From vulnerability to resilience: a perspective on climate, environment, and energy events in Romania in 2025

Article by Eliza Barnea

Despite the increasingly visible effects of climate change on local communities and the national economy, when it comes to climate, energy, and the environment, 2025 brought limited progress in Romania. Political discourse remained largely reactive, manifesting itself sporadically in the wake of extreme events—such as the floods in Suceava County—while government initiatives brought back into the public eye anachronistic projects or outdated technologies that contradicted both European trends and the long-term interests of the population. This article presents a retrospective of the main events in the fields of energy, climate, and the environment in 2025, highlighting the discrepancies between Romania's commitments and their actual implementation. It discusses the presidential campaign programs on these topics, the extreme weather events that marked 2025, the policies for decarbonization and restructuring of the coal industry, the controversies surrounding the expansion of natural gas exploitation, and the opportunity to adopt the legislative framework for the creation of energy communities. The article argues that the energy transition and adaptation to climate change must be treated as structural development and security policies, essential for increasing societal resilience, reducing external dependencies, and ensuring sustainable and equitable prosperity for the population, in a context marked by profound structural transformations.

The May 2025 presidential campaign – climate, environment, and energy in political discourse

The topics of "climate" and "environment" were only a footnote in the 2025 presidential campaign, while the topic of energy was addressed more from an economic and security perspective than from the perspective of the sector's contribution to climate change.

The current president's election program did not mention climate change even once, but instead described environmental protection as an emergency, requiring a state that defends nature with the same determination with which it defends the law. The "energy" chapter was only linked to the economic one, promoting the importance of reducing external dependencies and creating a company capable of ensuring Romania's energy security and supplying energy at competitive and predictable prices. Since taking office, Nicușor Dan has addressed the issue of climate change in a rather reactive manner, in response to natural disasters or extreme weather events. Notably, climate change and its associated risks are included in the new "National Defense Strategy" as global and regional security challenges with an impact on Romania's security.

Following the European trend, George Simion, Nicușor Dan's opponent, approached the issues from the traditional angle of the sovereignist agenda, centered on climate denialism. However, this discourse is based on promoting anti-globalist and Eurosceptic sentiments, distrust of scientific consensus, economic interests aligned with those of the fossil fuel industry, and an image of protecting traditional industries and ordinary people from the costs of climate action. The partial nationalization of large energy companies, with an emphasis on processing Romania's natural resources, the temporary ban on the export of certain resources, the granting of tax breaks to large polluting industries, and the continued use of fossil fuels are all measures which, although present in the AUR candidate's electoral program, represented a dangerous populist utopia rather than a feasible reality in the economic context of a globally integrated single European market.

Extreme weather events: severe drought, floods, and torrential rains

As in previous years, 2025 ranks among the years with an increased number of prolonged heat waves, heat stress, and extreme weather events. Compared to the climatological average for the period 1991-2020, the deviations in July 2025 exceeded +2.5°C in the south and south-west of the country, while the north-east was hit by extreme weather events in the form of storms, hail, and heavy rains.

The floods in Suceava and Neamț at the end of July caused loss of life, the evacuation of hundreds of people, and damage to transport and energy infrastructure and households. In Suceava County alone, the damage was estimated at over €80 million[2], which is why the government decided to activate, for the first time in Romania, the RESTORE mechanism, a European rapid response tool for natural disasters. Similarly, the flooding of the Praid Salt Mine in Harghita County in the spring of this year was triggered by heavy rainfall, which caused the flow of the Corund stream to increase to more than 100 times its average flow[3]. This caused the closure of the salt mine, which was the main employer and tourist attraction in the area, as well as problems with the drinking water supply for over 40,000 households.

At the end of the year, heavy rainfall coincided with maintenance work on the Paltinu dam in Prahova County. The sudden increase in flow and the sediment load in the water, precisely during the repair period of the Paltinu reservoir, led to the water treatment plants exceeding their capacity, forcing the suspension of drinking water supply in 12 localities in Prahova and Dâmbovița counties, affecting over 100,000 inhabitants. The Paltinu case illustrates how hydrological events intensified by climate change can amplify the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure when its design or operation does not use updated climate scenarios.

