ensure the full 
integration  of  biodiversity  and  its  multiple  values  into 
policy  and  planning  and,  as  appropriate,  national 
accounting.  This  requires  effective  and  coherent 
biodiversity  observation  and  reporting  on  ecosystem 
condition in the EU (95). 

The amended Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European 
environmental  economic  accounts (96)  introduces  new 
requirements  for  Member  States  to  report  on  the 
condition  of  ecosystems  including  urban  ecosystems, 
croplands,  grasslands,  forest  and  woodlands,  coastal 
beaches,  dunes  and  wetlands.  Data  reported  by  the 
Member  States  will  feed  into  the  second  European 
ecosystem assessment, due in 2027, and can also be used 
to support policy decisions. 

An ecosystem assessment is an analysis of the condition 
of ecosystems and the pressures acting on them, as well 
as  the  benefits  that  they  provide  to  people,  either 
directly or indirectly through the economy. 

increasing  number  of  platforms,  networks  and 
An 
communities of practice involve businesses in protecting 
biodiversity,  including  the  EU  Business  &  Biodiversity 
Platform (97). These platforms and communities are key 
tools  for  promoting  and  facilitating  natural  capital 
assessments  among  businesses  and  financial  services 
providers. 

to 

support  decision-making 

The  project  ‘Demonstrating  and  promoting  natural 
values 
in  Romania’ 
implements  the  ecosystem  assessment  process  in  the 
country. Public policy analysis aims to assess the level of 
integration of the concept of ecosystems and ecosystem 
services  into  public  policy  for  2014–2020  in  order  to 
develop recommendations on integrating the results of 
mapping  and  biophysical  assessments  into  decision-

(95) 

(94)  Decision 15/4 adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the 
Convention  on  Biological  Diversity:  Kunming–Montreal  global 
biodiversity 
framework 
(https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-dec-04-
en.pdf). 
European  Commission:  Joint  Research  Centre  and  EEA,  EU 
Ecosystem 
policymakers, 
Publications Office of the European  Union, Luxembourg, 2021, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/81ff1498-b91d-11eb-8aca-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 
Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No 691/2011  as  regards 

Assessment – 

Summary 

(96) 

for 

(97) 

(98) 

of 

final 

2022, 

11 July 

introducing  new  environmental  economic  accounts  modules, 
COM(2022) 329 
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2022:329:FIN. 
The  EU  Business  &  Biodiversity  Platform  (https://green-
business.ec.europa.eu/business-and-biodiversity_en)  aims  to 
promote  the  business  case  for  biodiversity  to  businesses  and 
financial institutions through workshops, seminars, reports and 
a cross-media communication strategy.  
The  EU  Business  &  Biodiversity  Platform  (https://green-
business.ec.europa.eu/business-and-biodiversity_en)  aims  to 
promote  the  business  case  for  biodiversity  to  businesses  and 
financial institutions through workshops, seminars, reports and 
a cross-media communication strategy.  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
2025 priority action 

• 

Support  the  development  of  the  national  business 
and biodiversity network. 

Romania  26 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  27 

3. Zero pollution

Clean air

EU  clean  air  policies  and  legislation  have  successfully 
reduced  emissions  of  key  air  pollutants  and  significantly 
improved  air  quality,  which  is  now  moving  towards  the 
levels  recommended  by  the  World  Health  Organization 
(WHO).  This  has  resulted  in  clear  health  benefits  and 
reduced adverse impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity. 
However, to achieve the WHO-recommended levels, more 
efforts  are  needed,  including  full  compliance  with  EU 
legislation.  To  guide  these  efforts,  the  EU  zero  pollution 
action plan sets targets for 2030 relative to 2005. These 
are to reduce the health impacts of air pollution by 55 % 
and  to  reduce  the  EU  ecosystems  threatened  by  air 
pollution by 25 %. 

The EU has developed a comprehensive suite of air quality 
policies (99).  These  set  health-based  EU  air  quality 
standards (100)  and  stipulate  Member  States’  national 
emission  reduction  commitments (101)  for  several  air 
pollutants. 

The  air  quality  in  Romania  continues  to  give  cause  for 
concern in some parts of its territory. 

The  latest  available  annual  estimates  (for  2022)  by  the 
EEA (102)  for  Romania  attribute  17 900  deaths  each  year 
(or  185 100 years  of  life  lost  (YLL))  to  fine  particulate 
matter (PM2.5) (103), 3 600 deaths each year (or 36 900 YLL) 
to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (104) and 2 800 deaths each year 
(or 28 700 YLL) to ozone (105). 

The  emissions  of  several  air  pollutants  have  decreased 
significantly in Romania since 2005, while GDP growth has 
continued  (see  Figure 17).  According  to  the  inventories 
submitted  under  Article 10(2)  of  the  National  Emission 
Reduction  Commitments  Directive  (NECD) (106)  in  2024, 

(99) 

European  Commission,  ‘Air’,  European  Commission  website, 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air_en. 

(100)  European  Commission,  ‘EU  air  quality  standards’,  European 
website, 

Commission 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air/air-quality/eu-air-
quality-standards_en.  

(101)  European  Commission,  ‘Reducing  emissions  of  air  pollutants’, 
website, 

European 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air/reducing-
emissions-air-pollutants_en. 

Commission 

(102)  EEA, Harm to human health from air pollution in Europe: Burden 
of  disease  2024,  briefing  No 21/2024,  Copenhagen,  2024, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/harm-to-
human-health-from-air-pollution-2024. 

(103)  Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of aerosol particles (solid and 
liquid) covering a wide range of sizes and chemical compositions. 
PM10  refers  to  particles  with  a  diameter  of  10 µm  or  less.  PM2.5 
refers to particles with a diameter of 2.5 µm or less. PM is emitted 
from many human sources, including combustion. 

(104)  Nitrogen  dioxide  (NO2)  here  pertains  to  a  group  of  gases  called 

Romania has met its emission reduction commitments for 
2020–2029 for air pollutants non-methane volatile organic 
compounds (NMVOC), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ammonia 
(NH3), and has not met them for nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 
PM2.5. According to the latest projections submitted under 
Article 10(2) of the NECD, Romania is projected to meet its 
emission  reduction  commitments  for  2030  onwards  for 
NOx, NMVOC, SO2, NH3 and PM2.5. 

Romania submitted its first national air pollution control 
programme  (NAPCP)  on  15 February  2023,  after  the 
Commission  referred  Romania  to  the  Court  of  Justice  of 
the European Union (107). 

Figure 16: Emission trends of main pollutants / GDP in 
Romania (%), 2005–2022 

350%

300%

250%

200%

150%

100%

50%

0%

NH₃

PM2.5

NMVOC

SO₂

NOₓ

GDP

(105) 

NOx, which also comprises nitrogen monoxide (NO). NOx is emitted 
during fuel combustion – for example, from industrial facilities and 
the road transport sector. 
Low-level  ozone 
is  produced  by  photochemical  action  on 
pollution.  This  year,  for  the  first  time,  the  impact  of  long-term 
exposure to ozone has also been taken into account. In previous 
analysis by the EEA, only the impact of short-term exposure was 
estimated.  

(106)  Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  14 December  2016  on  the  reduction  of  national 
emissions of  certain atmospheric pollutants, amending Directive 
2003/35/EC  and  repealing  Directive  2001/81/EC  (OJ  L 344, 
17.12.2016, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2016.344.01.0001.01.ENG. 

p. 1), 

(107)  European Commission, ‘Air quality:  Commission decides to refer 
Romania to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failure 
to comply with EU clean air and industrial emissions legislation’, 
European 
2021, 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_
6264. 

Commission 

2 December 

website, 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Romania  28 

Source: EEA, ‘National air pollutant emissions data viewer 2005–2022’, 
25 June 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/topics/in-depth/air-
pollution/national-air-pollutant-emissions-data-viewer-2005-2022. 

2024, 

the emission reduction commitments for 2020–2029; this 
includes a procedure for Romania for NOx and PM2.5. 

Figure 17: PM2.5 and NOx emissions by sector in Romania 
(%), 2022 

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Waste

Transport

Residential,
commercial &
institutional

Manufacturing
and extractive
industry

Energy supply

Agriculture

PM2.5

1,38%

4,62%

NOₓ

0,22%

51,79%

85,27%

11,59%

5,53%

2,02%

1,19%

10,56%

11,54%

14,29%

Source: EEA, ‘National air pollutant emissions data viewer 2005–2022’, 
25 June 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/topics/in-depth/air-
pollution/national-air-pollutant-emissions-data-viewer-2005-2022. 

2024, 

In  2023,  exceedances  above  the  limit  values  set  by  the 
Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) (108) were registered 
for NO2 in one air quality zone (109) and for PM10 in four air 
quality zones (110) in Romania (111). 

including  Romania 

Persistent  breaches  of  air  quality  requirements,  which 
have  severe  negative  effects  on  health  and  the 
environment,  are  being  followed  up  by  the  European 
Commission through infringement procedures covering all 
Member  States  concerned, 
for 
exceedances  of  PM10  and  NO2  limit  values.  The  Court  of 
Justice of the European Union delivered a judgement on 
exceedances of PM10 limit values in 2020 (112), confirming 
the  non-compliance  of  Romania  with  Directive 
2008/50/EC. The aim is for appropriate measures to be put 
in place to bring all air quality zones into compliance.  To 
date, Romania has still not adopted an air quality plan for 
Bucharest.  Furthermore,  an  infringement  procedure  is 
ongoing  for  significant  shortcomings  in  the  air  quality 
monitoring system of Romania. Infringement procedures 
have  also  been  opened  for  Member  States  not  meeting 

In  the  2021–2027  programming  period,  cohesion  policy 
funds, through the sustainable development programme, 
provide  financing  to  measures  aiming  to  equip  the 
national  network  for  monitoring  air  quality  with  new 
equipment by replacing or upgrading existing equipment 
stations),  also  ensuring 
(including 
complementarity with the investments from the previous 
programming period. Hence, Romania is advised to make 
the most of the available support. For more information 
on financing, see Chapter 5. 

relocation /new 

In the 2022 EIR, Romania received three priority actions. 
The first priority action was to urgently adopt the NAPCP. 
Romania has fulfilled this, as the first NAPCP was adopted 
on  15 February  2023.  However,  the  latest  reported data 
show  continued  non-compliance  with  the  2020–2029 
emission reduction commitments for NOx and PM2.5. The 
second priority action was to ensure full compliance with 
EU air quality standards and maintain downward emission 
trends. Based on the latest data, Romania has made some 
progress  in  this  regard.  Since  2019,  downward  emission 
trends  have  been  reported  for  all  main  pollutants. 
However, exceedances above the limit values remain for 
NO2  and  PM10,  which  require  further  action.  The  third 
priority action received by Romania was to improve its air 
quality  monitoring  network.  Romania  has  made  some 
progress, as some monitoring stations have been added to 
the  network;  however,  gaps  remain  concerning  the 
appropriate number and type of the air quality sampling 
points and the data quality objectives. 

2025 priority actions 

•  As part of the NAPCP, take actions towards reducing 

• 

emissions of air pollutants. 
Ensure  full  compliance  with  the  current  AAQD 
standards, also in light of future stricter requirements 
under the revised AAQD. 

•  Upgrade  and  improve  the  air  quality  monitoring 
network,  and  ensure  timely  reporting  of  air  quality 
data. 

Industrial emissions 

The  main objectives of EU policy on industrial emissions 
are to: 

(i)  protect  air,  water  and  soil  and  to  prevent  harmful 
effects on human health and the environment; 

(108)  Directive  2008/50/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for 
Europe 
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32008L0050. 

11.6.2008, 

L 152, 

p. 1), 

(OJ 

(109)  Specifically, it affects Bucharest. 
(110)  The four are Iași, Gorj, Constanța and Ilfov. 
(111)  EEA, 

Eionet 
(https://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/). 
INFR(2009)2296, Judgment in case C-638/18 

Central 

(112)  

Data 

Repository 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
(ii)  prevent and manage waste; 
(iii)  improve energy and resource efficiency; 
(iv)  clean up contaminated sites. 

Figure 18:  Industrial  air  pollution  damage  and  intensity 
per Member State, 2021 

Romania  29 

The  cornerstone  of  the  policy  is the  Industrial  Emissions 
Directive  (IED),  which  was  revised  in  2024 (113).  The 
revision improves the directive’s contribution to the zero 
pollution  objective.  It  has  a  strong  focus  on  innovation, 
depollution, 
and 
decarbonisation and circularity, making it a key regulatory 
tool  to  accompany  the  green  transformation  of  EU 
industry by 2050. 

between 

builds 

solid 

links 

The overview of industrial activities regulated by the IED 
below  is  based  on  data  reported  to  the  EU  Registry  in 
2022 (114). 

In Romania, around 1 100 industrial installations (115) are 
required to have a permit based on the IED. 

The  industrial  sector  in  Romania  with  the  most  IED 
installations  in  2022  was  the  sector  for  the  intensive 
rearing  of  poultry  or  pigs  (48 %),  followed  by  the  waste 
management  sector, 
(14 %),  the 
including 
chemical sector (8 %) and the metals sector (8 %). 

landfills 

the 
Figure 19  shows  the  damage  to  health  and 
environment due to the main industrial air pollutants. As 
this  depends  on,  among  other  factors,  the  size  of  the 
industrial  sector  in  each  Member  State,  the  figure  also 
shows  the  ratio  between  the  damage  and  the  industrial 
activity  (expressed  in  gross  value  added  (GVA)),  which 
gives an indication of the emissions  ‘intensity’. Although 
Romania has the 10th highest damage in the EU, it comes 
6th  for  emissions  intensity,  above  the  EU  average  of 
EUR 27.5/EUR 1 000  GVA. 
industrial 
contributors to emissions to air (116) are the energy sector 
and  the  mineral  industry  for  NOX  emissions,  the  waste 
management and chemical sector for dust emissions, and 
the  energy  sector,  metals  sector  and  mineral  sector  for 
SO2 and heavy metals. 

The  main 

The EEA has identified Liberty Galati SA, the installation for 
the production of iron and steel in Galati, Romania, as one 
of  the  30  industrial  facilities  in  Europe  with  the  highest 
absolute  damage  costs  from  emissions  of  the  main  air 
pollutants  and  GHG  over  the  10-year  period  covering 
2012–2021. 

(113)  Directive  2010/75/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial and livestock rearing 
emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (OJ L 334, 
17.12.2010, p. 17), as amended by Directive (EU) 2024/1785 of the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  24 April  2024, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02010L0075-
20240804&qid=1725983863299. 

Source: EEA, ‘Industrial pollution intensity indicators – EU large industry 
air  pollution  damage  costs  intensity’,  European  Industrial  Emissions 
Portal, 
https://industry.eea.europa.eu/analyse/industrial-
emissions-indicator. 

2024, 

Overall, the industrial emissions to water in the EU have 
decreased  over  time  for  all  the  main  pollutants.  On 
average in the EU, they appear to be decoupled from the 
industrial  activity,  which  has  increased  over  the  same 
period (expressed in GVA), as shown in Figure 20. 

Figure 19: Industrial releases of pollutants to water and 
industrial activity in the EU-27 

NB:  Cd,  cadmium;  Hg, mercury;  Ni,  nickel;  Pb,  lead;  TOC,  total  organic 
carbon; total N, total nitrogen; total P, total phosphorous. 

Source:  EEA,  ‘Industrial  pollutant  releases to  water  in Europe’,  30 May 
2024, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/industrial-
pollutant-releases-to-water. 

Concerning  Romania  in  particular,  Figure 20  shows  the 
industrial emissions of heavy metals to water, taking into 
account the human toxicity of each metal, as well as  the 
emissions  intensity,  based  on  its  ratio  with  industrial 

(114)  EEA, 

European 

Portal, 
Industrial 
https://industry.eea.europa.eu/, 2022 being the baseline year for 
all reports. 

Emissions 

(115)  Note that 2022 is used as the baseline for all Member States. 
(116)  European  Environment  Agency,  LRTAP,  Air  pollutant  emissions 
data viewer (Gothenburg Protocol, LRTAP Convention) 1990-2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/topics/in-depth/air-
pollution/air-pollutant-emissions-data-viewer-1990-2022. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
activity (expressed in GVA). Romania has the 14th highest 
emissions of heavy metals to water and is in 13th position 
for  emissions 
intensity  (below  the  EU  average  of 
0.864 kg/EUR 1 billion GVA). 

Figure 20:  Industrial  releases  and  intensity  of  heavy 
metals to water per Member State, 2022 

Source: EEA, ‘Industrial pollution intensity indicators – EU large industry 
water  pollution  intensity’,  European  Industrial  Emissions  Portal,  2024, 
https://industry.eea.europa.eu/analyse/industrial-emissions-indicator. 

As shown in Figure 21, the main industrial contributors to 
emissions to water in Romania are the mineral extractive 
industry for heavy metals, refineries for  phosphorus and 
chemicals for total organic carbon. 

Figure 21:  Relative  releases  to  water  from  industry  in 
Romania (%), 2022 

Source: EEA, ‘Industrial reporting under the Industrial Emissions Directive 
2010/75/EU  and  European  Pollutant  Release  and  Transfer  Register 
Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 – ver. 12.0 Sep. 2024 (tabular data)’, EEA 
2024, 
Catalogue, 
Geospatial 
https://doi.org/10.2909/cf5e54c1-be99-4426-bcad-baa26c4f27a0. 

13 September 

Data 

Romania  30 

infringements  of  IED-based  national  provisions.  In  the 
revised  directive, 
that  worst 
the  provisions 
infringements can be sanctioned by fines of at least 3% of 
the  annual  EU  turnover  of  the  legal  person.  The  revised 
IED  also  introduces  a  right  to  compensation  for  people 
whose health has been harmed by such infringements. 

set 

The development of best available techniques (BATs), BAT 
reference  documents  and  BAT  conclusions  ensures 
effective collaboration between stakeholders and enables 
better implementation of the IED. 

Since  the  2022  EIR,  the  Commission  has  adopted  BAT 
conclusions on (i) ferrous metal processing, (ii) the textiles 
industry,  (iii)  common  waste  gas  management  and 
treatment  systems 
in  the  chemical  sector  and  (iv) 
smitheries and foundries. 

The  Commission  relies  on  the  efforts  of  national 
competent  authorities  to  implement  the  legally  binding 
BAT  conclusions  and  associated  BAT  emission  levels 
specified  in  environmental  permits.  This  should  result  in 
considerable and continuous reductions in pollution. 

