ENG - UN CC:Learn

EUROPE AND THE COMMONWEALTH OF
INDEPENDENT STATES
ROMANIA
MDG7
Progress Towards Environmental Sustainability
Romanian forests are annually affected by numerous biotic and abiotic factors.
Plant health statistics show that about 20% of the forestry fund area
is under threat annually. The clearance of forests, which causes erosion and
SLOVAKIA
HUNGARY
SERBIA AND
MONTENEGRO
Ploiesti
Bucharest
turns mountainsides arid, has also led to the degradation of the Romanian forests. In 2002, forests covered an
area of 6,835 thousand hectares, which represents 27% of the country’s territory; this proportion is below the
European average of 33%.
Since Romania’s forest area is below this European average, strategic actions for long and medium term reforestation
of agricultural lands, approximately 2 million hectares, are required. According to the long-term forest development
strategy designed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Waters and Environment (MAFWE), the main goal is to accelerate
reforestation from the current rate of 27% to 35% of the country’s surface area, in the coming 37 years. Approximately 2.5
million hectares of agricultural lands are highly eroded and require reforestation. The present policy aims to reforest 25,000
hectares per year.
Greenhouse gas emissions dropped from approximately 271 million tons of CO2 in 1989 to 147 million tons in 2000, due to economic
recession. The goal to reduce CO2 emissions by 8% by 2008-2012 is therefore expected to be achieved.
Studies show that the current water demand in Romania, which is 20.4 billion cubic meters per year, will rise to approximately
27 billion cubic meters per year during 2005-2010 and to 32–35
billion cubic meters per year during 2020–2025. Given the
QUICK FACTS
social and legal changes that have occurred in recent years, the
urban and rural population are expected to grow. Yet, the
Total UNDP-GEF and Co-Finance: $1,885,835 increase by 100% of the proportion of people with sustainable
Total: $1,885,835 access to drinking water by 2015 is an achievable target for
Romania. This target was set as an intermediary milestone in
the plan aiming at ensuring a minimum household comfort by
2020 by connecting 99% of the urban population and 85% of
the rural population to local water supply networks. 1
Financial and Human Resource Developments Lead to Energy Efficiency Investments 2
Constanta
identifying additional resources such as insurance, guarantors or investors.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Oradea
UKRAINE
ROMANIA
Iasi
Galati
BULGARIA
MOLDOVA
SPOTLIGHT
Romania’s energy intensity has been among the highest in its region and has been 5-10 times higher than in the UK, France,
Germany, or the U.S. The country has been lagging behind in energy efficiency and needs to catch up with the rest of Europe
as part of its bid for EU membership in 2007. The Romanian Agency for Energy Conservation is responsible for promoting energy
efficiency but has had very limited financial and human resources to combat this problem.
The UNDP/GEF Energy Efficiency Financing Project begun in 2003 is a practical approach to address Romania's lack of investment
in the field of energy efficiency.The Energy Efficiency Financing Team, a core team of banking and energy specialists, uses
small amounts of grant financing to leverage large amounts of commercial financing for energy efficiency investments in
Romania. The team works closely with banks to identify qualified energy efficiency investments for support from the project.
The team adopted a simple, 3-stage approach. First, project identification; second borrowers and lenders are introduced, bringing
in additional stakeholders as required, creating an outline deal, and achieving an ‘Agreement-in-Principle’ between lenders
and borrowers. The third stage is the completion, where project resources are used to help borrowers meet the banks' lending
requirements to complete the deal.
Support provided by the project includes business plans, financial analysis, feasibility studies, energy audits, due diligence and
Energy efficiency stakeholders and banks put
together complex financial deals, gaining a great deal of knowledge and experience, which is complemented by capacity building
training and workshops. In the first quarter of 2005, applications for support rose by 15 to 235. The project has so far leveraged
14 investment projects with a combined value of over US$ 23 million.
Black
Sea
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