At the same time, July 2025 was also the 41st month of the longest drought in Romania's recent history, according to the State of the Climate report. With nearly 10 million hectares of arable land in Romania, but only 1.6 million hectares prepared for irrigation, corn and sunflower crops in 2025 were compromised by 80-90% in the southern counties of the country, under pressure from drought and water shortages. Over 110 localities have been affected by water supply problems and irrigation restrictions. The Danube Delta, Romania's richest ecosystem with over 5,000 species of plants and animals and of inestimable value to European biodiversity, faced its worst ecological crisis in 20 years this summer. Against the backdrop of prolonged drought and poor water resource management, the river's level fell to less than half (2,150 m³/s) of the multi-year average. The drying up of numerous lakes and canals hampered shipping and killed thousands of fish, thus upsetting the entire local ecosystem and significantly damaging fishing and tourism, two economic drivers of the area.

With temperatures expected to rise between +1.82°C and +4.24°C by 2100 (reference period 1971-2000) [7], the trend towards aridification has profound long-term implications for society as a whole, affecting human health, water security, the country's agricultural and energy systems, as well as biodiversity and natural ecosystems.

In the absence of real measures and investments in climate change adaptation, both at the local level for the most vulnerable populations and at the level of key sectors of the Romanian economy, increasingly frequent extreme weather events will continue to generate recurrent economic losses, significant material and social damage, as well as systemic risks to infrastructure, essential public services, and social cohesion.

Legislative changes regarding protected natural areas

A topic that returned to the public spotlight in 2025, despite the fact that the bill had already been rejected by the Senate in 2022, is the modification of the boundaries of Natura 2000 protected natural areas. The aim of the legislative initiative adopted by Parliament in the fall of this year is to remove certain areas of land currently included in Natura 2000 sites from legal protection in order to complete hydroelectric projects started between 1970 and 2000, as well as to exempt them from the obligation to assess their environmental impact.

The reasons given by the initiators of the legislative project refer to counteracting the increase in energy prices, capitalizing on energy infrastructure that is in advanced stages of construction, and national safety and security in terms of increasing production capacity.

However, these arguments pale in comparison to the real costs that may be incurred by removing legal protection from sections of natural sites and completing hydroelectric projects that began before Romania's accession to the EU. The legislative initiative, through its effects, violates multiple European environmental directives, as well as multiple fundamental principles of the Constitution. The prohibition of arbitrarily reducing the level of environmental protection already achieved is a principle firmly established in the case law of the Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR). In light of constitutional issues, President Nicușor Dan challenged the law before the CCR in November.

The law also paves the way for deforestation and the destruction of rich ecosystems in the Călimani and Defileul Jiului National Parks, which are representative of the country's natural heritage of intrinsic value and play an essential role in regulating the local microclimate, sequestering carbon emissions, and adapting to climate change. Given that the prolonged droughts of recent summers are causing hydrological regimes to fall consistently below their multi-year averages, hydroelectric power production is becoming increasingly unpredictable. For example, Hidroelectrica's electricity production fell by 23% in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, due to the drought[10].

The completion of these constructions is promoted as a matter of national security, but it would only increase national energy production capacity by 1%, while the modernization of existing hydroelectric power plants could increase hydroelectric energy production by up to 7% without impacting protected ecosystems[11].

Presented by some political actors as an attempt by non-governmental organizations to undermine Romania's economic development, civil society's opposition to legislative initiatives to weaken the protection of natural areas has been met with direct political attacks that question the very legitimacy of civil society's actions. Undermining this legitimacy and trivializing legally and scientifically based criticism erodes democratic control mechanisms, weakens institutional accountability, and creates the conditions for the adoption of public policies with an irreversible impact on the public interest, in the absence of a real, informed, and pluralistic debate.