In  2022,  Romania  received  priority  actions  to  review 
permits  to  ensure  that  they  comply  with  the  newly 
adopted  BAT  conclusions  and  to  continue  addressing 
pollution  from  the  energy  sector.  Considering  the  data 
reported in the Industrial Emission Portal, some progress 
is evident regarding the energy sector. The level of NOx in 
the  air  has  reduced  by  30 %  since  2017,  despite  total 
organic carbon releases to water from waste management 
increasing by 10 % since 2017. 

2025 priority actions 

•  Reduce industrial air pollution damage and intensity. 
•  Reduce 
industrial  releases  to  water  and  their 

• 

• 

intensity. 
Engage  with  industry  and  environmental  NGOs  to 
ensure proper contribution to and implementation of 
BAT conclusions and ensure timely updates to permits 
following the publication of BAT conclusions. 
Ensure  effective  public  participation  and  access  to 
justice in relation to the IED. 

IED  provisions  on  public  information  and  participation 
require Member States to adopt transposition legislation 
enabling members of the public to have access to relevant 
information  and  participate  in  the  approval  process  for 
potentially  polluting  installations.  Thus,  the  public  and 
non-governmental  organisations 
(NGOs),  alongside 
competent authorities, play a role in ensuring compliance 
of  these  permits  with  EU  legislation.  The  IED  contains 
mandatory  requirements  on  environmental  inspections, 
requiring a site visit to take place at least every 1–3 years, 
using  risk-based  criteria.  In  addition,  IED  enforcement 
provisions require Member States to determine effective, 
proportionate,  and  dissuasive  penalties  applicable  to 

Major industrial accidents prevention – Seveso 

The  main  objectives  of  EU  policy  on  the  prevention  of 
major industrial accidents are to: 

(i)  control  major-accident  hazards  involving  dangerous 

(ii) 

substances, especially chemicals; 
limit the consequences of such accidents for human 
health and the environment; 

(iii)  continuously 

improve 

the 

prevention 

of, 

preparedness for and response to major accidents. 

The cornerstone of the policy is Directive 2012/18/EU (the 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Romania  31 

and  tested  over  the  last  three  years.  The  summary  is 
shown in Figure 24. 

Figure 23: Situation regarding EEPs in Romania, 2018 

2022, 

Sources:  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Assessment and summary of Member States’ implementation reports for 
(implementing  Directive 
Implementing  Decision 
2014/896/EU 
2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major  accident  hazards 
involving 
dangerous  substances),  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union, 
Luxembourg, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/94d57d74-735b-11ec-9136-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en/format-PDF/source-search;  eSPIRS  data,  extractions  from  2022  and 
2024;  Analysis  and  summary  of  Member  States' 
reports  on 
implementation of Directive 2012/18/EU on the control of major accident 
hazards  involving  dangerous  substances  according  to  the  format 
established  by  Commission  Implementing  Decision  2014/896/EU  - 
Publications  Office  of  the  EU,  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-
detail/-/publication/9bd73087-e9b8-11ef-b5e9-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

The information  for the public referred to in  Annex V to 
the Seveso III Directive – especially about how the public 
concerned will be warned if there is a major accident, the 
appropriate  behaviour  in  the  event  of  a  major  accident, 
and the date of the last site visit – is permanently available 
for all UTEs in Romania. 

The  shares  of  UTEs  for  which  information  on  safety 
measures  and  requisite  behaviours  was  actively  made 
available to the public in 2022 in the EU-27 are presented 
in Figure 25. This provision on knowledge is an important 
provision of the Seveso III Directive, as awareness by the 
public  of 
the 
consequences of a major industrial accident. 

information  may  ameliorate 

this 

Seveso III Directive) (117). 

The overview below of industrial plants regulated by the 
Seveso III Directive (‘Seveso establishments’) is based on 
data  reported  on  eSPIRS  (e-Seveso  Plants  Information 
Retrieval  System)  for  2022–2024) (118)  and  the  report  by 
Romania on the implementation of the Seveso III Directive 
for 2019–2022 (119). 

In 2024, out of the 259 Seveso establishments in Romania, 
145 are categorised as lower-tier establishments and 114 
as upper-tier establishments (UTEs), based on the quantity 
of  hazardous  substances  likely  to  be  present.  UTEs  are 
subject to more stringent requirements. The change in the 
number  of  Seveso  establishments 
in 
Figure 23. 

is  presented 

Figure 22: Number of Seveso establishments in Romania, 
2018, 2022 and 2024 

NB: LTE, lower-tier establishment. 

2022, 

Sources:  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Assessment and summary of Member States’ implementation reports for 
(implementing  Directive 
2014/896/EU 
Implementing  Decision 
2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major  accident  hazards 
involving 
dangerous  substances),  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union, 
Luxembourg, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/94d57d74-735b-11ec-9136-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en/format-PDF/source-search;  eSPIRS  data,  extractions  from  2022  and 
2024;  Analysis  and  summary  of  Member  States' 
reports  on 
implementation of Directive 2012/18/EU on the control of major accident 
hazards  involving  dangerous  substances  according  to  the  format 
established  by  Commission  Implementing  Decision  2014/896/EU  - 
Publications  Office  of  the  EU,  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-
detail/-/publication/9bd73087-e9b8-11ef-b5e9-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

Member  States  are  required  to  draw  up  external 
emergency plans (EEPs). These EEPs are essential to allow 
proper  preparation  and  effective  implementation  of  the 
necessary  actions  to  protect  the  environment  and  the 
population should a major industrial accident occur. 

According to Romania, in 2018, an EEP was required for all 
115 UTEs. At that time, all of them had been established 

(117)  Directive  2012/18/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  4 July  2012  on  the  control  of  major-accident  hazards 
involving  dangerous  substances,  amending  and  subsequently 
repealing  Council  Directive  96/82/EC  (OJ  L 197,  24.7.2012,  p. 1), 

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2012/18/oj. 

(118)  https://espirs.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/espirs/content; data extracted 

in September 2024. 

(119)  As provided for by Article 21(2) of the Seveso III Directive. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Figure 24: Share of UTEs for which information on safety 
measures  and  requisite  behaviours  was  actively  made 
available to the public per Member State (%), 2022 

NB: No data available for Greece. 

2022, 

Sources:  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Assessment and summary of Member States’ implementation reports for 
(implementing  Directive 
Implementing  Decision 
2014/896/EU 
2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major  accident  hazards 
involving 
dangerous  substances),  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union, 
Luxembourg, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/94d57d74-735b-11ec-9136-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en/format-PDF/source-search;  eSPIRS  data,  extractions  from  2022  and 
2024;  Analysis  and  summary  of  Member  States' 
reports  on 
implementation of Directive 2012/18/EU on the control of major accident 
hazards  involving  dangerous  substances  according  to  the  format 
established  by  Commission  Implementing  Decision  2014/896/EU  - 
Publications  Office  of  the  EU,  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-
detail/-/publication/9bd73087-e9b8-11ef-b5e9-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

In 2022, Romania received a priority action to strengthen 
control and enforcement  to  ensure compliance with the 
Seveso III Directive rules, especially those on information 
for the public. Substantial progress has been made in that 
regard. 

Mercury Regulation 

The  Mercury  Regulation  establishes  measures  and 
conditions concerning the use and storage of and trade in 
mercury,  mercury  compounds  and  mixtures  of  mercury, 
the manufacture and use of and trade in mercury-added 
products and the management of mercury waste, in order 
to ensure a high level of protection of human health and 

Romania  32 

the  environment  from  anthropogenic  emissions  and 
releases of mercury and mercury compounds. The revision 
of the Mercury Regulation adopted in 2024 sets out rules 
to address the last intentional uses of mercury in the EU 
by  phasing  out  the  use  of  dental  amalgam  by  1 January 
2025 except when deemed strictly necessary by the dental 
practitioner  based  on  the  specific  medical  needs  of  the 
patient,  and  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  export  of 
additional mercury-containing lamps from 1 January 2026 
or 1 January 2027 (depending on the lamp category). 

Measures  should  have  been  put  in  place  in  Romania  to 
ensure  a  socially  and  economically  sound  phase-out, 
including an adequate reimbursement of the alternatives 
to dental amalgam through the health insurance scheme 
and the training of dental practitioners.  The Commission 
is  monitoring  whether  the  phase-out  has  taken  place 
under the terms and conditions of the regulation. Romania 
will also need to ensure that the manufacture and export 
of  mercury-containing 
lamps  are  prohibited  by  the 
deadlines set out in the Mercury Regulation. 

Noise 

The  Environmental  Noise  Directive (120)  requires  a 
common  approach  to  avoid,  prevent  and  reduce  the 
harmful  effects  of  noise.  The  designated  authorities  are 
responsible  for  making  and  approving  noise  maps  and 
action  plans  for  agglomerations,  major  roads,  major 
railways  and  major  airports.  Member  States  decide  on 
noise limits that are not set at the EU level. Nevertheless, 
the zero pollution action plan sets as a 2030 target a 30 % 
reduction  compared  with  2017  in  the  share  of  people 
chronically disturbed by transport noise. 

Excessive noise from aircraft, railways and roads is one of 
the main causes of environmental health‐related issues in 
the  EU.  It  can  cause  ischaemic  heart  disease,  stroke, 
interrupted sleep, cognitive impairment and stress (121). 

In Romania, environmental noise is estimated to cause at 
least  around  1  900  cases  of  ischaemic  heart  disease 
annually (122)  and  some  180 000  people  to  suffer  from 
disturbed sleep (123). 

(120)  Directive  2002/49/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  25 June  2002  relating  to  the  assessment  and 
management  of  environmental  noise –  Declaration  by  the 
Commission  in  the  Conciliation  Committee  on  the  directive 
relating  to  the  assessment  and  management  of  environmental 
noise (OJ L 189, 18.7.2002, p. 12), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32002L0049. 

(121)  WHO  Environmental  Noise  Guidelines  for  the  European  Region, 
Copenhagen, 
2018, 
https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/978928905356
3. 

(122)  These figures are an estimation by the EEA based on (i) the data 
reported  by  Member  States  on  noise  exposure  covered  by 
Directive 2002/49/EC for the round of noise mapping of 2022; (ii) 

European  Topic  Centre  on  Air  Pollution,  Transport,  Noise  and 
Industrial  Pollution  (ETC/ATNI),  Noise 
Indicators  under  the 
Environmental Noise Directive 2021: Methodology for estimating 
missing  data,  Eionet  report  ETC/ATNI  No 2021/06,  Kjeller,  2021; 
and  (iii)  the  methodology  for  health  impact  calculations  in 
European  Topic  Centre  on  Air  Pollution  and  Climate  Change 
Mitigation  (ETC/ACM),  Implications  of  environmental  noise  on 
health  and  wellbeing  in  Europe,  Eionet  report  ETC/ACM  No 
2018/10, 
2018, 
https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-atni/products/etc-atni-
reports/eionet_rep_etcacm_2018_10_healthimplicationsnoise. 

Bilthoven, 

(123)  More information on the adverse health effects of noise pollution 

is available at: 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/human/noise/noise-2 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
  
Based on the latest set of information analysed, Romania 
has  completed  noise  mapping  for  airports  and  major 
railways,  while  noise  mapping  for  major  roads  and 
agglomerations remains incomplete.   

Since  Romania  failed  to  report  to  the  Commission  all 
relevant 
information  on  the  strategic  noise  maps, 
including  the  noise  exposure  of  the  population,  the 
European  Commission  decided  to  open  an  infringement 
procedure against Romania (124). 

Action  plans  for  noise  management  for  agglomerations, 
roads,  railways  and  airports  must  be  updated  and 
submitted  to  the  Commission  every  five  years.  The 
deadline for reporting noise action plans under the most 
recent  reporting  cycle  was  18 January  2025;  these  plans 
have not been assessed yet. 

2025 priority actions 

• 
• 

Complete noise mapping. 
Complete  and  implement  action  plans  on  noise 
management. 

Water quality and management 

EU  legislation  and  policy  requires  that  the  impact  of 
pressures on transitional waters, coastal waters and fresh 
water  (including  surface  waters  and  groundwater)  be 
significantly reduced. Achieving, maintaining or enhancing 
a  good  status  of  waterbodies  as  defined  by  the  Water 
Framework  Directive  will  ensure that EU citizens benefit 
from good-quality and safe drinking and bathing water. It 
will  further  ensure  that  the  nutrient  cycle  (nitrogen  and 
phosphorus)  is  managed  in  a  more  sustainable  and 
resource-efficient way. 

Water Framework Directive 

The Water Framework Directive (125) is the cornerstone of 
EU  water  policy  in  the  21st  century (126).  The  Water 
Framework 
other  water-related 
and 
directives (127) 
the  basis  of  sustainable  and 
integrated  water  management  in  the  EU.  They  aim  to 
achieve  a  high  level  of  protection  of  water  resources, 

Directive 
form 

(124)    INFR(2024)2200. 

(125)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32000L0060. 

(126)  https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/water_en. 
(127)  These 

the  Groundwater  Directive 

include 

(https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32006L0118), 
the  Environmental  Quality  Standards  Directive  (https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2008/105/oj), 
Directive 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32007L0060), the Bathing Water 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
Directive 
content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32006L0007), 
Urban 
(https://eur-
Directive 
Wastewater 

Treatment 

Floods 

the 

the 

Romania  33 

prevention  of  further  deterioration  and  restoration  to 
good status. These objectives are very important for the 
EU’s  competitiveness,  strategic  autonomy  and  security, 
yet  have  become  even  more  challenging  in  the  face  of 
climate change affecting our precious water resources. 

The Water Framework Directive establishes a procedural 
framework for reaching good surface water ecological and 
chemical  status  and  good  groundwater  quantitative  and 
chemical status. This implies monitoring and classification 
of all waterbodies, assessment  of pressures and impacts 
and identification of the most cost-effective measures to 
achieve the objectives of the directive. The directive dates 
from 2000 and set an initial deadline of 2015 for achieving 
its objectives, with the option to extend the deadline to 
the  end  of  2027.  Every  six  years,  Member  States  must 
report their river basin management plans (RBMPs) to the 
Commission. They should cover river basin districts in their 
countries,  some  of  which  may  be  shared  with  other 
countries. The Commission has assessed the third cycle of 
RBMPs, which were to be submitted by March 2022, and 
reported  its  findings  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to 
the Council on 4th February 2025 (128). 

Romania  has  3 026  surface  waterbodies  and  143 
groundwater bodies, divided over one river basin district 
(Danube).  Approximately  16 %  of  surface  waters  are 
designated  as  ‘heavily  modified’  and  about  2 %  as 
‘artificial’.  Heavily  modified  and  artificial  waterbodies 
must  reach  good  ecological  potential  rather  than  good 
ecological status, which means that all measures must be 
taken  to  mitigate  the  adverse  impact  of  the  sustainable 
human development activities causing the water body to 
be  heavily  modified /  artificial,  while  not  significantly 
affecting these activities. 

the 

show 

Figures 25–28 
ecological 
status/potential and of chemical status of surface waters, 
and the quantitative and chemical status of groundwater 
in 2010, 2015 and 2021.  

change 

in 

It  follows  from  the  assessment  of  the  third  RBMP  that 
there  has  been  a  slight  improvement  in  the  ecological 
status/potential  of  surface  waterbodies,  and  a  slight 
deterioration in their chemical status, compared with the 
status  reported  in  the  second  RBMP  (covering  2015–

Directive 

Drinking  Water 

lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A31991L0271), 
the 
(https://eur-
new 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32020L2184), 
Directive 
content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A31991L0676), 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32008L0056) 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32010L0075). 

Nitrates 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
MSFD 

and 

the 

the 

IED 

the 

(128)   ENV 

Library, 

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/circabc-

ewpp/ui/group/c04f478b-d4dc-44f9-a211-
087c01165b2c/library/faada4be-9fc3-4a48-b972-
f71e356019d5?p=1&n=10&sort=modified_DESC. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Romania  34 

Figure 27: Quantitative status of groundwater bodies in 
each RBMP cycle (%) 

2021). There has been no deterioration in the quantitative 
status of groundwater bodies, which are all reported to be 
in good status, and there has been a slight improvement 
in their chemical status. 

Figure 25:  Ecological 
waterbodies in each RBMP cycle (%) 

status/potential  of 

surface 

The third RBMP reports that 100 % of groundwater bodies 
have  good  quantitative  status  and  that  no  groundwater 
bodies are at risk  of  failing to achieve good quantitative 
status by 2027. 

The  percentage  of  classifications  with  high  confidence 
amounted to 84.6 % of the assessments in the third RBMP. 
However,  a  significant  portion  of  the  classifications 
(15.4 %) were still conducted with low confidence. 

Figure 28: Chemical status of groundwater bodies in each 
RBMP cycle (%) 

status/potential, 

Approximately  67 %  of  surface  waterbodies  have  good 
ecological 
a  minor 
improvement  since  the  second  RBMP.  Monitoring 
programmes  have  improved,  and  new  monitoring  sites 
have been added. 

showing 

87.7 %  of  surface  waterbodies  are  expected  to  achieve 
good ecological status/potential by 2027. 

Figure 26: Chemical status of surface waterbodies in each 
RBMP cycle (%) 

97.6 % of surface waterbodies are reported to have good 
chemical status. 

Failure to achieve good chemical status is mostly due to 
ubiquitous  persistent  bioaccumulative 
toxic 
substances, which are difficult to address and often have 
transboundary  sources.  In  Romania,  these  are  mainly 
mercury and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. 

and 

The  percentage  of  surface  waterbodies  expected  to 
achieve good chemical status by 2027 is approximately the 
same as the results published in the third RBMP. 

91.6 % of groundwater bodies are reported to have good 
chemical status, showing a slight improvement  from the 
second RBMP. 

The  percentage  of  classifications  with  high  or  medium 
confidence  has  remained  the  same  since  the  second 
RBMP, at 97.9 % of the assessments. 

8.4 %  of  groundwater  bodies  are  expected  to  fail  to 
achieve good chemical status by 2027. 

Until the end of 2027, Member States can still apply time-
related  exemptions,  subject  to  providing  evidence  of 
compliance  with  the  strict  criteria  set  out  in  the  Water 
Framework  Directive.  After  2027,  the  possibilities  for 
applying exemptions will be much more limited. 

The 2022 EIR identified the following priority actions. 

• 

Strengthen  the  monitoring  of  surface  waters  by 
covering  all  relevant  quality  elements  in  all  water 
including  hydromorphological  quality 
categories, 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

0 20 40  0 80 100 1st2nd3rdSWB chemical status for ROGood ailing to achieve goodUnknown 
 
 
 
 
Romania  35 

• 

elements,  and  improve  quantitative  and  chemical 
groundwater monitoring. 
Ensure that projects with the potential to affect the 
status  of  waterbodies  are  thoroughly  assessed  and 
justified  in  line  with  the  requirements  of  the  Water 
Framework Directive (Article 4(7)). 

