2015年-世界发展银行全球_Romania_Toward_a_Low_Carbon_and_Climate_Resilient_Economy___Benchmarking_Study_6页_2mb

Romania: Toward Low Carbon and Climate Resilient Economy Summary

Core Content

The document presents a Green Growth Benchmarking Study on Romania, evaluating its readiness for a transition to a low carbon and climate-resilient economy. It outlines a comprehensive framework to assess Romania's current status, future challenges, and potential to benefit from green growth opportunities.

Main Viewpoints

• Green Growth is defined as a sustainable path of economic growth that considers natural resource use, greenhouse gas emissions, climate adaptation, innovation, and green jobs.
• Romania is well-endowed with natural resources, such as fossil fuels, minerals, hydropower, wind power, agricultural lands, and forests. These resources, if used productively, can support strong and sustained economic growth.
• However, the country has high greenhouse gas emissions intensity and high energy intensity, which are 2.8 and 2.1 times the EU average, respectively.
• Romania is more vulnerable to climate change than other EU countries due to its sensitivity to climate shocks, such as limited water availability, a significant share of agriculture in the economy, and infrastructure susceptibility.
• The economic flexibility of Romania is a critical factor for its transition to green growth. It is strong in fixed asset investment, manufacturing share, and energy security, but weak in trade openness and labor mobility.
• Innovation and knowledge are major weaknesses. Romania lags behind the EU in key indicators such as broadband subscribers, researchers' share, R&D expenditures, and high-tech exports. It ranks last in the EU on the Innovation Union Scoreboard and 55th globally on the Global Innovation Index.

Key Information

How Green is Romania?

• Natural Resource Endowment: Romania has significant deposits of fuel and minerals, as well as hydropower and wind power potential, and agricultural and forest lands.
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The country has high emissions intensity, which is a major challenge in meeting EU climate targets.
• Climate Adaptation: While exposure to climate variability is average, Romania's sensitivity to climate shocks is higher, and its adaptive capacity is weak, requiring better information, financing, and organizational skills.

Going Green: Economic Flexibility

• Economic Structure: A large share of manufacturing in the industry is a strength, but the economy is still heavily reliant on primary sectors.
• Labor Market: Labor mobility and human capital development are critical areas for improvement.
• Business Environment: A supportive business environment and capital mobility are important for economic flexibility.
• Trade and Competitiveness: Trade openness and competitiveness are key areas needing reform to enhance economic flexibility.

Riding the Green Wave: Innovation and Knowledge

• Innovation Readiness: Romania significantly lags behind the EU in innovation and knowledge economy indicators.
• Research and Development: R&D is underfunded, and the brain drain has weakened the research community.
• Global Knowledge Links: Strengthening connections to global knowledge is essential for Romania to benefit from the green wave.

Conclusion

To achieve a low carbon and climate-resilient economy, Romania needs to focus on:

• Investing in natural resources (agricultural land, forests, water) to ensure their sustainable use.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through substantial investments in the energy sector and improved energy efficiency.
• Enhancing economic flexibility by promoting trade openness, improving the regulatory environment, and liberalizing the labor market.
• Boosting innovation and knowledge by increasing R&D investment, improving the business environment, and attracting talent.

This benchmarking exercise highlights the complementarity between short and long-term goals in Romania's green growth path, with relatively little policy conflict. It also suggests that regular benchmarking can help identify emerging green issues and support the implementation of national strategies related to climate action and sustainability.

Recommendations

• Policy Reforms: Improve product market regulation, labor market flexibility, and support for innovation.
• Investment Priorities: Focus on maintaining and upgrading natural assets and investing in clean energy and technology.
• Monitoring and Implementation: Develop a local results framework to monitor progress and support the implementation of green strategies.

Additional Information

• The study is part of the OPERA-CLIMA Program, a Climate Change and Low Carbon Green Growth initiative in Romania.
• For more information, visit the OPERA-CLIMA Program webpage.