Beyond irreversible ecological losses, the removal of legal protection generates significant indirect costs, often ignored in decision-making analysis, such as the degradation of ecosystem services, increased risks of flooding and landslides, the loss of natural resources that support local economies, and a decline in the quality of life of communities. Public policies in the energy sector should therefore be scientifically based and built on transparent dialogue, prioritizing investments in the modernization of existing infrastructure and solutions with low environmental impact, without transferring long-term social and ecological costs to local communities and future generations.

Public discourse on extending the operation of coal-fired power plants

Through the Decarbonization Law (334/2022) adopted by the Romanian Parliament in November 2022, Romania established its obligations to phase out coal-based energy production capacities by 2032, as well as obligations related to investments in diversifying the production sources of the Oltenia Energy Complex (CEO). The adoption of this law was the subject of a €3.2 billion milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). However, political messages regarding the extension of coal reserves and the operation of related thermal power plants continued in 2025.

Against the backdrop of significant delays in investments in alternative production capacities—none of the eight photovoltaic parks provided for in the Decarbonization Law with a completion date of 2024 are yet operational—the Ministry of Energy requested in October that the European Commission extend the agreed closure deadlines for 2025.

However, continued operation comes with significant costs. From 2022 until the end of 2025, the Romanian government has issued state aid schemes worth over €2 billion for the two main coal-based energy producers, Complexul Energetic Valea Jiului and Complexul Energetic Oltenia. This is despite the fact that coal-based energy production is currently one of the most expensive forms of production, with a direct impact on energy bills. Operating, extraction, and carbon certificate costs increase the price of producing one MWh of coal-based energy to around €125-145, more than triple the cost of one MWh of solar energy, which was auctioned in 2025 at around €40/MWh. Beyond the economic costs, maintaining coal extraction also entails considerable costs for public health and the environment. As mining is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions globally, the associated air, soil, and water pollution contributes to an increased incidence of respiratory diseases and lung cancer, as well as the degradation of agricultural crops and the quality of water sources on which local communities depend[13].

Encouraging dependence on a declining industry keeps these mono-industrial regions captive in obvious development gaps in development indicators such as population at risk of poverty or social exclusion, energy poverty, labor market participation, or air quality. Encouraging dependence also ignores systemic risks related to vulnerability to extremist discourse, associated with the economic precariousness so prevalent in these regions.

Romania currently benefits from billions of euros in European funds, from the Just Transition Fund, PNRR, or the Modernization Fund, intended to fulfill commitments made—modernizing the energy system, combating energy poverty, and ensuring a planned and equitable transition for local communities that have developed around an industry that is now in decline. Against the backdrop of the harsh austerity measures that marked 2025 and given that technologically mature and economically viable alternatives are available, prolonging an economic activity dependent on state aid is not only a waste of existing opportunities, but also evidence of irresponsibility and a lack of vision in governance that risks transforming an inevitable transition, negotiated years in advance, into the chaos of unplanned deindustrialization of the 1990s.

Other topics

Other notable topics on the environment, energy, and climate agenda for 2025 were the start of drilling for the development of natural gas deposits in the Neptun Deep project, as well as the creation of the legislative framework allowing for the establishment of energy communities. The Neptun Deep project has been accompanied by numerous controversies: both in terms of the environmental impact associated with the exploitation and expansion of the fossil gas network – a recent study shows that CO₂ emissions generated by Neptun Deep could account for approximately 23% of Romania's total emissions in 2035 – and the long-term economic viability of the investment, given that the EU aims to reduce fossil gas consumption in the medium and long term, including by expanding the system of taxation of emissions from road transport and residential heating through the ETS2 mechanism.

In an international climate where dependence on fossil fuels is increasingly used as a tool for coercion or geopolitical competition, reducing this dependence becomes not only a matter of societal adaptability to climate change, but also of national security. Investments in decentralized renewable energy sources, in local production chains covering the entire life cycle of technologies, in innovation, research, and workforce training, as well as in interconnected and resilient networks are some of the elements that can contribute to both climate resilience and strategic autonomy.