• 

Improve  hydromorphological  measures  to  meet 
objectives. 

•  Reduce  pollution  from  nutrients,  chemicals,  metals 

• 

and saline discharges. 
Improve the classification of waterbodies, reduce the 
gap to objectives and better justify exemptions. 

Some  progress  has  been  made  regarding  all  of  these 
priority actions. 

Floods Directive 

In the third RBMP, the number of monitoring sites and the 
proportion of surface waterbodies covered by monitoring 
of ecological status has significantly increased in terms of 
surveillance  and  operational  monitoring,  especially  in 
rivers  and  lakes.  There  has  been  a  slight  decrease  in 
quantitative  monitoring,  related  to  changes  made  to 
adjust  the  monitoring  network,  but  additional  elements 
have  been  taken  into  consideration.  Regarding  chemical 
status,  greater  effort  has  been  put  into  operational 
monitoring and less on surveillance, and efforts have been 
made to increase the number of substances monitored. 

Projects  with  the  potential  to  affect  the  status  of  water 
have  been  subject  to  an  impact  assessment.  The  third 
RBMP  also  provides  a  general 
indication  that,  for 
Article 4(7)  applications,  steps  have  been  taken /  will  be 
taken to mitigate the adverse impacts on the status of the 
waterbodies affected. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  Romania  has  developed  national 
guidelines  on  the  preparation  of  environmental  impact 
assessment  (EIA)  reports  specifically  for  hydropower 
projects. 

Romania  is  facing  water  scarcity,  as  evidenced  by  the 
Seasonal  Water  Exploitation  Index  +  (129).  In  2022,  this 
index  reaches  32,5%  which  is  much  above  the  20% 
generally  considered  as  a  sign  of  scarcity  in  the  third 
quarter  of  the  year.  Above  40%,  it  would  be  a  sign  of 
severe scarcity. This seasonal index at national level does 
not  reflect  the  situation  at  river  basin  level  (130)  where 
more acute water stress can be recorded. 

Every six years, following the same reporting cycle as the 
RBMPs,  all  Member  States  also  report  their  flood  risk 
management  plans  (FRMPs),  based  on  the  flood  hazard 
and  risk  maps  (FHRMs)  and  the  preliminary  flood  risk 
assessments  drawn  up  during  the  second  cycle  (2016–
2021). 

The  Commission  assessed  the  FRMPs  and  reported  its 
findings to the European Parliament and to the Council on 
4th  February  2025,  together  with  the  assessment  of  the 
RBMPs. 

identified  progress 
In  the  second  FRMPs,  Romania 
indicators  that  have  clear  targets  linked  to  the  level  of 
priority  of  the  strategies  for  the  areas  of  potential 
significant flood risk. Although the FRMPs only provide a 
link  between  the  nine  objectives  and  the  three  broad 
categories of measures, a national methodology was used 
to develop the measures along the lines of the objectives. 
In addition, the second FRMPs provide information on the 
methodology  for  the  prioritisation  of  measures,  the 
estimated costs for the implementation of the measures 
and funding sources for some of the measures. Unlike the 
first FRMPs, the second FRMPs refer to Romania’s national 
climate  change  strategy  and  provide  information  on  the 
potential 
floods. 
impacts  of  climate  change  on 
Furthermore, robustness tests for vulnerability to climate 
change  have  been  carried  out.  The  FRMPs  provide 
information  on  public  consultation  and  stakeholder 
involvement. 

2025 priority actions 

2025 priority actions 

• 

Without prejudice to the list of recommended actions in 
the Commission report to the European Parliament and to 
the  Council  on  the  assessment  of  the  third  RBMPs,  the 
following priority actions can be highlighted. 

• 

• 

Tackle the obstacles identified in the implementation 
of  measures,  such  as  administrative  capacity  and 
resources. 
Improve  river  continuity  and  ecological 
including in light of hydropower pressures. 

flows, 

FRMPs  should  provide  details  on  how  the  FHRMs 
were  used  in  the  choice  of  measures  and  how  to 
consider pluvial flooding. 
Consider future climate scenarios in FRMPs. 

• 
•  Better explain the choice and implementation of flood 
prevention  and  protection  measures  (prioritisation, 
monitoring, costs of measures). 
Improve  public 
involvement. 

consultation  and 

stakeholder 

• 

(129)   Water 

scarcity 

conditions 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/use-of-
freshwater-resources-in-europe-1. 

Europe, 

in 

EEA,  

(130)   Percentage 

of 

seasons  with  water 

stress, 

EEA, 

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/maps-and-
charts/percentage-of-seasons-with-water-stress. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Drinking Water Directive 

Figure 29:  Bathing  water  quality  per  Member  State, 
Albania and Switzerland (%), 2023 

Romania  36 

The recast Drinking Water Directive is now applicable, and 
Member States were required to transpose its provisions 
into their national legal systems by 12 January 2023. Since 
into  force  of  the  recast  directive,  the 
the  entry 
several  delegated  and 
Commission  has  adopted 
implementing  acts  establishing  (i)  a  watch 
list  of 
substances  and  compounds  of  concern  for  drinking 
water (131), (ii) a methodology for measuring microplastics 
in drinking water (132) and (iii) an EU system for testing and 
approving materials that will be allowed to be in contact 
with drinking water (133). Member States will have to take 
these  various  Commission  acts 
into  account  when 
implementing the recast directive. 

large  water  suppliers) 

Finally,  the  Commission  has  now  received  data  from 
Member States on the quality of drinking water (supplied 
by 
in  2017–2019.  However, 
Romania  has  not  yet  submitted  the  related  data.  From 
January 2026, the European quality standards for per- and 
polyfluoroalkyl  substances  in  drinking  water  will  apply, 
ensuring  harmonised  Member  States’  reporting  of  per- 
and  polyfluoroalkyl  substance  monitoring  data  in  the 
future. 

Bathing Water Directive 

The  Bathing  Water  Directive  requires  Member  States  to 
monitor and assess bathing water. It requires that, during 
the  bathing  season,  Member  States  disseminate  to  the 
public information on bathing water quality actively and 
promptly. In particular, notices banning or advising against 
bathing should be rapidly and easily identifiable. 

Figure 30  shows  that  in  2023,  out  of  the  50  Romanian 
bathing waters, 35 (70 %) were of excellent quality and 15 
(30 %)  were  of  good  quality.  No  bathing  waters  were 
found to be of sufficient or poor quality. 

(131)  https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/implementing-

decision-drinking-water-directive-watch-list_en. 

(132)  Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2024/1441 of 11 March 2024 
supplementing  Directive  (EU)  2020/2184  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council by laying down a methodology to 
measure microplastics in water intended for human consumption 
(notified  under  document  C(2024) 1459)  (OJ  L,  2024/1441, 
21.5.2024), http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_del/2024/1441/oj. 
2024/365, 

23.4.2024, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2024/365/oj; OJ L, 2024/367, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2024/367/oj; 
23.4.2024, 
OJ L, 
23.4.2024, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/369/oj;  OJ L,  2024/368, 

(133)  OJ L, 

2024/369, 

Source:  EEA,  European  Bathing  Water  Quality 
No 04/2024, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/european-bathing-water-
quality-in-2023/. 

in  2023,  briefing 
2024, 

Copenhagen, 

Nitrates Directive 

The  Nitrates  Directive (134)  aims  to  protect  water  quality 
across  Europe  by  preventing  nitrates  from  agricultural 
sources that can pollute groundwater and surface waters 
and by promoting the use of good farming practices. 

The  latest  Commission  report  on  the  implementation  of 
the Nitrates Directive (135), dating back to 2021, warns that 
nitrates are still causing harmful pollution to water in the 
EU. Excessive nitrates in water are harmful to both human 
health  and  ecosystems,  causing  oxygen  depletion  and 
eutrophication. Cleaning of waters by national authorities 
or  farmers,  where  it  has  been  undertaken,  has  had  a 
positive  impact  on  the  drinking  water  supply  and  on 
biodiversity.  It  has  also  benefited  the  sectors –  such  as 
fisheries and tourism – that depend on biodiversity and on 
a good supply of drinking water. Nevertheless, excessive 
fertilisation remains a  problem in  many parts of the EU. 
implementation  of  the  Nitrates 
The  report  on  the 
Directive covering 2020–2023 will be available in 2025. 

The analysis of Romania’s RBMPs has identified nutrients 
for 
from  agriculture  as  an 
groundwater /  surface  waters  that  is  affecting  these 

important  pressure 

23.4.2024, http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2024/368/oj; OJ L, 
2024/370, 
23.4.2024, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/370/oj;  OJ L,  2024/371, 
23.4.2024,  http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/371/oj;  see 
the  Commission  web  page  on  all  six  delegated  acts  for  more 
information 
(https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/delegated-acts-
drinking-water-directive_en). 

(134)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

content/EN/TXT/?qid=1561542776070&uri=CELEX:01991L0676-
20081211. 

(135)  https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/water/nitrates_en. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
waters’ good status and as one of the main factors in not 
meeting the Water Framework Directive objectives. 

2025 priority action 

• 

Tackle  nutrient  pollution,  especially  nitrates  from 
agriculture  through  the 
implementation  of  the 
Nitrates Directive. 

Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive 

The  Urban  Wastewater  Treatment  Directive  (UWWTD) 
aims to protect human health and the environment from 
the effects of untreated urban waste water. It therefore 
requires Member States to collect and treat (secondary or 
biological  treatment)  waste  water  in  all  urban  areas  of 
more  than  2 000  people,  and  to  apply  a  more  stringent 
than  secondary,  with  nitrogen  and/or 
treatment 
phosphorus  removal,  to  the  waste  water  generated  in 
urban areas, also known as agglomerations, of more than 
10 000 people, before they are discharged into waters and 
their  catchments,  when  they  are  sensitive  to  nitrogen 
and/or phosphorus (i.e. eutrophic or tending to become 
eutrophic). 

38 

Romania, 

agglomerations, 

In 
generating 
3 052 104 population  equivalent  of  urban  waste  water, 
complied with the requirements of the directive in 2020. 
In 
generating 
16 779 407 population  equivalent  of  urban  waste  water, 
did not comply with the requirements of the directive. 

agglomerations, 

1 777 

total, 

Figure 30:  Proportion  of  urban  waste  water  that  fully 
complies with the UWWTD (%), 2020 

Source:  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Fribourg-Blanc,  B.,  Dhuygelaere,  N.,  Berland,  J.  and  Imbert,  F.,  12th 
technical  assessment  of  UWWTD  implementation  –  Final  version, 
Publications 
2024, 
the 
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2779/318637. 

European 

Union, 

Office 

of 

Despite improvements in compliance over the years, for 
which  the use of EU  funding has been  instrumental, the 
Commission  sent  a  reasoned  opinion  to  the  Romanian 

Romania  37 

authorities  for  failure  to  comply  with  the  UWWTD  in 
relation  to  agglomerations  of  above  10 000 population 
equivalent, which benefited from a transitional period in 
accordance  with  Romania’s  Treaty  of  Accession. 
large  agglomerations  still  do  not 
Nevertheless,  150 
conform  with 
collection 
obligations, 154 large agglomerations do not comply with 
secondary 
large 
agglomerations do not comply with the tertiary treatment 
obligations (136). 

treatment  obligations  and  154 

the  urban  wastewater 

The Commission referred Romania to the Court of Justice 
of  the  European  Union  on  15 November  2024.  It  is 
essential  that  Romania  takes  the  necessary  measures  to 
fully comply with the requirements of the directive. 

This  is  all  the  more  important  as  the  directive  has  been 
revised  in  order  to,  among  other  things,  strengthen 
existing  treatment  standards and  establish  an  additional 
treatment of micropollutants in urban waste water. Other 
new  requirements  relate  to  moving  towards  the  energy 
neutrality  of  the  sector,  establishing  an  EPR  system  to 
ensure sustainable financing of micropollutant treatment 
by  the  most  polluting  industries  and  ensuring  access  to 
sanitation,  especially  for  vulnerable  and  marginalised 
groups. Romania has until  31 July 2027 to transpose the 
new directive into its national legal system. 

the 

regulatory 

framework 

Romania  continues  to  struggle  with  incomplete  public 
water supply connections and still has one of the lowest 
compliance rates with EU water legislation. It continues to 
be confronted with the highest investment needs to reach 
and maintain compliance.  Efforts need to be stepped up 
to extend and modernise drinking water and wastewater 
infrastructure,  and  to  ensure  a  sustainable  service  at  a 
reasonable  price.  The  significant  leakage  rate  of  water 
supply  systems  highlights  the  need  for  investment  in 
network infrastructure. The Romanian RRP has identified 
some key reforms to support the water sector, notably by 
strengthening 
the 
sustainable  management  of  the  water  and  wastewater 
sectors, and to accelerate public access to quality services. 
Significant  funding  support  for  water  investments  is 
available  in  the  RRP  and  under  the  cohesion  policy.  In 
2021–2027, EUR 1.2 billion in EU cohesion policy supports 
investments  in  wastewater  collection  and  treatment  in 
projects  started  in  2014–2020  and  in new  projects.  As  a 
condition of the support, Romanian authorities developed 
a  national 
investment  plan  to  enable  the  strategic 
planning and deployment of these investments. This plan 
includes a set of actions which refers to actions to ensure 
the  institutional  framework  for  the  implementation  and 
monitoring of the investment plan, and to strengthen the 
strategic  governance  of  the  sector,  the  economic 
regulation  of  the  sector  and  the  capacity  of  operators, 

for 

(136) 

601. 

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_22_

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Romania  38 

including  regional  ones.  The  implementation  of  the 
investments and reforms in the plan should be ensured. 

Despite some progress having been made since the 2022 
EIR,  Romania  has  not  completed  the  implementation  of 
the  UWWTD  for  all  agglomerations.  Therefore,  further 
efforts are necessary. 

2025 priority action 

• 

the  necessary  measures 

Take 
full 
implementation  of  the  current  urban  wastewater 
treatment  directive,  taking  into  account  the  new 
requirements of the recast directive. 

to  ensure 

Chemicals 

of 

and 

enforcement 

Authorisation  and  Restriction  of  Chemicals  (REACH) 
Regulation and the Classification, Labelling and Packaging 
(CLP)  Regulation.  In  December  2020,  the  Commission 
assessed  the  Member  States’  reports (139)  on  the 
these 
implementation 
regulations (140).  It  is  apparent  from  the  Commission’s 
report  that  there  are  still  many  disparities 
in  the 
implementation  of  the  REACH  and  CLP  Regulations, 
law  enforcement.  Recorded 
notably 
compliance levels in Member States, generally quite stable 
over time, appear to be getting slightly worse. This may be 
because  (i)  enforcement  authorities  are  becoming  more 
effective in detecting non-compliant products/companies 
and (ii) more non-compliant products are being placed on 
the EU market. 

in  the  area  of 

The EU seeks to ensure that chemicals are produced and 
used  in  a  way  that  minimises  any  significant  adverse 
effects on human health and the environment. In October 
2020, the Commission published its chemicals strategy for 
sustainability  towards  a  toxic-free  environment (137), 
which  led  to  some  systemic  changes  in  EU  chemicals 
legislation. The strategy is part of the EU’s zero pollution 
ambition –  a  key  commitment  of  the  European  Green 
Deal. 

The  EU’s  chemicals  legislation (138)  provides  a  baseline 
protection for human health and the environment. It also 
ensures  stability  and  predictability 
for  businesses 
operating in the internal market. 

Since 2007, the Commission has gathered information on 
the  Registration,  Evaluation, 
the  enforcement  of 

In August 2021, the Commission published a measurable 
assessment  of the enforcement (141) of the two  main EU 
regulations  on  chemicals  using  a  set  of  indicators  on 
different  aspects  of  enforcement.  Since  2021,  the  list  of 
chemicals  subject  to  restrictions  has  been  expanded  as 
new entries have been added to Annex XVII to the REACH 
Regulation (142). 

In  2023,  new  hazard  classes  were  added  to  the  CLP 
Regulation, and the revision of the regulation was tabled 
(published  on  20 November  2024)  (143).  The  new  hazard 
classes  cover  endocrine  disruptors  and  persistence-
related  hazards  while  the  revision  of  the  regulation 
encompasses  new  rules  on  online  sales  to  better  tackle 
non-compliances  observed  over  the  years.  Also  in  2023, 
the  Conference  of  the  Parties  of  the  Stockholm 
Convention (COP) decided to include, in its Annex A (which 

(137)  Communication 

to 

from 

the  Commission 

the  European 
Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions –  Chemicals 
strategy  for  sustainability:  Towards  a  toxic-free  environment, 
COM(2020) 667 
final  of  14 October  2020,  https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2020%3A667%3AFIN;  Regulation 
(EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of 
substances  and  mixtures,  amending  and  repealing  Directives 
67/548/EEC  and  1999/45/EC,  and  amending  Regulation  (EC) 
No 1907/2006 
p. 1), 
L 353, 
https://publications.europa.eu/resource/cellar/c6b6a31d-8359-
11ee-99ba-01aa75ed71a1.0004.02/DOC_2. 

31.12.2008, 

(OJ 

(138)  Namely,  Regulation 

(EC)  No 1907/2006  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  18 December  2006  concerning 
the  registration,  evaluation,  authorisation  and  restriction  of 
chemicals  (REACH),  establishing  a  European  Chemicals  Agency, 
amending Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation 
(EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as 
well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 
91/155/EEC,  93/67/EEC,  93/105/EC  and  2000/21/EC  (OJ  L 396, 
30/12/2006, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32006R1907; and Regulation (EC) 
No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
16 December  2008  on  classification,  labelling  and  packaging  of 
substances  and  mixtures,  amending  and  repealing  Directives 
67/548/EEC  and  1999/45/EC,  and  amending  Regulation  (EC) 

p. 1), 

L 353,  31.12.2008,  p. 1),  https://eur-

No 1907/2006 
(OJ 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02008R1272-20221217. 
(139)  European Commission, Technical assistance to review the existing 
Member  States  reporting  questionnaire  under  Articles 117(1)  of 
REACH and 46(2) of CLP – Final report, Publications Office of the 
European 
2020, 
https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/8ee3c69a-bccb-4f22-89ca-
277e35de7c63/library/a4abce8c-8425-455f-b7e6-
0ead917bde6b/details. 
In 
Article 46(2) of the CLP Regulation. 

line  with  Article 117(1)  of  the  REACH  Regulation  and 

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

(140) 

the 

European 

(141)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Internal  Market, 
Industry,  Entrepreneurship  and  SMEs,  REACH  and  CLP 
Enforcement: EU-level enforcement indicators, Publications Office 
of 
2021, 
Union, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/e5c3e461-0f85-11ec-9151-01aa75ed71a1/. 
(142)  These are substances in tattoo inks and permanent make-up, N,N-
dimethylformamide, formaldehyde (and formaldehyde releasers), 
lead in PVC (polyvinyl chloride), siloxanes (D4, D5, D6) and, finally, 
microplastics. 

