Former Romanian minister points to country's record-low greenhouse gas emissions

Romania is among the countries with the lowest carbon dioxide emissions in Europe, with 3.8 tons per capita, former Romanian minister of energy Răzvan Nicolescu, member of the general council of the European Institute for Technology and Innovation, reminded on Thursday (September 9), Economica.net reported. He recommended a bolder voice of the country's representatives in the decarbonisation negotiations.

Only one European country fares better than Romania [in terms of per-capita CO2 emissions], namely Sweden.

Sweden has an average CO2 emission of 3.2 tons per capita, compared to Romania's 3.8 tonnes per capita, according to World Bank data quoted by Nicolescu.

Notably, Romania started in 1989 from roughly the same level of per capita CO2 emission as the European Union (9.25 tonnes), but as of 2018 (latest data available), Romania's emissions plunged to 3.85 tonnes compared to EU's 6.42 tonnes, according to the World Bank. Including the other greenhouse gases in the equivalent of CO2, Romania's emissions were 5.9 tonnes per capita in 2019 compared to European Union's (EU27) 8.4 tonnes average, according to Eurostat.

Nicolescu stressed that "we play in a different league [than the other countries in the region]".

"We are in the league where we have to consult with the Nordic countries because we are in a different situation. Our neighbours are far behind us. And this is the reality, and we have to start from this reality," Nicolescu commented.

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