The phenomenon of prosumers and the creation of a legislative framework for the establishment of energy communities—groups of local actors who collaborate to produce, distribute, store, and consume renewable energy produced in the community for the benefit of their members—are an essential part of this solution. Given that the number of prosumers in Romania has increased more than 15-fold in the last three years, reaching an installed capacity of over 3,000 MW in 2025, and the number of storage capacities increased by 56% between July and August alone[14], households' interest in these mature, self-consumption-oriented technologies is evident. However, more efforts are needed to ensure a fair distribution of the benefits of the energy transition, especially to areas with development gaps or isolated communities or those experiencing energy poverty. In this context, the possibility of establishing energy communities is welcome both as an option for expanding renewable energy projects and as a model for community development, with a positive impact on social cohesion, local energy independence, and the creation of economic opportunities.

Although 2025 was no exception among the years marked by the catastrophic effects of climate change, the subject continues to be treated with apathy in the Romanian public arena, as a minor issue compared to the budget deficit, security challenges, or economic competitiveness. In fact, postponing the energy transition and adaptation to climate change can only be done at the inevitable risk of multiplying current fiscal, social, or security challenges and with a devastating impact on future generations. It remains essential that funding programs, public policies, and political discourse bring climate change adaptation and renewable energy back to the forefront as an integral part of a coherent vision of sustainable development, energy security, and societal resilience.

[1]https://www.presidency.ro/ro/media/csat/strategia-nationala-de-aparare-a-tarii-pentru-perioada-2025-2030 

[2]https://cjsuceava.ro/comunicate-de-presa/7719-pagube-de-aproximativ-80-de-milioane-de-euro 

[3]https://salrom.ro/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Comunicat-de-presa_27.05.2025_2.praid-.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com 

[4]https://www.stareaclimei.ro/capitole/capitolul-2-seceta-aridizare-si-precipitatii-in-romania 

[5]https://agerpres.ro/economic/2025/09/22/seceta-adanceste-dezechilibrele-din-agricultura-romaniei-pierderi-masive-la-porumb-si-floarea-soarel--1486249 

[6]https://www.hidro.ro/bulletin/diagnoza-si-prognoza-hidrologica-pentru-dunare-la-intrarea-in-tara-si-pe-sectorul-romanesc-2025-07-05/ 

[7]https://www.stareaclimei.ro/capitole/capitolul-2-seceta-aridizare-si-precipitatii-in-romania 

[8]https://www.cdep.ro/proiecte/2023/000/10/4/em988.pdf 

[9]https://www.presidency.ro/ro/media/comunicate-de-presa/sesizare-de-neconstitutionalitate-asupra-legii-pentru-completarea-art-56-1-din-ordonanta-de-urgenta-a-guvernului-nr-57-2007-privind-regimul-ariilor-naturale-protejate-conservarea-habitatelor-naturale-a-florei-si-faunei-salbatice-precum-si-pentru-modificarea-art-5-alin-1-din-legea-nr-292-2018-privind-evaluarea-impactului-anumitor-proiecte-publice-si-private-asupra-mediului 

[10]https://www.profit.ro/povesti-cu-profit/energie/ultima-ora-profitul-hidroelectrica-a-scazut-cu-peste-o-treime-la-9-luni-seceta-a-taiat-un-sfert-din-productie-22237551 

[11]https://wwf.ro/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Studiu-privind-potentialul-de-retehnologizare-a-hidrocentralelor-din-Romania-1.pdf 

[12]https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/08/13/romanias-second-renewables-auction-awards-1-4-gw-of-solar-at-average-price-of-e40-46-mwh/ 

[13]https://www.riseproject.ro/investigations/uncategorized/prin-cenusa-olteniei/ 

[14]https://www.investenergy.ro/numarul-prosumatorilor-din-romania-a-depasit-257-000-la-finalul-lunii-august-puterea-instalata-a-trecut-pragul-de-3-000-mw/

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES).

About the author:

Eliza Barnea is a development expert focusing on just transition, climate action, and social inclusion. She is currently the coordinator of the just transition campaign at Bankwatch Romania, where she works with local partners, national authorities, and European institutions to advance a fair energy transition. She has previously worked for the World Bank and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She holds a Master's degree in Cultural Anthropology and International Development Studies from KU Leuven, Belgium.