Luxembourg, 

(143)  Regulation (EU) 2024/2865 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  23  October  2024  amending  Regulation  (EC)  No 
1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances 
and  mixtures,  OJ  L,  2024/2865,  20.11.2024,  p.1  (https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/2865/oj/eng). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
lists  banned  substances),  three  new  chemicals (144).  The 
Commission  is  working  on  the  delegated  acts  to  include 
these  substances  in  Annex I  to  the  Persistent  Organic 
Pollutants Regulation by 2025 at the latest. 

Figure 31: Compliance of imported products – results of 
the REF-8 project (%) 

Romania  39 

In  Romania,  responsibility  for  checking  compliance  with 
the  REACH  Regulation 
following 
authorities (145): 

lies  with 

the 

•  National Environmental Guard, 
• 
•  National  Consumer  Protection  Authority 

Labour Inspection, 

(also 

responsible for the CLP Regulation). 

Romania has drawn up but only partially implemented the 
REACH and CLP Regulation enforcement strategies (146). 

The  Member  States’  reporting  exercise  set  out 
in 
Article 117 of the REACH Regulation and Article 46 of the 
CLP Regulation is conducted every five years. The results 
of  the  coming  one  are  expected  in  2025,  hence  the 
absence  of  new  country-specific  data  on  enforcement 
since 2022. 

In  2020,  Romania  indicated  that  90  staff  members  are 
allocated  to  the  enforcement  of  the  REACH  and  CLP 
Regulations  (covering  384  person  hours/year),  plus  43 
labour inspectors (147). 

In  2020,  Romania  participated  in  an  EU  coordinated 
enforcement  project  on  products  sold  online,  called  the 
REACH-EN-FORCE  (REF)-8  project (148).  The  report  was 
adopted in November 2021, so it could not be taken into 
account in the previous EIR. 

(144)  These are methoxychlor, dechlorane plus and UV-328. In the case 
of the pesticide methoxychlor, there are no exemptions from the 
ban. However, for the two plastic additives, dechlorane plus and 
UV-328,  the  COP  decision 
lists  some  time-limited  specific 
exemptions. 

(145)  European Commission, Technical assistance to review the existing 
Member  States  reporting  questionnaire  under  Articles 117(1)  of 
REACH and 46(2) of CLP – Final report, Publications Office of the 
European 
p. 71, 
https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/8ee3c69a-bccb-4f22-89ca-
277e35de7c63/library/a4abce8c-8425-455f-b7e6-
0ead917bde6b/details. 

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

2020, 

(146)  European Commission, Technical assistance to review the existing 
Member  States  reporting  questionnaire  under  Articles 117(1)  of 
REACH and 46(2) of CLP – Final report, Publications Office of the 
p. 76, 
European 

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

2020, 

A  risk  approach  was  used  for  the  targeting  of  control 
measures in order to maximise the chances of identifying 
non-compliances.  Therefore,  the  non-compliance  rates 
presented above cannot be considered the average non-
compliance  rates  of  products  in  the  EU.  However,  the 
proportion  of  non-compliance  cases  found  in  the  REF-8 
project are of concern. 

https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/8ee3c69a-bccb-4f22-89ca-
277e35de7c63/library/a4abce8c-8425-455f-b7e6-
0ead917bde6b/details. 

(147)  European Commission, Technical assistance to review the existing 
Member  States  reporting  questionnaire  under  Articles 117(1)  of 
REACH and 46(2) of CLP – Final report, Publications Office of the 
European 
p. 75, 
https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/8ee3c69a-bccb-4f22-89ca-
277e35de7c63/library/a4abce8c-8425-455f-b7e6-
0ead917bde6b/details. 

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

2020, 

(148)  European Chemicals Agency, REF-8 project on enforcement of the 
CLP,  REACH  and  BPR  duties  related  to  substances,  mixtures  and 
p. 20, 
articles 
https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/17088/project_report
_ref-8_en.pdf/ccf2c453-da0e-c185-908e-
3a0343b25802?t=1638885422475. 

Helsinki, 

online, 

2021, 

sold 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Figure 32:  Number  of  REF-8  checks  performed  per 
100 000 inhabitants (EU average = 1.24) 

Romania  40 

Romania  participated  to  a  small  extent  in  the  REF-8 
coordinated enforcement project. Online sales have been 
proved  to  correspond  consistently  to  higher  non-
compliance  rates  in  checks  performed  across  the  EU,  in 
particular when related to imported products. 

In  2022,  Romania  received  a  priority  action  related  to 
upgrading  administrative  capacities  in  implementation 
and  enforcement  to  move  towards  a  policy  of  zero 
tolerance of non-compliance. In the absence of reporting 
since 2022, no progress has been shown and this priority 
action  remains  valid  in  2025,  partly  because  of  the 
experience with the REF-8 project. 

In addition, Romania must fully implement the REACH and 
CLP Regulation enforcement strategies. 

2025 priority actions 

• 

•  Upgrade administrative capacities in implementation 
and enforcement towards a policy of zero tolerance 
of non-compliance. 
Increase involvement in the activities of the Forum for 
Exchange  of  Information  on  Enforcement  of  the 
European  Chemicals  Agency, 
the 
in 
coordinated enforcement projects, called REFs. 
Increase  customs  controls  and  controls  of  products 
sold online with regard to compliance with chemicals 
legislations. 

including 

• 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  41 

4. Climate action 

Forestry (150). The package has been fully adopted, and the 
Member States have been implementing the legislation. 

The key strategic document at country level is the national 
energy and climate plan (NECP) (151). Romania submitted 
its updated plan in October 2024 after the deadline set by 
the  Regulation  on  the  Governance  of  the  Energy  Union 
and  Climate  Action  (152).  The  European  Commission 
assessed  the  plan  and  the  extent  to  which  Romania  has 
followed the recommendations for the draft version. The 
findings from the assessment are: 

• 

• 

Emissions  under  the  Effort  Sharing  Regulation  will 
decrease  by  15%  in  2030  compared  to  2005,  and 
Romania will meet its target of 13%. 
The  latest  projections  show  a  gap  to  the  Land  Use, 
Land-Use  Change  and  Forestry  (LULUCF)  Regulation 
target, meaning that current levels of removals have 
been insufficient.  

•  Romania  has  a  gap  to  its  target  for  the  share  of 

renewable energy. 

•  Romania is in line with its energy efficiency targets. 

To minimise the impacts of climate policies on vulnerable 
people  and  sectors,  Romania  is using  the  Just  Transition 
Fund and Modernisation Fund and will use Social Climate 
Fund  from  2026  (for  more  information,  see  Chapter 5 
Finance). 

Figure 33: Total GHG  emissions (excluding international 
aviation) (%), 1990–2022 

The impacts of climate change have continued to increase 
in recent years, inflicting damage and suffering in the EU 
and around the world. Globally, 2023 was the hottest year 
on  record,  while  Europe  has  been  warming  twice  as 
quickly  as  the  global  average,  and  is  now  the  fastest-
warming  continent.  The  frequency  and  severity  of 
extreme  climate  events  are  also  increasing.  Against  this 
backdrop, the EU has demonstrated its determination to 
implement  the  European  Green  Deal  and  to  become 
climate neutral and resilient by 2050, ensuring sustainable 
competitiveness  and  supporting  EU  industry  in  the  net-
zero  transition.  The  European  Climate  Law  is  the  EU’s 
response  to  the  need  for  action.  It  sets  the  objective  of 
achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and a midterm target 
of a reduction in GHG emissions of at least 55 % by 2030, 
and outlines the adaptation efforts necessary to adjust to 
climate  change’s  present  and  future  impacts.  Almost  all 
the  ‘Fit  for  55’  proposals  set  out  in  the  European  Green 
Deal  have  been  agreed 
law,  and  the  European 
in 
Commission  recommended  a  new  intermediate  climate 
target of a 90 % reduction in emissions by 2040. In 2024, 
the  Member  States  submitted  updated  national  energy 
and climate plans for 2021–2030, reflecting the increased 
ambition  of  the  revised  EU  legislation.  In  2024,  the 
European Commission also released, jointly with the EEA, 
the first-ever European climate risk assessment. 

its  Member  States  need 

Over  the  last  three  decades,  since  1990,  the  EU  has 
achieved  steady  decreases  in  its  emissions,  reaching  a 
running  total  in  2022  of  – 32.5 % (149).  However,  the  EU 
and 
their 
implementation  efforts  and  accelerate  emissions 
reduction to stay on track to reach their targets of a 55 % 
reduction  in  net  GHG  emissions  by  2030  and  climate 
neutrality  by  2050.  Between  1990  and  2022,  net  GHG 
emissions of Romania decreased by 73%, making it one of 
the countries with an above-average decrease. 

to  step  up 

The  ‘Fit  for  55’  legislative  package  reflects  the  need  to 
speed up the green transition. It includes (i) strengthening 
and expanding the EU emissions trading system (ETS), with 
the  creation  of  a  new,  second,  ETS  for  transport  and 
buildings together with a dedicated Social Climate Fund to 
help  citizens  during  the  transition;  (ii)  increasing  targets 
under  the  effort  sharing  regulation;  and  (iii)  a  revised 
for  Land  Use,  Land  Use  Change  and 
regulation 

(149)  EU  net  domestic  emissions,  including  the  land  use,  land-use 
change and forestry (LULUCF) sector and excluding international 
aviation. 

(150)  A full overview of the Fit for 55 package is available at 

https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-
2019-2024/european-green-deal/delivering-european-green-

deal/fit-55-delivering-proposals_en. 

(151)  More information about NECP is on the dedicated website 

https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-strategy/national-
energy-and-climate-plans-necps_en. 

(152à   Article  14  of  regulation  2018/1999  on  the  Governance  of  the 

Energy Union and Climate Action. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
The EU emissions trading system 

The  EU  ETS  is  the  key  tool  for  reducing  GHG  emissions 
cost-effectively across all Member States. It is the world’s 
biggest carbon market, covering around  40% of the EU’s 
total GHG emissions from electricity and heat generation, 
the  manufacturing  industry,  aviation  within  Europe (153) 
and, from 2024, maritime transport also. 

The system sets a limit or cap on the total amount of GHGs 
that  can  be  emitted  at  the  EU  level.  Within  this  limit, 
companies buy emissions allowances (one allowance gives 
the right to emit 1 t of CO2 eq (carbon dioxide equivalent)), 
in auctions or through trading allowances with others. The 
cap is reduced annually to ensure that overall emissions in 
the sectors covered decrease over time. 

The emissions under the ETS decreased by 66% from 2005 
to 2023. 

In  2023,  54 %  of  GHG  emissions  from  Romania’s  ETS 
installations came from power generation, slightly below 
the  EU  average  (57 %).  Cement  and  lime  accounted  for 
about 24 %, the metals industry for 8 %, and refineries and 
other  industries  for  7 %,  each.  Between  2019  and  2023, 
the industry sectors registered a higher reduction (37 %) 
than power generation (33 %), resulting in a 35 % overall 
emissions  decrease.  Since  2013,  GHG  emissions  from 
power  generation  have  declined  by  half.  Although  ETS 
emissions  from  the 
‘other’  sectoral  category  have 
decreased  by  30 %,  emissions  from  the  metals  industry 
have increased by 59 %, and emissions from cement and 
lime have grown by 24 %. This has resulted in an overall 
GHG reduction of 44 % since 2013. 

On  25 January  2024, 
the  Commission  started  an 
infringement  case  against  Romania  for  failing  to  fully 
transpose  previous  revisions  of  ETS  directive (154)  into 
national  law.  Romania  had  two  months  to  respond  and 
address  the  shortcomings  raised  by  the  Commission.  In 
the  absence  of  a  satisfactory  response,  the  Commission 
may decide to take the infringement case further. 

From 2027, a new emissions trading system, called ETS2, 
for  buildings,  road  transport  and  additional  sectors 
(mainly  industry  not  covered  by  the  current  ETS)  will 
become  fully  operational (155).  Member  States  should 
have  notified  full  transposition  the  provisions  of  the 
revised  EU  ETS  directive  related  to  the  new  ETS2  into 
national 
law  by  30 June  2024.  Romania  did  not 
communicate  full  transposition  into  national  law  by  this 
deadline. For this reason, on 25 July 2024, the Commission 
opened an infringement procedure against Romania. 

(153)  Flights between the EU Member States including departing flights 
to Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 

(154)  Directive 

(EU) 

2023/959 

content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023L0959)  and  Directive 
2023/958 

(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
(EU) 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

Romania  42 

Romania  had  two  months  to  respond  and  address  the 
shortcomings raised by the Commission. In the absence of 
a  satisfactory  response,  the  Commission  may  decide  to 
take the infringement case further. 

Effort sharing 

from  domestic  transport 

The  Effort  Sharing  Regulation (ESR) (156)  covers  GHG 
(excluding  CO₂ 
emissions 
emissions  from  aviation),  buildings,  agriculture,  small 
industry and waste. Emissions from these sectors account 
for  around  60 %  of  the  EU’s  domestic  emissions.  The 
regulation  sets  the  EU-wide  target  to  reduce  emissions 
from the effort sharing sectors by 40 % by 2030 compared 
to 2005 levels. This overall target for the EU translates to 
binding  national  emission  reduction  targets  for  each 
Member State. Romania‘s target is –12.7%. 

In  addition  to  the  2030  targets,  Member  States  have 
annual GHG emissions limits (annual emission allocations), 
reducing every year until 2030. 

There  is  some  flexibility  to  take  account  of  annual 
fluctuations 
in  emissions,  by  trading  emissions  and 
transfers from the ETS and LULUCF. 

Based  on  historical  emissions  and  the  most  updated 
projections  Romania  is  on  track  to  achieve  its  2030  ESR 
target. 

Projected  emission  reduction  is  2.6  percentage  points 
above the 2030 target. 

Romania  is  one  of  the  few  countries  where  domestic 
transport 
is  not  a  dominant  effort  sharing  sector. 
Transport  accounted  for  26  %  of  all  effort  sharing 
emissions  in  2022,  but  the  share  is  on  rise.  Domestic 
transport emissions increased by 68 % from 2005 level. In 
Romania,  much  remains  to  be  done  in  the  sector, 
especially for passenger transport. Only 0.3 % of car fleet 
were battery electric vehicles in 2023 (EU average is 1.2 %) 
and Romania has about 2 660 publicly accessible charging 
points,  or  one  for  every  12  e-vehicles  (above  the  EU 
average of 1:10). The total share of public transportation 
is  above  the  EU  average  but  share  of  railways  (3 %)  is 
considerably  lower  than  the  average  (6 %).  On  the 
transport  of  freight,  inland  waterways  and  rail  each 
account  for  25 %  of  movements.  However,  only  37 %  of 
Romania’s  rail  network  is  electrified  (well  below  the  EU 
average of 56 %). 

Between  2005  and  2022,  emissions  from  buildings 
increased by 7 %, which is not in line with EU trend and EU 
average decrease of 29 % in the same period. Romania is 

content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023L0958). 

(155)  Directive (EU) 2023/959 (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2023.130.01.0134.01.ENG). 

(156)  Regulation (EU) 2018/842 (https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/842). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Romania  43 

expected  to  continue  improving  the  energy  efficiency  of 
its buildings sector. For example, residential final energy 
consumption decreased by 2 % in 2022 compared to 2021, 
continuing  its  decrease  since  2019,  but  was  still  above 
2015–2017  levels.  The  share  of  renewable  energy  in 
heating and cooling was at the same level as in 2013. 

The  most  important  effort  sharing  sector  is  a  small 
industry accounted for 29 % emissions. 

Figure 34: Effort-sharing emissions by sector (%), 2022 

to  climate  change  is  also  a  key  component  of  climate 
policy. 

Romania  has  one  out  of  three  regions  identified  as  a 
hotspots  of  climate  risks  most  affected  by  climate 
change –low-lying coastal regions (157). 

Romania  is  vulnerable  to  extreme  events  related  to 
climate change, such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. 
is  particularly  affected.  Romania  has  a 
Agriculture 
pronounced 
insurance  gap  for  flooding.  Indeed,  all 
climate-related  hazards  have  an  insurance  penetration 
below 50 %. Data from 1980–2020 show that only 5 % of 
economic losses were insured. 

Romania adopted its national adaptation strategy in 2013 
and  updated  it  together  with  adaptation  plan  in  2016. 
There  are  no  regional  or  sectoral  adaptation  plans. 
institutional  mechanisms  are  crucial  for 
Appropriate 
climate  adaptation. 
regard,  Romania  has 
weaknesses 
the  monitoring  and  evaluation  of 
adaptation policies, the analysis of climate vulnerabilities 
and risks, coordination across sectors of government, and 
adaptation  action  at  local  level.  Moreover,  there  is 
considerable scope for integrating nature-based solutions 
into adaptation plans. 

this 

In 

in 

Land use, land-use change and forestry 

The  Land  Use,  Land-Use  Change  and  Forestry  (LULUCF) 
sector plays a significant role in achieving the EU’s climate 
neutrality goal. In the EU, this sector absorbs more GHGs 
than it emits, removing significant volumes of carbon from 
the atmosphere. Thus, it is the only sector with negative 
emissions. 

Recent  trends  show  that  LULUCF  removals  are  slowly 
decreasing since 2020 in Romania. 

Romania‘s target in 2030 is to enhance land removals by 
additional  −2.4 Mt  of  CO2  equivalent  compared  to  the 
yearly  average  of  the  period  2016–2018.  The  latest 
projections  show  a  gap  to  target  of  2.0 Mt  of  CO2 
equivalent  in  2030.  Therefore,  Romania  needs  to  apply 
additional measures to reach its 2030 target. 

Adaptation to climate change 

Halting all GHG emissions would still not prevent climate 
impacts that are already occurring. Therefore, adaptation 

limited  and  emissions  are 

Romania  received  six  priority  actions  regarding  climate 
action in the 2022 EIR. The progress in the transport sector 
is 
increasing.  Romania 
overachieved  in  relation  to  its  2020  energy  efficiency 
targets, but additional measures are needed for it to reach 
its  2030  targets.  Biomass  sustainability  criteria  are  not 
explicitly  mentioned  in  reported  measures.  The  share  of 
renewable energy has been stagnant since 2014 and there 
is  scope  for  increasing  Romania’s  target  for  renewable 
energy.  Since  2022,  Romania  has  adopted  six  territorial 
just transition plans for the regions that face the biggest 
socioeconomic  challenges 
in  phasing  out  coal  and 
reducing CO2 emissions. Progress on the implementation 
of  these  plans  is  limited,  including  in  transformational 
investments  in  the  high  emission  sectors,  such  as  steel 
industry. 

2025 priority actions 

• 

Implement all policies and measures that are needed 
to  achieve  targets  laid  down  in  the  Effort  Sharing 
Regulation  (ESR)  and  the  Land  Use  and  Land-Use 
Change  and  Forestry  (LULUCF)  Regulation.  More 
detailed priority actions are set out in the assessment 
of the final National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) 
(158).  

(157)  European  Climate  Risk  Assessment  (EUCRA).  2024.  Available  at 

policy/key-eu-actions/european-climate-risk-assessment. 

https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/en/eu-adaptation-

(158)   National energy and climate plans. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  44 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  45 

Part II: Enabling framework – implementation tools

5. Financing 

The  EU  budget  supports  climate  investment  in  Romania 
with  significant  amounts  in  2021–2027,  with  revenues 
from the ETS also feeding into the national budget. During 
2020–2022, Romania’s revenues from auctioning reached 
EUR 1.775 billion in total, with 40 % of it spent on climate 
and energy. 

In  addition,  the  annual  investment  needed  to  meet  its 
environmental  objectives 
in  the  areas  of  pollution 
prevention and control, the circular economy and waste, 
water protection and management, and  biodiversity and 
ecosystems is estimated to be around EUR 9.7 billion per 
year in Romania. 

These  four  environmental  areas  currently  receive  total 
funding of around EUR 4.3 billion per year; thus, there is a 
gap of around EUR 5.4 billion per year. 

the 

annual 

Of 
gap, 
environmental 
EUR 3 billion  concerns  biodiversity  and  ecosystems, 
control, 
EUR 0.8 billion  pollution  prevention 
EUR 1.1 billion 
the  water  objective  and  around 
EUR 0.5 billion the circular economy. 

investment 

and 

Climate finance landmarks 

EU funding for climate action 

The EU budget supports climate action in the EU-27 with 
EUR 657.8 billion  in  the  2021–2027  budgetary  period 
across  the  various  programmes  and  funds,  representing 
an  overall  34.3 %  contribution  level.  Of  this,  cohesion 
policy provides EUR 120 billion (over half of it through the 
European  Regional  Development  Fund  (ERDF)),  the  RRF 
EUR 275.7 billion and CAP EUR 145.9 billion (159). 

In  Romania,  EU  cohesion  policy  (considering  the  EU 
contribution amount) provides EUR 9.2 billion for climate 
action in 2021–2027 (with  more than half of this via the 
ERDF), with a further EUR 70.5 million from the European 
Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) (160). 

(159)  European  Commission,  Statement  of  Estimates  of  the  European 
Commission –  For  the  financial  year  2025,  Publications  Office  of 
the 
pp. 94–96, 
https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/7a0420e1-
599e-4246-9131-ccb7d505d6d9_en?filename=DB2025-
Statement-of-Estimates_1.pdf. 

European  Union, 

Luxembourg, 

2024, 

(160)  See 

the 

Cohesion 

Open 

Data 

Platform 

(https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/). 

The  RRF  contributes  to  climate  finance  in  Romania  with 
EUR 12.6 billion  up  to  2026,  representing  44.1 %  of  the 
RRP (161). 

(EIB)  provided 
Investment  Bank 
The  European 
EUR 109.9 billion  financing  across  the  EU-27  between 
2021  and  mid  2024  to  support  energy,  transport  and 
industry  projects  that  are  aligned  with  the  EU’s  climate 
objectives. Of this amount, EUR 2.1 billion was assigned to 
Romania in the reference period (162). 

National  financing, 
system revenues 

including  EU  emissions  trading 

to  EUR 803 million 

Revenues  from  the  auctioning  of  emission  allowances 
under  the  EU  ETS,  which  feed  directly  into  national 
in  2020, 
budgets,  amounted 
EUR 484 million  in  2021  and  EUR 488 million  in  2022  in 
Romania,  totalling  EUR1.775 billion  in  the  three-year 
period. In Romania, 50 % of the revenues are earmarked 
for climate and energy purposes and an additional 6 % is 
earmarked for GHG reduction projects (and 15 % goes to 
indirect  carbon  cost  compensation  and  29 %  to  the 
general budget). Part  of  the unspent  revenues  is  carried 
over to later years. 

From the remaining part of the EU ETS revenues that feed 
into  the  Innovation  Fund  and  the  Modernisation  Fund, 
further  support  is  available  to  climate  action  at  the  EU 
level (163). 

the  environment 

It should be noted that investment in climate action also 
supports 
the 
environmental  investments  described  in  the  following 
sections  cannot  be  regarded  as  entirely  additional  to 
climate investment (164). 

therefore, 

and, 

Environmental financing and investments 

This  section  describes  Romania’s 
investment  needs, 
current  financing  and  gaps  as  they  relate  to  the  four 
environmental  objectives  beyond  climate  objectives, 
namely  tackling  pollution,  the  circular  economy  and 

and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html). 

(162)  A 

list  of 

financed  projects 

is  provided  by 

the  EIB 

(https://www.eib.org/en/projects/loans/index.htm). 

(163)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Climate  Action, 
Progress Report 2023 – Climate action, Publications Office of the 
European 
2023, 
https://climate.ec.europa.eu/news-your-voice/news/climate-
action-progress-report-2023-2023-10-24_en. 

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

(161)  European Commission datasets and the Recovery and Resilience 
(https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-

Scoreboard 

(164)  NB:  Indirect  investments  (from  climate  and  other  policies)  in 

support of the environment are accounted for via the tracking. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
waste,  water  protection  and  management,  and 
biodiversity and ecosystems (165). 

(a) 

The environment overall 

Investment needs 

The  overall  environmental 
investment  needs  to  be 
sufficient to enable Romania to meet its objectives in the 
areas  of  pollution  prevention  and  control,  the  circular 
economy and waste, water protection and management, 
and biodiversity and ecosystems. The required investment 
is estimated to be EUR 9.7 billion per year (in 2022 prices). 

A  significant  part  of  the  estimated  requirement,  around 
EUR 3.8 billion per year, can be attributed to the need to 
support  biodiversity  and  ecosystems,  and  EUR 2.1 billion 
per  year  is needed  for  pollution  prevention  and  control. 
For water and the circular economy, the investment need 
is around EUR 1.9 billion per year each (in 2022 prices). 

Current investments 

To implement the environmental investments needed, the 
available  financing  is  estimated  to  currently  reach  an 
annual  EUR 4.3 billion  in  Romania  from  EU  and  national 
sources combined (in 2022 prices). 

Total  environmental  funding  from  the  multiannual 
financial  framework  (MFF)  is  estimated  to  reach  around 
EUR 10.8 billion  for  Romania  in  total,  during  2021–2027 
(or around EUR 1.5 billion per year). 

Table 1: Key environmental allocations from EU funds to 
Romania (million EUR), 2021–2027 

Instrument 

Cohesion policy 
ERDF 
Cohesion Fund 
Just Transition Fund 

Agricultural 

CAP 
European 
Guarantee Fund 
European  Agricultural  Fund 
for Rural Development 

EMFAF 

Other MFF 

RRF (d) (2021–2026) 

Allocations 

6 459.3 (a) 
5 023.0 
1 067.3 
369.1 
3 623.1 (b) 
2 336.9 
1 286.2 

45.6 

667.5 (c) 

 7 455 

Romania  46 

European  Commission,  2021-2027  cohesion  policy  (planned) 
allocations in EU amount excluding national co-financing, based on 
the  tracking  in  the  Common  Provisions  Regulation  (CPR,  2021) 
Annex I. Please note potential data changes that may have arisen 
between the EIR preparation cut-off date (31 October 2024) and 
information: 
its  publication  date.  Source  and 
https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/2021-2027-
Categorisation/2021-2027-Planned-finances-detailed-
categorisation/hgyj-gyin/about_data 

further 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  2 December  2021  establishing  rules  on  support  for 
strategic  plans  to  be  drawn  up  by  Member  States  under  the 
common agricultural policy (CAP strategic plans) and financed by 
the  European  Agricultural  Guarantee  Fund  (EAGF)  and  by  the 
European  Agricultural  Fund  for  Rural  Development  (EAFRD)  and 
repealing Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 and (EU) No 1307/2013 
(OJ 
https://eur-
p. 1), 
lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/2115. 

6.12.2021, 

Annex XI, 

L 435 

Note that 2021-2027 combines factual data for 2021 and 2022 and 
expenditure  under  the  relevant  specific  objectives  (SOs)  of  the 
CAP strategic plans from 2023, using the EU biodiversity tracking 
methodology  (https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
06/Biodiversity%20tracking%20methodology%20for%20each%20
programme%202023.pdf). Source: European Commission.  

Space  Fund,  Horizon  Europe,  the  LIFE  programme  and  the 
Connecting Europe Facility. 

Outside  the  MFF.  Note  that  the  RRF  applies  a  similar 
environmental tracking scheme (set in the RRF Regulation, Annex 
VI)  as  the  EU’s  cohesion  policy.  RR   dataset  version  used:  July 
2024, prior to 2025 revisions. Data source: European Commission. 

Romania,  in  addition  to  receiving  EU  funds  earmarked 
specifically  for  it  in  2021–2027,  can  also  benefit  from 
funding programmes that can be accessed at the EU level 
and which are open to all Member States. These include 
the LIFE programme (EUR 5.4 billion) (166), Horizon Europe 
(EUR 95.5 billion) (167),  the  Connecting  Europe  Facility 
(EUR 33.7 billion) (168)  and  funds  that  can  be  mobilised 
through the InvestEU programme (169). 

Romania’s  RRP  supports  climate  objectives  through 
funding  of  EUR 12.6 billion  (44 %  of  total),  with  an 
the 
additional  EUR 1.99 billion 
environment. 

(7 %  of 

total) 

for 

The  EU’s  cohesion  policy  provides  EUR 9.2 billion  for 
climate action in 2021–2027 (support for the environment 
from cohesion policy is EUR 6.68 billion). 

The  EIB  provided  around  EUR 1 021.9 million 
in 
environment-related  financial  contributions  to  Romania 
from 2021 to mid-2024, most of which, EUR 180.8 million 
(77 %),  was  in  the  area  of  sustainable  energy,  transport 

(165)  Research,  development  and  innovation  is  accounted  for  under 
each environmental objective. The financing needs, baselines and 
gaps  estimates  are  based  on  the  Directorate-General  for 
Environment’s 
internal  analysis  (of  2024).  Throughout  this 
chapter,  specific  references are  provided to  the  most  important 
data sources used. 

(166)  https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/programmes/life_en. 
(167)  European  Commission,  Horizon  Europe,  https://research-and-
innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-
programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en. 

(168)  The  Connecting  Europe  Facility  Transport  part  also  includes 
EUR 11.3 billion  transferred  from  the  Cohesion  Fund,  of  which 
30 % will be made available, on a competitive basis, to all Member 
States  eligible  for  the  Cohesion  Fund.  The  remaining  70 %  will 
respect the national envelopes until 31 December 2023. 

(169)  The  InvestEU  Fund  is  set  to  mobilise  over  EUR 372 billion  of 
investment through an EU budget guarantee of EUR 26.2 billion to 
back  the  investment  of  financial  partners such as  the  EIB  group 
and others. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  47 

and  industrial  projects,  which  provides  significant  co-
benefits  to  reducing  air  pollution,  environmental  noise 
and other pollution. 

The  EU’s  total  national  expenditure  on  environmental 
protection  (operating  plus  capital  expenditure)  was 
EUR 298 billion  in  2020  and  EUR 321 billion  in  2021, 
representing around 2.2 % of EU-27 GDP. In Romania, the 
total national environmental protection expenditure was 
EUR 5.2 billion 
in  2021, 
representing 2.4 % of GDP. 

in  2020  and  EUR 5.7 billion 

Of  the  total  environmental  expenditure,  the  national 
(investment)  on  environmental 
capital  expenditure 
protection  amounted  to  EUR 54.5 billion  in  2020  and 
EUR 59.9 billion in 2021 in the EU-27, representing around 
In  Romania,  the  national 
0.4 %  of  the  EU’s  GDP. 
reached 
environmental 
EUR 671 million in 2020, rising to EUR 728 million in 2021, 
and to EUR 820 million in 2022, representing around 0.3 % 
of GDP. 

investment 

protection 

institutional  sector,  63 %  of  Romania’s 
Splitting  by 
national  environmental  protection  investment  (capital 
expenditure) comes from the general government budget, 
with 15 % coming from specialist private-sector producers 
(of environmental protection services, such as waste and 
water  companies)  and  22 %  from  the  business  sector, 
whose environmental activities are usually ancillary to its 
main  activities.  At  the  EU  level,  38 %  of  environmental 
protection  investment  comes  from  governments,  40 % 
from  specialist  private-sector  producers  and  22 %  from 
the general business sector (170). 

Romania’s  total  financing  for  environmental  investment 
reaches  an  estimated  EUR 4.3 billion  per  year  (in  2022 
prices),  including  EU  funding  and  national  public  and 
national private expenditure. Of the total, the share of EU 
funds  (including  EIB  funds)  reaches  60 %,  with  around 
40 % national financing. The total public financing (EU plus 
national public) represents 85 % of the total. 

The gap 

To meet its four environmental objectives beyond climate 
change, the additional investment need over the current 
levels  (i.e.  the  gap)  reaches  an  estimated  EUR 5.4 billion 
per  year  in  Romania,  representing  around  1.9 %  of 
national  GDP,  being  significantly  higher  than  the  EU 
average (0.77 %). 

Figure 35: Environmental financing, needs and gaps  per 
Member State (% of GDP) 

Source: Analysis of Directorate-General for Environment. 

The 
following  table  provides  the  distributions  of 
Romania’s  environmental  investment  gap  (expressed  in 
various forms) by environmental objective. 

Table 2: Summary of environmental investment gaps in 
Romania per year, 2021–2027 

Environmental 
objective 

Pollution prevention 
and control 

Circular economy and 
waste 

Water management 
and water industries 

Biodiversity and 
ecosystems 

Investment gap per year  

% of GDP 

% of 
total 

Million 
EUR 
(2022 
prices) 

805 

14.8 

0.3 

534 

9.8 

0.2 

 1 107 

20.3 

0.4 

2 997 

 55.1 

1.1 

1.9 

Total 

 5 443 

100.0 

Source: Directorate-General for Environment analysis. 

Pollution prevention and control 

Investment needs 

In pollution prevention and control, Romania’s investment 
needs are estimated to reach EUR 2.1 billion per year (in 
2022  prices)  (including  baseline  investments)  in  2021–
2027. Most of this, EUR 1.9 billion, relates to air pollution 
control, to comply with the clean air requirements for the 

(170)  Eurostat, 

‘Environmental  protection  expenditure  accounts’, 

env_ac_epea. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
five  main  air  pollutants  under  the  NECD  by  2030.  The 
estimated  needs  to  reduce  environmental  noise  reach 
EUR 0.4 billion per year, most of which is delivered by the 
(same) sustainable energy and transport investments that 
also benefit clean air (171). Protection from radiation costs 
EUR 138 million per year, and industrial site remediation 
an  estimated  EUR 52 million  per  year.  Microplastics 
pollution  and  the  chemicals  strategy  require  around 
EUR 30–40 million per year (each) (172). 

Current investments 

investment 

The  current 
levels  supporting  pollution 
prevention and control reach an estimated EUR 1.3 billion 
per year (in 2022 prices) in Romania in 2021–2027. Most 
of  the  financing  concerns  clean  air  (EUR 1.2 billion  per 
year).  Protection  from  environmental  noise  receives 
further 
around  EUR 0.6 billion  per  year,  with  a 
EUR 47 million for site remediation. 

In Romania, the EU MFF provides an estimated 30 % of the 
clean  air  financing  (mostly  via  cohesion  policy),  with  a 
further 53 % from the RRF, adding up  to around 83 % of 
the  total.  EIB  financing  contributes  8 %  and  national 
sources reach 9 % (173). 

The gap 

To meet its environmental objectives concerning pollution 
prevention and control (towards zero pollution), Romania 
needs  to  provide  an  additional  EUR 805 million  per  year 
(0.28 % of GDP), mostly related to clean air and noise. The 
adequate 
the 
investments included for sustainable energy and transport 
would largely deliver this, while in many Member States 
additional measures and investments may be required to 
comply with the ammonia reduction requirements. 

implementation  of 

the  NECP  with 

According to the latest (2023) NAPCP review report (174), 
Romania complied with ammonia reduction requirements 
in 2020 and 2021, but missed those for other pollutants, 
namely NOx, NMVOC and PM2.5, and it remains at high risk 

Romania  48 

the  NECD 2030  emission 

reduction 
of  breaching 
commitments  on  those  air  pollutants,  based  on  the 
policies  and  measures  in  its  NAPCP,  which  takes  into 
account  climate,  energy  and  CAP  plans  and  financing 
baselines. 

Circular economy and waste 

Investment needs 

Romania’s investment needs in the circular economy and 
waste  reach  EUR 1.9 billion  per  year  (in  2022  prices)  
(including  baseline  investments).  Most  of  this,  around 
EUR 1.5 billion  per  year,  relates  to  circular  economy 
measures  in  the  mobility,  food  and  built  environment 
systems, with a further EUR 0.4 billion necessary for waste 
management  (municipal  and  packaging  waste),  covering 
recycling 
waste 
reprocessors, waste-sorting facilities and digitalisation of 
the  waste  registry.  The  amount  for  waste  excludes  the 
investments  needed  for  the  uptake  of  circularity  and 
waste prevention across the economy (175). 

treatment, 

collection, 

biowaste 

Current investments 

Circular economy investments across the economy reach 
around EUR 1.1 billion per year (in 2022 prices) in Romania 
in 2021–2027, with a further EUR 0.3 billion provided for 
waste  management  that  does  not  constitute  circular 
economy. 

Around 2.9 % of this combined financing for circularity and 
waste  comes  from  the  EU  MFF,  with  a  further  10.7 % 
contribution  from  the  RRF,  coming  to  13.7 %  combined. 
EIB  loans  identified  in  support  of  circularity  and  waste 
represent 1.6 % of the total. The share of national sources 
is overwhelming, reaching 85 % of the total financing (176). 

The gap 

To  meet  its  environmental  objectives  concerning  the 
circular  economy and waste,  Romania needs to increase 

(171)  2021 

assessment 

Phenomena 

project 
(https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/f4cd7465-a95d-11eb-9585-01aa75ed71a1)  and  the 
Directive 
Commission’s 
implementation 
report 
(https://environment.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
03/COM_2023_139_1_EN_ACT_part1_v3.pdf. 

Environmental 

Noise 

2023 

(172)  European  Commission,  Third  Clean  Air  Outlook,  Brussels,  2022, 

https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air/clean-air-
outlook_en. See also the impact assessment for the revision of the 
AAQD, available from the Commission web page on the proposed 
revision 
(https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/revision-eu-
ambient-air-quality-legislation_en). 

(173)  Through  the  tracking  of  EU  funds,  EIB  projects  and  national 
expenditure  (environmental  protection  expenditure  accounts 
(EPEAs),  Eurostat).  Note  that  the  bulk  of  clean  air  financing  is 
provided  as  a  contribution  from  climate  (energy  and  transport) 
measures, as per the tracking schemes in the Common Provisions 
Regulation  Annex  I  and  the  RRF  Regulation  Annex  VI.  Further 

on 

clean 

information 
https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/0a80484e-
2409-4749-94c6-
3b23bc6bae8f_en?filename=Clean%20air%20methodology_0.pdf 
(174)  European Commission, ‘National air pollution control programmes 
website, 
European 

Commission 

tracking: 

air 

projections’, 

and 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air/reducing-
emissions-air-pollutants/national-air-pollution-control-
programmes-and-projections_en. 

(175)  See Systemiq and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Achieving ‘Growth 
Within’, 2017; and European Commission: Directorate-General for 
Environment, Study on investment needs in the waste sector and 
on  the  financing  of  municipal  waste  management  in  Member 
States,  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  Luxembourg, 
2019, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/4d5f8355-bcad-11e9-9d01-01aa75ed71a1 

(176)  Waste management and circular economy expenditure tracking in 
EU  funds,  EIB  projects  and  national  expenditure  (Eurostat). 
Datasets:  EPEAs 
(env_epi)  and  circular  economy  private 
investments (cei_cie012). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
per 

year,  with 

investments  by  an  estimated 
circular  economy 
EUR 426 million 
additional 
EUR 108 million  concerning  waste  management  action, 
not  belonging  to  circular  economy.  Combined,  this 
amounts to EUR 534 million per year, representing 0.19 % 
of Romania’s GDP. 

an 

Of  the  circular  economy  gap,  EUR 112 million  relates  to 
recent  initiatives,  such  as  eco-design  for  sustainable 
products,  packaging  and  packaging  waste,  labelling  and 
digital tools, CRM recycling and measures proposed under 
the  amendment  of  the  Waste  Framework  Directive,  and 
EUR 314 million constitutes further investment needed to 
unlock Romania’s circular economy potential. 

Water protection and management 

Investment needs 

The  annual  water  investment  needs  reach  an  estimated 
EUR 1.925 billion  (in  2022  prices) 
in  Romania.  This 
comprises investment needs both for the water industry 
and for the protection and management of water. Of the 
total  annual  need,  EUR 816 million  relates  to  the 
management  of  waste  water  (including  additional  costs 
further 
associated  with 
EUR 189 million  is  necessary  for  drinking-water-related 
investments  and  around  EUR 915 million 
the 
protection and management of water (177). 

revised  UWWTD),  a 

the 

for 

Romania  49 

around  1.2 %  of  the  total,  while  the  bulk  of  financing 
comes from national sources (50 %) (178). 

The gap 

To  meet  the  various  environmental  targets  under  the 
Water  Framework  Directive  and  the  Floods  Directive, 
Romania’s  water  investment  gap  reaches  EUR 1.1 billion 
per  year  (0.4 %  of  GDP),  with  EUR 282  million  linked  to 
wastewater  measures.  Drinking  water  measures  require 
an  additional  EUR 44 million  per  year  and  the  other 
aspects  of  the  Water  Framework  Directive  around 
EUR 779 million  per  year  over  the  existing  levels  of 
financing. 

Biodiversity and ecosystems 

Investment needs 

The investment needs for biodiversity and ecosystems are 
estimated to be EUR 3.7 billion per year (in 2022 prices) in 
Romania 
includes  the  following 
financing needs: 

in  2021–2027.  This 

• 

•  Romania’s  PAF (179),  concerning  the  Natura  2000 
areas: EUR 544 million per year, mostly running costs; 
additional BDS costs (180): EUR 2.2 billion per year on 
top of the PAF; 
sustainable 
EUR 983 million per year. 

management 

costs (181): 

soil 

• 

Current investments 

Current investments 

Water investments in Romania are estimated to be around 
EUR 818 million per year (in 2022 prices) in 2021–2027. Of 
this,  EUR 534 million supports wastewater  management, 
around 
EUR 145 million 
the  Water 
EUR 136 million 
Framework  Directive 
and 
protection). 

the  other  aspects  of 

(water  management 

drinking 

water 

and 

Of the total financing, 40.8 % is provided by the EU MFF 
(mostly through cohesion policy), with a further 8 % from 
the  RRF,  reaching  48.8 %  combined.  EIB  financing  is 

(177)  See  European  Commission,  ‘Estimating  investment  needs  and 
financing capacities for water-related investment in EU Member 
States’, 
2020, 
28 May 
https://commission.europa.eu/news/estimating-investment-
needs-and-financing-capacities-water-related-investment-eu-
member-states-2020-05-28_en;  and  OECD,  Financing  Water 
Supply, Sanitation and flood Protection: Challenges in EU Member 
States  and  policy  options,  OECD  Publishing,  Paris,  2020, 
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/financing-water-
supply-sanitation-and-flood-protection_6893cdac-en. 

(178)  Water investment levels are estimated through tracking EU funds, 

EIB projects and national expenditure (EPEAs, Eurostat). 

(179)  European Commission, ‘ inancing Natura 2000 – Prioritised action 
website, 

frameworks’, 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-

Commission 

European 

The current level of biodiversity financing is estimated to 
be EUR 755 million per year (in 2022 prices) in 2021–2027. 
62.1 %  of  the  financing  is  considered  direct  financing  to 
biodiversity  and  ecosystems,  with  a  100 %  coefficient  in 
the tracking schemes. 

15.2 % of the total financing is estimated to come from EU 
cohesion  policy,  70.4 %  from  CAP,  6.1 %  from  Horizon 
Europe,  around  2.4 %  from  LIFE  and  0.6 %  from  EMFAF. 
The  EU  MFF  altogether  accounts  for  89.2 %  of  the 
financing, and the RRF for 10.7 %, adding up to a total of 
99.9 % from the EU budget. The rest, 0.01 %, comes from 
national sources (182). 

biodiversity/natura-2000/financing-natura-2000_en. 

(180)  See European Commission: Directorate-General for Environment, 
Biodiversity  Financing  and  Tracking –  Final  report,  Publications 
Office 
2022, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/793eb6ec-dbd6-11ec-a534-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

European  Union, 

Luxembourg, 

the 

of 

(181)  See Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  on  soil  monitoring  and  resilience  (Soil  Monitoring  Law) 
COM(2023) 416 
2023, 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/proposal-
directive-soil-monitoring-and-resilience_en. 
in 
biodiversity 

(182)  Based 

tracking 

budget 

5 July 

final 

the 

EU 

on 

of 

(https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/3f466d71-92a7-49eb-9c63-

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
At  2.1 %,  Romania’s  share  of  RR   funding  is  above  the 
average  share  dedicated  to  supporting  measures  for 
biodiversity.  However,  Romania  has  programmed  to 
spend 18.1 % of its CAP budget  on measures supporting 
biodiversity  over  2021–2027,  which  is  somewhat  below 
the  EU  average.  Lastly,  5.5 %  of  its  cohesion  policy    EU 
contribution  amount 
is  estimated  to  contribute  to 
biodiversity,  disregarding  ESF+,  slightly  under  the  EU 
average (see Figure 36). 

Figure 36: 2021–2027 contributions to biodiversity from 
the main EU instruments per Member State (% of policy 
total) 

NB: ESF+, European Social Fund Plus. 

The gap 

To  meet  the  environmental  objectives  concerning  the 
protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems 
and  other  relevant  cross-cutting  measures,  Romania’s 
investment gap is estimated to be around EUR 3 billion per 
year, corresponding to 1.05 % of its GDP. 

Public financial management 

Green budgeting practices 

Green  budgeting  refers  to  the  use  of  budgetary  tools  to 
achieve climate and environmental goals. Some Member 
States  already  use  green  budgeting  tools  for  identifying 
and  tracking  green  expenditures  and/or  revenues  (183). 
Green budgeting practices provide increased transparency 
on the environmental implications of budgetary policies.  

6cb0fadf29dc/library/8e44293a-d97f-496d-8769-50365780acde), 
and national expenditure into biodiversity from the Classification 
of the Functions of Government accounts. 

(183)  European  Commission,  Green  Budgeting  in  the  EU.  Key  Insights 
from the 2023 European Commission Survey of Green Budgeting 
Practices, 
https://economy-
finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-and-fiscal-governance/national-
fiscal-frameworks-eu-member-states/green-budgeting-
eu_en#:~:text=European%20Commission%20Green%20Budgetin
g%20Survey%C2%A0. 

2023, 

(184)  European  Commission, 

‘European  Union  green  budgeting 

Romania  50 

The  Commission  has  developed  a  non-mandatory  green 
budgeting  reference  framework  that  brings  together 
methodologies  for  assessing  the  impacts  of  budgets  on 
climate and environmental goals (184).  

To  help  Member  States  to  develop  national  green 
budgeting  and  thereby  improve  policy  coherence  and 
support the green transition, the Commission facilitated a 
TSI  project  on  green  budgeting  from  2021  to  2024 (185). 
Romania participated, drawing on the experience of other 
Member States to develop and test green budgeting. 

Romania has also been selected for the next round of TSI 
projects on green budgeting, starting in 2025. The country 
will  prioritize  deepening  its  green  tagging  methodology, 
developing a  framework for ex-ante impact assessments 
and building capacity, amongst other things. 

Beyond green budgeting, to improve policy outcomes, the 
Commission  has  also  drawn  up  climate-proofing  and 
sustainability-proofing  guidance (186)  as  tools  to  assess 
project  eligibility  and  compliance  with  environmental 
legislation and criteria. 

Green taxation and tax reform 

Total environmental taxes amounted to EUR 7.7 billion in 
Romania  in  2022,  representing  2.7 %  of  its  GDP  (EU 
average:  2.0 %).  Energy  taxes 
largest 
component of environmental taxes, accounting for 2.6 % 
of  GDP,  which  is  lower  than  the  EU  average  of  1.6 %. 
Transport  taxes,  at  0.1 %  of  GDP,  were  under  the  EU 
average  (0.4 %),  while  data  on  taxes  on  pollution  and 
resources  were  not  available.  In  2022,  environmental 
taxes in Romania accounted for 10.1 % of total revenues 

formed  the 

framework’, 

reference 
finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-and-fiscal-governance/green-
budgeting-eu_en. 

2022, 

https://economy-

(185)  https://reform-support.ec.europa.eu/what-we-do/revenue-

administration-and-public-financial-management/supporting-
implementation-green-budgeting-practices-eu_en. 

(186)  Commission notice – Technical guidance on the climate proofing 
of infrastructure in the period 2021–2027 (OJ C 373, 16.09.2021, 
p. 1), 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/23a24b21-16d0-11ec-b4fe-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
  
 
from  taxes  and  social  security  contributions  (well  above 
the EU average of 5.0 %) (187). 

issuance 
(EUR 0.8 billion). 

in  2023  amounted 

to  USD 885 million 

Romania  51 

Figure 37: Environmental taxes per Member State, 2022 

During  2014–2023,  83 %  of  the  green  bonds  issued  by 
European  countries  (excluding  supranational  entities) 
served objectives in energy, buildings or transport, while 
5 % supported objectives in water, 5.1 % related to land 
use  (with  links  to  nature  and  ecosystems)  and  3.8 % 
applied  to  waste  management.  By  2023,  the  combined 
share of energy, buildings and transport had decreased to 
73 %, the shares of waste management and land use had 
increased (to 5.9 % and 8.4 %, respectively) and the share 
of water remained around 5 %. 

In  2021–2023,  31.7 %  of  the  European  green  bonds 
(excluding  those  issued  by  supranational  bodies)  were 
issued  by  financial  corporates,  29.1 %  by  sovereign 
governments  and  23.1 %  by  non-financial  corporates. 
8.3 % of the issuances were linked to government-backed 
entities,  6.4 %  to  development  banks  and  1.4 %  to  local 
governments. 

Figure 38: Value of green bonds issued per Member State 
(billion EUR), 2021, 2022 and 2023 

The EU Green Deal emphasises the role of well-designed 
tax  reforms  (e.g.  shifts  from  taxing  labour  to  taxing 
pollution) to boost economic growth and resilience, and to 
foster  a  fairer  society  and  a  just  transition  through  the 
right price signals. The Green Deal promotes the ‘polluter-
pays  principle’,  which  makes  polluters  bear  the  costs  to 
prevent, control and remedy pollution. 

According to a 2024 study (188), Romania applies emission 
charges (mainly relating to air and water quality), as well 
as  user  charges  (for  hunting  and  fishing  and  for  mineral 
extraction, and a volumetric charge for water abstraction 
and disposal). The same study proposes the introduction 
of pay-as-you-throw and wastewater pollution taxes (189). 

Green bonds and sustainable bonds 

In 2023, the total value of green bonds issued by Member 
States  was  USD 245 billion  (EUR 227 billion),  up  from 
USD 234 billion (EUR 198 billion) in 2021 (190). 

During  2021–2023  combined,  Romania 
issued  green 
bonds  worth  USD 1.2 billion  (EUR 1 billion).  Of  this,  the 

Data source: Climatebonds.net, with some additional data from national 
sources (e.g. Croatia, Slovenia). 

(187)  Eurostat, ‘Environmental taxes accounts’, env_eta. 
(188)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Candidates  for  Taxing  Environmental  Bads  at  National  Level, 
Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  Luxembourg,  2024, 
Annex 1, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/35c1bbdf-2931-11ef-9290-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en. 

(189)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Candidates  for  Taxing  Environmental  Bads  at  National  Level, 

Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  Luxembourg,  2024, 
p. 17, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/35c1bbdf-2931-11ef-9290-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en. 

(190)  Climate  bonds  initiative  (https://www.climatebonds.net/).  NB. 
Additionally (and not included in this), national sources indicated 
EUR 544.8 million issuance for Croatia, in 2022-2023, and a slightly 
higher  amount  for  Slovenia  (+0.27  billion)  during  2021-2023  in 
total. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Environmentally harmful subsidies 

Figure 39:  Energy  subsidies  by  energy  carrier,  Romania 
(billion EUR), 2015–2023 

Romania  52 

Addressing  and  phasing  out  environmentally  harmful 
subsidies,  in  particular  fossil  fuel  subsidies  (FFS),  is  a 
further  step  towards  achieving  the  eighth  environment 
action  programme  objectives  and 
the  enabling 
conditions (191). FFS are costly for public budgets and make 
it difficult to achieve European Green Deal objectives. 

The overall downward trend of FFS mentioned in past EIRs 
was disrupted from 2022 due to the European response to 
the 2021 energy crisis and subsequent increase in energy 
prices. 

As a direct consequence, annual FFS in the EU increased to 
EUR 109 billion in 2023 from EUR 57 billion in 2020. From 
2021 to 2023, there was a marked increase in annual FFS 
of 72 % in the EU (192). 

For the majority of the Member States (16), the year 2022 
saw  a  peak  in  the  amount  of  overall  FFS.  A  decline  was 
then observed in 2023 (193). In particular, FFS for coal and 
lignite, natural gas and oil increased in 2022 and a strong 
increase was observed for natural gas subsidies. 

In Romania, there was some volatility in energy subsidies 
between  2015  and  2021,  with  FFS  ranging  between 
EUR 0.8 billion  and  1.6 billion  per  year.  In  2022,  energy 
subsidies increased overall, and they stayed high in 2023, 
with FFS climbing to EUR 2.3 billion in 2022 and reaching 
EUR 2 billion in 2023. 

As a share of GDP, FFS in 2022 ranged from 1.8 % in Croatia 
to  less  than  0.1 %  in  Denmark  and  Sweden.  Romania’s 
value  reached  0.8 %,  on  a  par  with  the  EU  average 
(0.8 %) (194). 

NB: RES, renewable energy source. 

Romania received a priority action during the 2022 EIR to 
devise  an  environmental  financing  strategy  to  maximise 
opportunities  for  closing  environmental  implementation 
gaps, bringing together all relevant administrative levels, 
and addressing issues in project conception, development 
and  implementation,  while  using  technical  assistance 
when  necessary  to  increase administrative  capacity.  The 
that  Romania  had  benefited 
report  pointed  out 
substantially from EU funds in the environmental field, but 
had  real  absorption  issues  that  needed  to  be  addressed 
urgently.  Not  much  progress  has  been  achieved.  There 
was  also  a  priority  action  to  look  more  closely  into  the 
possibility  of  environmental  financing  from  private 
sources,  as  currently  public  sources  provide  almost  two 
thirds of such financing. 

Romania  has  a similar  overall  environmental  investment 
gap as at the time of the 2022 EIR, at around 1.9 % of GDP 
(above the EU average), related mostly to biodiversity and 
ecosystems and to a lesser extent to the water objective. 

2025 priority action 

•  Use more national funding (for instance by increasing 
taxes  in  favour  of  the  environment  and  reducing 
environmentally  harmful  subsidies),  EU  funding  and 
private funding to help close the investment gap. 

(191)  Article 3(h) and 3(v) of the eighth environment action programme. 
(192)  European  Commission,  2024  Report  on  Energy  Subsidies  in  the 

PT, RO and SE. 

(194)  European  Commission,  2024  Report  on  Energy  Subsidies  in  the 

European Union, COM(2025). 
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-
register/detail?ref=COM(2025)17&lang=en 

(193)  16 Member States: BE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LT, HU, NL, AT, 

European Union, COM(2025). 
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-
register/detail?ref=COM(2025)17&lang=en. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  53 

6. Environmental governance 

Information, public participation and access to 
justice 

Citizens  can  more  effectively  protect  the  environment  if 
they rely on the three ‘pillars’ of the Aarhus Convention: 
(i)  access  to  information,  (ii)  public  participation  in 
decision-making and (iii) access to justice in environmental 
matters.  It  is  of  crucial  importance  to  public  authorities, 
the public and businesses that environmental information 
is 
shared  efficiently  and  effectively (195).  Public 
participation  allows  authorities  to  make  decisions  that 
take public concerns into account. Access to justice is a set 
of  guarantees  that  allows  citizens  and  NGOs  to  use 
national courts to protect the environment, safeguard the 
citizens  and  ensure  accountability  of 
rights  of 
legal 
includes  the  right  to  bring 
authorities (196).  It 
challenges (‘legal standing’) (197). 

Environmental information 

This  section  focuses  on  the  implementation  of  the 
Infrastructure  for  Spatial  Information  in  the  European 
Community (Inspire) Directive. The Inspire Directive aims 
to set up a European spatial-data infrastructure for sharing 
environmental  spatial 
information  between  public 
authorities across Europe. It is expected that this will help 
policymaking  across  boundaries  and  facilitate  public 
access  to  this  information.  Geographic  information  is 
needed  for  good  governance  at  all  levels  and  should  be 
readily and transparently available. 

Romania’s progress in implementing the Inspire Directive 
is  substantial  and  has  been  reviewed  based  on  its  2023 
country fiche (198) (see Table 3). 

(195)  The  Aarhus 

Convention 

(https://unece.org/environment-
policy/public-participation/aarhus-convention/text),  the  Access 
to  Environmental  Information  Directive  (Directive  2003/4/EC) 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
Inspire 
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32003L0004) 
Directive  (Directive  2007/2/EC)  (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32007L0002) together create a legal 
foundation for the sharing of environmental information between 
public authorities and with the public. 

and 

the 

(196)  These  guarantees  are  explained  in  the  European  Commission’s 
2017  notice  on  access  to  justice  in  environmental  matters 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52017XC0818(02))  and  a  related 

Table 3:  Romania  dashboard  on  implementation  of  the 
Inspire Directive, 2016–2023 

2016 

2023 

Legend 

■ Implementation of 
this provision is well 
advanced or (nearly) 
completed. 
Outstanding issues are 
minor and can be 
addressed easily. 
Percentage > 89 % 

■ Implementation of 
this provision has 
started and made some 
or substantial progress 
but is still not close to 
being completed. 
Percentage = 31–89 % 

■ Implementation of 
this provision is falling 
significantly behind. 
Serious efforts are 
necessary to close the 
implementation gap. 
Percentage < 31 % 

Effective coordination and 
data sharing 

Ensure 
effective 
coordination  

Data sharing 
without 
obstacle  

■  ■  

■  ■ 

Inspire performance 
indicators 

(i) Conformity 
of metadata   ■  ■ 

(ii) Conformity 
of spatial 
datasets  

(iii) 
Accessibility 
of spatial 
datasets 
through view 
and download 
services 

(iv) 
Conformity of 
network 
services 

■  ■ 

■  ■ 

■  ■ 

Source:  European  Commission,  ‘Romania’,  Inspire  Knowledge  Base, 
https://knowledge-base.inspire.ec.europa.eu/romania_en. 

In 2022, Romania received a priority action on the need to 
make  spatial  data  more  widely  accessible  and  prioritise 
environmental datasets (199). Romania has made progress 

2018 citizen’s guide (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/2b362f0a-bfe4-11e8-99ee-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en/format-PDF). 

(197)  This  EIR  focuses  on  the  means  used  by  Member  States  to 
guarantee  rights  of  access  to  justice  and  legal  standing  and  to 
overcome other major barriers to bringing cases on environmental 
protection. 

(198)  European  Commission, 

‘Romania’, 

Inspire  Knowledge  Base, 

https://knowledge-base.inspire.ec.europa.eu/romania_en.. 
(199)  The  European  Commission provides  a  list  of  high-value  spatial 
datasets 
(https://github.com/INSPIRE-MIF/need-driven-data-
prioritisation/blob/main/documents/eReporting_PriorityDataList
_V2.1_final_20201008.xlsx). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
Romania  54 

on  accessibility  of  spatial  data,  but  more  efforts  are 
needed. Therefore, the 2022 priority action is repeated. 

Public participation 

Public  involvement  at both the planning and the project 
phase  maximises  transparency  and  social  acceptance  of 
programmes  and  projects.  Consultation  with  the  public 
(including  NGOs)  and  environmental,  local  and  regional 
authorities  is  a  key  feature  of  an  effective  impact 
assessment procedure. Such consultation also provides an 
opportunity for public authorities and project promoters 
to  engage  with  the  public  actively  and  meaningfully  by 
making information on the likely significant effects widely 
available. If carried out with due diligence and taking into 
consideration  useful  public  input,  this  process  leads  to 
better-informed decision-making and can promote public 
acceptance.  Making 
increases 
stakeholder  involvement,  thus  lessening  resistance  and 
preventing (or minimising) litigation. On the other hand, it 
is paramount that the procedure is effective. 

information  available 

varies considerably between Member States and projects. 
The  available  data  for  Romania  show  that  the  average 
duration of an EIA process is faster than the EU average. 
Effective use of EU procedures can positively influence the 
the 
timely 
decarbonisation of the economy on the way to net zero by 
2050. 

activities  underpinning 

approval  of 

A new report  is not  yet  available on the application and 
effectiveness of the SEA Directive in the EU. Nevertheless, 
a  support  study has been published with information by 
Member State (203). 

The relevant legislation obliges environmental protection 
agencies 
relevant 
to  publish  announcements  and 
information  on  EIA  and  SEA  processes  on  a  central 
website.  However,  as  mentioned  in  previous  EIRs,  the 
relevant Romanian website is not organised in a way that 
facilitates  searching  for  and  identifying  relevant  cases. 
Information  about  local  projects,  plans  or  programmes 
subject to EIA/SEA procedures is published on each local 
environmental agency’s website, in the ‘Regulations’ area. 

This  section  examines  how  public 
involvement  and 
transparency are ensured under two instruments, namely 
the  EIA  Directive (200)  and  the  Strategic  Environmental 
Assessment (SEA) Directive (201). 

Information  about  national  EIA/SEA  procedures 
is 
published  on  the  website  of the  central  public  authority 
for environment protection, following the path ‘Domains’ 
→ ‘Impact assessment’ (204). 

EU law provides for a flexible framework concerning EIAs. 
The aim of this framework is to ensure the application of 
the  necessary  environmental  safeguards,  while  enabling 
speedy  approval  of  projects.  The  Commission  has 
contributed to simplifying and accelerating permitting for 
renewable energy projects and continues to support the 
Member States in this regard. Romania has already taken 
some 
steps  aimed  at  accelerating  permit-issuing 
procedures,  taking  advantage  of  the  high  degree  of 
flexibility offered by the EU legal framework, such as the 
establishment  of  one-stop  shops  and  accelerated  short 
issuing  permits  for  renewable  energy 
deadlines  for 
projects. 

The average speed in the EU for issuing permits involving 
is  20.6 months,  with  a  minimum 
an  EIA  procedure 
duration  of  11.4 months  and  a  maximum  duration  of 
75.7 months (202).  The  duration  of  each  step  in  an  EIA 
process 
report,  public 
consultation, reasoned conclusion, development consent) 

scoping,  EIA 

(screening, 

No information is published by Romania on the number of 
EIA  and  SEA  processes  or  on  the 
level  of  public 
participation, either in individual cases or in aggregate. 

In  the  2022  EIR,  Romania  received  priority  actions  to 
improve the functioning of the website in relation to EIA 
and SEA processes, to ensure that the public has adequate 
information  to  identify  cases  of  concern  and  adequate 
opportunity  to  make  comments,  and  to  publish  regular 
information on the number of EIA and SEA processes and 
their  outcomes,  including  information  on  the  level  of 
public  participation  and  the  extent  to  which  public 
comments  were  taken  into  account  in  final  decisions. 
Romania  has  made  limited  progress  in  this  area,  and 
therefore  the  messages  in  these  priority  actions  are 
reiterated in a single 2025 priority action. 

(200)  Directive  2011/92/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of 
certain public and private projects on the environment (OJ L 26, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
p. 1), 
28.1.2012, 
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32011L0092. 

(201)  Directive  2001/42/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain 
plans and programmes on the environment (OJ L 197, 21.7.2001, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
p. 30), 
content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32001L0042. 

(202)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Collection of information and data on the implementation of the 

Impact  Assessment 

revised  Environmental 
(EIA)  Directive 
(2011/92/EU) as amended by 2014/52/EU), Publications Office of 
the  European  Union,  Luxembourg,  2024,  Tables 5  and  6, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/8349a857-2936-11ef-9290-01aa75ed71a1/. 
(203)   European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Lundberg, P., McNeill, A., McGuinn, J., Cantarelli, A. et al., Study 
supporting  the  preparation  of  the  report  on  the  application  and 
effectiveness  of  the  SEA  Directive  (Directive  2001/42/EC)  –  Final 
study,  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  2025, 
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2779/1615072 

(204)  http://www.mmediu.ro/. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Access to justice 

Access to justice, guaranteed by Article 19(1) of the Treaty 
on  European  Union  and  Article 47  of  the  EU  Charter  of 
Fundamental Rights, is a fundamental right and part of the 
democratic process. It is vital to ensure the full application 
of EU law in all Member States and the legal protection of 
the  rights  of  individuals,  including  in  environmental 
matters.  Access  to  justice  is  essential  to  enable  judicial 
review of the decisions of public authorities and to allow 
the  correction  of  any  wrongdoing  committed  by  these 
authorities. 

This  section  provides  a  snapshot  of  the  state  of  play  of 
access to courts by the public, particularly when it comes 
to challenging plans, or the non-adoption of plans, under 
EU law, in the areas of water, waste, air quality and noise, 
irrespective of the form of the legal act (i.e. regulatory act 
or administrative decision). 

As outlined in the 2022 EIR, NGOs have a special status and 
do not have to demonstrate a special interest in order to 
have legal standing in an environmental court case or in 
cases  that  could  have  significant  effects  on  the 
environment. 

issued  by 

Plans  and  programmes  under  SEA  that  are  specifically 
required by EU law to be prepared are adopted through 
laws 
the  parliament,  or  normative 
administrative  acts  such  as  governmental  decisions  or 
ministerial orders. Laws issued by the  parliament can be 
challenged  on  the  ground  that  they  breach  the 
constitution.  If  a  plan  or  programme  is  not  within  the 
scope of SEA, a public consultation will be carried out in 
any  case.  Indeed,  according  to  Law  No 52/2003  on  the 
transparency of the decision-making of public authorities 
regarding  the  public  consultation  procedure,  and  other 
sectoral legislation, a public consultation must be carried 
out  prior  to  the  adoption  of  a  normative  act.  These 
administrative  acts –  both  SEA  normative/administrative 
acts  and  other  normative  acts  under  the  scope  of  Law 
No 52/2003 –  can  be  challenged  in  accordance  with  the 
general provisions of Law No 554/2004. 

2025 priority actions 

•  Make  spatial  data  more  widely  accessible  and 
prioritise  environmental  datasets  in  implementing 
the  Inspire  Directive,  especially  those  identified  as 
high-value 
implementing 
spatial  datasets 
environmental legislation (205). 

for 

(205)  The  European  Commission provides  a  list  of  high-value  spatial 
datasets 
(https://github.com/INSPIRE-MIF/need-driven-data-
prioritisation/blob/main/documents/eReporting_PriorityDataList
_V2.1_final_20201008.xlsx). 

(206)  The concept is explained in detail in the European Commission’s 
2018  communication  on  EU  actions  to  improve  environmental 

Romania  55 

• 

• 

Ensure  that  relevant  information  on  EIA  and  SEA 
procedures 
(including  on  public  participation 
opportunities and on publication of final decisions) is 
electronically accessible in a timely manner, through 
at least a central portal or easily accessible points of 
access, at the appropriate administrative level. 
Improve  access  to  courts  in  national  environmental 
cases by the public concerned and eliminate practical 
barriers, such as length of proceedings and excessive 
costs in some Member States. 

Compliance assurance 

Environmental  compliance  assurance  covers  all  work 
undertaken by public authorities to ensure that industries, 
farmers and others fulfil their obligations to protect water, 
air and nature, to manage waste (206) and to remedy any 
environmental  damage.  It  includes  measures  such  as  (i) 
compliance  promotion,  (ii)  compliance  monitoring  (i.e. 
inspections  and  other  checks),  (iii)  enforcement,  that  is, 
steps taken to stop breaches and impose sanctions, and 
(iv) ensuring damage prevention and remediation in line 
with the polluter-pays principle. 

Compliance promotion, monitoring and enforcement 

Non-compliance  with  environmental  obligations  may 
occur for different reasons, including poor understanding 
or  lack  of  acceptance  of  the  rules,  opportunism  or  even 
criminality.  Compliance  promotion  activities  help  duty-
holders to comply by providing information, guidance and 
other  support.  This  is  particularly  important  in  areas 
where new and complex legislation is put in place. 

When  inspections  and  other  control  activities  identify 
problems,  a  range  of  responses  may  be  appropriate, 
including 
the  use  of  administrative  and  criminal 
enforcement tools.  

In  November  2023,  a  regional  conference  dedicated  to 
strengthening  the  fight  against  crime  affecting  the 
environment  was  held,  which  representatives  from 
Albania,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Bulgaria,  Croatia, 
France, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, 
Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland and Romania attended 
(207). 
No specific information is available on the prosecution of 
environmental  crimes,  and  concerns  persist  about  the 
capacity of the judicial system to deal with environmental 
cases effectively. Criminal investigations and prosecutions 
are  generally  not  made  public,  in  line  with  current 

compliance  and  governance  (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52018DC0010)  and  the  related 
(https://eur-
Commission 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52018SC0010). 

document 

working 

staff 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Romania  56 

Figure  40:  EU  complaints  15  May  2022-31  December 
2024  

legislation,  and  only  in  a  very  few  cases  were  press 
releases  made  available  to  the  public.  It  is  difficult 
therefore for concerned individuals or civil-society groups 
to investigate whether, and what, action has been taken 
by  the  authorities  in  cases  of  specific  breaches  of 
legislation.  There  are  existing  formal 
environmental 
arrangements 
the  bodies 
for  coordination  among 
responsible  for  enforcing  penalties  for  environmental 
damage or environmental crimes, issued as ‘protocols’ on 
cooperation  between  the  national  environment  agency 
and  various  other  public  authorities  (e.g.  in  2011  and 
2018),  but  it  is  not  obvious  that  those  guidelines  have 
resulted in a functioning system. 

and  monitor  public  participation 

The recommendations issued in 2022 pointed to the need 
for Romania to (i) provide information to farmers on how 
to  manage  their  land  to  improve  biodiversity  outcomes, 
information  once 
and  more  detailed  site-specific 
management plans are available for Natura 2000 sites; (ii) 
encourage 
in 
enforcement, through activities to raise awareness of the 
options for reporting environmental problems, and, more 
generally, establish active plans for making use of citizen 
science;  (iii)  make  more  information  available  on  the 
enforcement of environmental law, including by providing 
regular information on the prosecution of environmental 
crimes, as well as information on formal arrangements for 
cooperation  between  responsible  public  bodies;  and  (iv) 
make  information  available  on  environmental  damage, 
including  information  on  penalties  and  other  financial 
measures.  The  2022  priority  actions 
concerning 
compliance  promotion,  monitoring,  and  criminal  and 
administrative enforcement are not assessed here due to 
the 
a 
Commission is not  aware  of  whether or not information 
regarding  compliance  with  the  Nitrates  and  Nature 
Directives is easily available online at the national level for 
farmers, and hence the 2022 priority action on this point 
is not assessed. 

information.  Similarly, 

systematic 

lack  of 

Between  15  May  2022  and  31  December  2024,  the 
Commission  received  71  complaints  in  relation  to  the 
environment  in  Romania,  making  it  the  Member  State 
with the joint third highest number of complaints for that 
period.  That  is  3.72  complaints  per  million  inhabitants, 
above  the  EU  average  of  3.2  (figures  40  and  41).  A 
significant proportion of those complaints concern waste 
and nature, followed by water, air quality and EIA issues. 

(208)   Directive  2024/1203/EU  on  the  protection  of  the  environment 
(https://eur-

criminal 

through 

law 

 Source: DG Environment complaints data. 

Figure 41: EU complaints per million inhabitants 15 May 
2022-31 December 2024  

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Population’  tps00001,  accessed  22  January  2025, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tps00001/default/tab
le?lang=en, and DG Environment complaints data. 

The new EU Environmental Crime Directive 

The EU has recently strengthened its legal framework on 
tackling  the  most  serious  breaches  of  environmental 
obligations,  notably  by  the  adoption  of  the  new  ECD 
(Directive  (EU)  2024/1203/EU)(208)  and  new  sectoral 
legislation  with  stronger  provisions  on  compliance 
monitoring, enforcement and penalties. Issues important 
for  the  transposition  and  the  implementation  of  the 
relevant  new 
instruments  are  highlighted  below;  a 
detailed assessment of these topics will be included in the 

lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1203/oj/eng).  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
next EIR once more implementation measures are put in 
place and more systematic information is available. 

The  new  ECD  replaced  the  2008  ECD  and  introduced 
several  new  offence  categories,  such  as  unlawful  ship 
recycling,  unlawful  water  abstraction,  and  serious 
breaches  of  EU 
legislation  on  chemicals,  mercury, 
fluorinated GHG and IAS of EU concern. It also covered the 
establishment  of  qualified  offences,  subject  to  more 
severe penalties where one of the offences defined in the 
directive  leads  to  serious  widespread  and  substantial 
damage  or  destruction  of  the  environment.  Concrete 
provisions on the types and levels of penalties that can be 
imposed  for  natural  and  legal  persons  who  commit  an 
offence  were also introduced. Other provisions will help 
considerably  to  improve  the  effectiveness  in  combating 
environmental crime of all actors along the enforcement 
chain.  These  include  obligations  to  ensure  adequate 
resources  and  investigative  tools,  specialised  regular 
training 
cooperation 
the  establishment  of 
mechanisms within and between Member States as well 
as national strategies on combating environmental crime. 

and 

including  by 

Member  States  are  required  to  transpose  the  new  ECD 
into national law by 21 May 2026 and to take additional 
measures  to  more  effectively  combat  environmental 
crime, 
in  particular  through  training,  coordination, 
cooperation  and  strategic  approaches.  The  Commission 
will  provide  support, 
facilitating  the 
identification  and  sharing  of  good  practices.  Member 
States  are  expected  to  ensure  the  availability  of  the 
necessary resources and the specialised skills required and 
they are invited to encourage their authorities to support 
and cooperate with the recognised EU-level networks of 
environmental enforcement practitioners, such as the EU 
Network  for  the  Implementation  and  Enforcement  of 
Environmental Law (209), EnviCrimeNet (210), the European 
Network of Prosecutors for the Environment (211) and the 
EU  Forum  of  Judges  for  the  Environment (212).  The 
European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation 
and  European  Union  Agency 
Justice 
Cooperation mechanisms for cooperation on cross-border 
for 
cases 
environmental offences. 

should  be  used  more 

systematically 

for  Criminal 

(209)  https://www.impel.eu/en. 
(210) 

LIFE+SATEC 
(https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/life/publicWebsite/project/LIFE2
0-PRE-ES-000001/fight-against-environmental-crime-at-a-
strategic-level-through-the-strengthening-of-envicrimenet-
network-of-experts-in-environmental-criminal-investigations). 

project 

(211)  https://www.environmentalprosecutors.eu. 
(212)  https://www.eufje.org/index.php?lang=en. 
(213)   Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability with regard to the 
prevention and remedying of environmental damage (https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-

Romania  57 

Environmental Liability Directive 

The  Environmental  Liability  Directive  (ELD)(213)  aims  to 
ensure that environmental damage is remediated in kind 
at the expense of those who have caused it, in line with 
the polluter-pays principle. It helps to halt the net loss in 
biodiversity,  as  well  as  reducing  the  number  of 
contaminated  sites  and  protecting  the  environmental 
quality of groundwater and surface waters. The ELD is a 
cross-cutting 
for  better 
tool  and  a  key  enabler 
implementation of EU environmental law. 

The  ELD  addresses  cases  of  significant  environmental 
damage  to  protected  species  and  natural  habitats,  and, 
when caused by operators carrying out certain potentially 
hazardous  activities,  also  damages  to  water  and  to  soil. 
The  Commission  has  the  legal  obligation  to  periodically 
evaluate  the  ELD.  The  ELD  has  undergone  the  second 
evaluation (214), which will be finalised in 2025, and which 
was  supported  by  an  external  study (215),  containing, 
among  other  things,  evidence,  views,  reports  and  other 
relevant information gathered from different stakeholder 
groups, including Member States. 

indicators 

One  of  the  most  relevant 
in  assessing 
implementation  and  enforcement  of  the  ELD  is  the 
number  of  environmental  damage  cases  handled  under 
the  ELD,  especially  when  this  number  is  compared  with 
the  previous  reporting  period.  Fewer  ELD  cases  were 
reported in the second reporting period (2013–2022) than 
in  the  first  one  (2007–2013).  However,  the  downward 
tendency  in  the  number  of  ELD  occurrences  and  their 
overall low number do not necessarily mean that the ELD 
has  achieved  its  objectives,  as  the  figure  needs  to  be 
compared  with  the  overall  number  of  environmental 
damage  cases,  some  of  which  may  have  been  handled 
under the other liability instruments. 

The ELD has not always been effective in ensuring that the 
polluter  pays,  because  the  liable  operators  often  lack 
financial  capacity  to  carry  out  remediation  measures. 
While the ELD does not provide for a mandatory financial 
security  system,  it  explicitly  calls  for  Member  States  to 
encourage 
financial  security 
instruments  and  markets,  with  the  aim  of  enabling 
operators  to  use  financial  guarantees  to  cover  their 
responsibilities under this directive. 

the  development  of 

content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02004L0035-20190626).  
(214)  Commission  staff  working  document  -  Evaluation  of  the 

Environmental Liability Directive, forthcoming 2025. 

(215)  European Commission: Directorate-General for Environment and 
Fogleman,  V.,  Study 
in  support  of  the  evaluation  of  the 
Environmental  Liability  Directive  and  its  implementation –  Final 
report,  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  Luxembourg, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
2024, 
/publication/006d90e5-980a-11ef-a130-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
Romania  58 

In  the  first  reporting  period,  Romania  reported  one 
occurrence of an imminent threat and three occurrences 
of environmental damage under ELD. The second report 
by Romania covers 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2021 
and  provides  information  about  one  occurrence  of  an 
imminent 
threat  of  environmental  damage.  For 
comparison,  between  2007  and  2017  there  were  1 186 
non-ELD environmental damage occurrences in Romania. 

Romania has not introduced mandatory financial security 
for ELD liabilities, and demand for such instruments is low. 
Environmental 
insurance  policies  are  not  generally 
available and, even when they are available, they provide 
cover  only  for  remediating  sudden  and  accidental 
pollution.  Environmental  extensions  to  general  liability 
policies  that  provide  cover  for  remediating  pollution, 
including pollution under the ELD, are not available, while 
environmental  extensions  to  property  policies  are 
available only from a small number of insurers and they do 
not  provide  cover  for  remediating  pollution  (or  other 
environmental  damage)  under  the  ELD  or  non-ELD 
environmental legislation. 

The 2022 EIR recommended that Romania make available 
information  on  environmental  damage, 
including 
information  on  penalties  and  other  financial  measures. 
Romania  has  made  some  progress  in  increasing  the 
availability  of  information.  Annual  reports  are  published 
on  the  National  Environmental  Protection  Agency’s 
website describing ELD occurrences. 

2025 priority action 

• 

Encourage the use of training programmes provided 
by  the  Commission  (or  developed  at  the  national 
level)  covering the ELD and its interactions with the 
other national liability-related instruments, to ensure 
more  efficient  ELD  implementation,  improve  the 
expertise  of  the  competent  authorities  and  raise 
awareness among all stakeholder groups. 

EU-supported environmental capacity building 

The  Commission’s  2023  Compact ()  initiative  to  enhance 
the administrative space identifies the capacity to lead the 
green transition as one of three key pillars, along with the 
public  administration  skills  agenda  and  the  capacity  for 
Europe’s Digital Decade. Compact also recognises the role 
of  the  EIR  reporting  tool  in  improving  environmental 
governance. The two main capacity-building opportunities 
for 
the  European 
Commission  are  the  TSI (216)  and  the  TAIEX-EIR  PEER  2 

the  environment  provided  by 

PEER tool (217). The technical assistance available through 
cohesion  policy  is  subject  to shared  management  and  is 
not dealt with in this subsection. 

The Commission’s technical support instrument 

The  TSI  provides  Member  States  with  tailor-made 
technical expertise on the design and implementation of 
reforms.  The  support  is  demand  driven  and  does  not 
require national co-financing. 

The  TSI  had  annual  calls  in  2021,  2022,  2023,  2024  and 
2025.  The  following  environment-related  projects  have 
been selected for Romania: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

framework 

Support  for 
implementing  Romania’s  renewable 
energy support  scheme from the Ministry of Energy 
(2023); 
ESG (218)  risk  management 
for  the 
financial  sector  from  the  National  Bank  of  Romania 
(2023); 
Support  to  the  preparation  of  Social  Climate  Plans, 
involving  the  Ministry  of  European  Investments  and 
Projects (2024) (2024); 
Support to the revised EU Emissions Trading System, 
also  involving the Ministry of European Investments 
and Projects (2024); 

•  Development of legal framework for fully fledged and 
comprehensive regional green hydrogen market from 
the Ministry of Energy (2024); 
Supporting  the  preparation  of  secondary  legislation 
needed  for  offshore  wind  development  in  the  Black 
Sea, Ministry of Energy (2025); 

• 

•  Water Losses Reduction for a sustainable water from 
the National Regulatory Authority for Public Utilities 
Services (ANRSC) (2025). 

The Commission’s TAIEX-EIR PEER 2 PEER tool 

The Commission launched the TAIEX-EIR PEER 2 PEER tool 
in 2017. It aims to facilitate peer-to-peer learning among 
Member  States’  environmental  authorities  through 
workshops  (single  or  multi-country),  expert  missions 
(where  a  delegation  of  experts  travels  to  the  requesting 
institution) and study visits (where a delegation from the 
requesting institution travels to a host country). Flagship 
multi-country  workshops  are  those  requested  by  the 
European  Commission  to  present  new  and  upcoming 

(216)  See 

the  European  Commission  web  page  on 

the  TSI 

(https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/find-
funding/eu-funding-programmes/technical-support-
instrument/technical-support-instrument-tsi_en). 

(218) 

(217)  See the European Commission web page on the TAIEX-EIR PEER 2 

tool 

(https://environment.ec.europa.eu/law-and-

PEER 
governance/environmental-implementation-review/peer-2-
peer_en). TAIEX: Technical Assistance and Information Exchange. 
‘ESG’ here means ‘environmental, social and governance’. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Romania  59 

environmental 
States (219). 

legislation  and  policy 

in  all  Member 

Workshops involving Romania during the reporting period 
were as follows: 
•  Best  practices  on  sustainable  forest  management, 
with  the  participation  of  experts  from  several 
Member States (9–11 March 2022); 

•  Measures  to  reduce  air  pollution  in  transport  and 
residential  energy,  involving  several  Member  States 
(11–13 June 2024); 

•  Good  practices  on  noise  abatement  measures  and 
noise  mapping:  Directive  2002/49/CE,  with  the 
participation of Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the EEA 
and  the  European  Commission (26–27 September 
2022); 
Future challenges in air  protection in Europe, under 
the Czech Presidency (24 November 2024). 

• 

In 2022, Romania was encouraged to boost administrative 
capacity  and  project  preparation  to  make  full  use  of  EU 
funds  to  build  environmental  infrastructure  and  protect 
nature. In this respect, progress has not been sufficient. 
2025 priority action 
• 

Improve overall national environmental governance, 
in  particular  administrative  capacity  to  support  the 
green transition and coordination at the regional and 
local levels. 

(219)  Flagship  multi-country  workshops  are:  Recast  Drinking    Water 
Directive 
(3  April  2025);  Environmental  compliance  and 
governance  (18  March  2025);  Planning  of  Renewable  Energy 
Projects  (20  February  2025);  Air  Quality:  Implementation  of  the 
revised Air Quality Directive (16 January 2025); Industrial safety: 
awareness  raising  of  emerging  risks  linked  with  climate  change 
and 
quality: 
(12 December 
implementation  of  the  NEC  Directive  to  further  mainstream  air 
and  broader  pollution 
in  agricultural  policy 
reduction 
(25 September  2024);  Industrial  emissions  transposition  and 
implementation  of  the  revised  directive  (12 September  2024); 
Noise:  progress  towards  meeting  Member  States’  noise  limit 
values and EU reduction targets (5 June 2024); Best practice use 
of  environmental  footprint  methods  on  the  EU  market  (30 May 

decarbonation 

2024; 

Air 

2024);  Sustainable  finance  (9 November  2023);  Textile  waste 
separate collection, treatment and markets (3 October 2023); EU 
environmental  funding  and  support  (13 June  2023);  Advisory 
service for businesses to go circular (24 April 2023); Digital product 
passport implementation (6 December 2022); Public involvement 
in  planning  and  approval  of  renewable  energy  projects 
(17 November 2022); Environmental compliance and governance 
(14 November  2022);  Biowaste  management  (19–20 September 
2022); and  Renewable energy projects: permit granting processes 
(13 June 2022). NB: The first flagship workshop on zero pollution 
for air, water and soil took place9 February 2022. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Romania  60 

Annex: 2025 priority actions 

Circular economy and waste management 
Transitioning to a circular economy 

•  Adopt measures to increase the circular material use rate. 

• 

• 
• 

• 

• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

• 

Speed up the transition to a circular economy by implementing an updated national strategy and the 
EU  framework  and  recommendations,  in  particular  to  complement  it  with  upstream  circularity 
measures. 

Waste management 

Complete closure of non-compliant landfills.  
Improve separate collection at source e.g. through economic instruments, investing in infrastructure 
for separate collection, sorting and recycling, and increasing public awareness.  
Increase reuse of products and scale up waste recycling infrastructure associated with the higher steps 
of the waste hierarchy. In particular, improve collection and increase treatment capacity for bio-waste. 
Improve municipal waste preparation for reuse and recycling. 
Increase the recycling rates of packaging waste. 
Increase the collection and recycling rate of waste electronic and electric equipment (WEEE). 
Improve the system for managing the quality of data on packaging waste in order to build coherent and 
verifiable data sets. 
Invest in waste prevention measures to reduce the total amount of waste generated. 
Ensure  the  achievement  of  the  2025  waste  targets,  following  the  recommendations  made  by  the 
Commission in the early warning reports where applicable. 
Ensure  the  achievement  of  the  2025  waste  targets,  following  the  recommendations  made  by  the 
Commission in the Early Warning Reports where applicable. 

•  Ratify the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally  Sound Recycling of 

Ships. 

Biodiversity and natural capital 
Global and EU biodiversity frameworks  

• 

• 
• 

• 

Submit  to  the  CBD  an  updated  NBSAP  or  national  targets  following  the  adoption  of  the  Kunming-
Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. 

Nature protection and restoration – Natura 2000 

Complete the Natura 2000 site designation process. 
Ensure the effective implementation of Natura 2000 management plans and sufficient administrative 
capacity  and  financing  for  both  Natura  2000  and  the  implementation  of  the  Nature  Restoration 
Regulation. Ensure the implementation of Prioritised Actions Framework 2021–2027 PAF. 
Enhance efforts to collect reliable data on the conservation status of habitats and species as well as 
their prevalence at the site level. In view of this, consider the creation of a body in charge of monitoring 
and reporting, to ensure that data are not provided only ad hoc on a contract basis. 

Agricultural ecosystems 

Recovery of ecosystems 

• 

• 

Implement environmental eco-schemes and agri-environmental measures and practices to address the 
environmental needs of Romania. 
Implement and scale up the uptake of organic farming practices. 

Wetlands/peatlands 

• 

Implement peatland conservation and restoration measures and include such measures and objectives 
in the national restoration plans. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
 
 
Romania  61 

Forest ecosystems 

• 

• 

Take action against illegal logging activities and apply appropriate penalties and remedies for damage 
done to Natura 2000 sites. 

Prevention and management of invasive alien species  

Step up implementation of the IAS Regulation, including with regard to enforcement and capacity of 
inspection authorities 

•  Ratify  the  International  Convention  for  the  Control  and  Management  of  Ships’  Ballast  Water  and 

Sediments of 2004 (BWM Convention). 

• 

Support the development of the national business and biodiversity network. 

Ecosystem assessment and accounting  

Zero pollution 
Clean air 

•  As part of the NAPCP, take actions towards reducing emissions of air pollutants. 
• 

Ensure full compliance with the current AAQD standards, also in light of future stricter requirements 
under the revised AAQD. 

•  Upgrade and improve the air quality monitoring network, and ensure timely reporting  of air  quality 

data. 

Industrial emissions 

•  Reduce industrial air pollution damage and intensity. 
•  Reduce industrial releases to water, and their intensity. 
• 

Engage with industry and environmental NGOs to ensure proper contribution to and implementation 
of BAT conclusions, and ensure timely updates to permits following the publication of BAT conclusions. 
Ensure effective public participation and access to justice in relation to the IED. 

• 

• 
• 

Complete noise mapping. 
Complete and implement action plans on noise management. 

Noise 

Water quality and management 

Water Framework Directive 

• 

Tackle the obstacles identified in the implementation of measures, such as administrative capacity and 
resources. 
Improve river continuity and ecological flows, including in light of hydropower pressures. 
Improve hydromorphological measures to meet objectives. 

• 
• 
•  Reduce pollution from nutrients, chemicals, metals and saline discharges. 
• 

Improve the classification of waterbodies, reduce the gap to objectives and better justify exemptions. 

Floods Directive 

• 

FRMPs  should  provide  details  on  how  the  FHRMs  were  used  in  the  choice  of  measures  and  how  to 
consider pluvial flooding. 
Consider future climate scenarios in FRMPs. 

• 
•  Better  explain  the  choice  and  implementation  of  flood  prevention  and  protection  measures 

(prioritisation, monitoring, costs of measures). 
Improve public consultation and stakeholder involvement. 

• 

Nitrates Directive 

• 

Tackle  nutrient  pollution,  especially  nitrates  from  agriculture  through  the  implementation  of  the 
Nitrates Directive. 

Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive 

• 

Take the necessary measures to ensure full implementation of the current urban wastewater treatment 
directive, taking into account the new requirements of the recast directive.. 

Chemicals 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

 
Romania  62 

•  Upgrade  administrative  capacities  in  implementation  and  enforcement  towards  a  policy  of  zero 

• 

• 

• 

tolerance of non-compliance. 
Increase involvement in the activities of the Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement of the 
European Chemicals Agency, including in the coordinated enforcement projects, called REFs. 
Increase  customs  controls  and  controls  of  products  sold  online  with  regard  to  compliance  with 
chemicals legislations. 

Climate action 

Implement all policies and measures that are needed to achieve targets laid down in the Effort Sharing 
Regulation  (ESR)  and  the  Land  Use  and  Land-Use  Change  and  Forestry  (LULUCF)  Regulation.  More 
detailed priority actions are set  out  in the assessment  of the final National Energy and Climate Plan 
(NECP).  

•  Use more national funding (including by increasing taxes in favour of the environment and reducing 
environmentally harmful subsidies), EU funding and private funding to help close the investment gap. 

Financing 

Environmental governance 
Information, public participation and access to justice 

identified  as  high-value  spatial  datasets  for 

•  Make spatial data more widely accessible and prioritise environmental datasets in implementing the 
implementing 

Inspire  Directive,  especially  those 
environmental legislation. 
Ensure  that  relevant  information  on  EIA  and  SEA  procedures  (including  on  public  participation 
opportunities  and  on  publication  of  final  decisions)  is  electronically  accessible  in  a  timely  manner, 
through at least a central portal or easily accessible points of access, at the appropriate administrative 
level. 
Improve  access  to  courts  in  national  environmental  cases  by  the  public  concerned  and  eliminate 
practical barriers, such as length of proceedings and excessive costs in some Member States. 

Compliance assurance 

Encourage the use of training programmes provided by the Commission (or developed at the national 
level)  covering  the  ELD  and  its  interactions  with  the  other  national  liability-related  instruments,  to 
ensure more efficient  ELD implementation, improve the expertise of the competent  authorities and 
raise awareness among all stakeholder groups. 

EU-supported environmental capacity-building 

Improve overall national environmental governance, in particular  administrative capacity to support 
the green transition and coordination at the regional and local levels. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Romania 

• 

• 

• 

•