Energy Policy Group (EPG) has released a new report assessing Romania’s institutional readiness for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as part of its national decarbonisation strategy. 

Authored by Ioana Maria Vasiliu and Daria Sorescu, the study identifies five key areas requiring attention across governance, administrative capacity, public engagement, financing, and workforce development:

• Governance and Administrative Capacity: While Romania has taken initial steps towards establishing coordination mechanisms for CCS, inter-ministerial collaboration remains weak, and there is still no clear political commitment to CCS implementation. Furthermore, roles and responsibilities at regional and local levels are insufficiently defined, limiting integrated and effective action.
• Administrative challenge: Lies in the disproportionately high workload faced by institutions, combined with a limited number of personnel with specialised expertise, which constrains the ability to design, implement, and monitor CCS-related policies effectively. The working groups established under the General Secretariat of the Government should be maintained and strengthened as formal coordination and, where appropriate, decision-making platforms for CCS policy.
• Public perception: Despite Romania’s strong theoretical geological potential for CO₂ storage, public perception remains a key challenge, marked by low awareness of CM and limited trust in institutions. A national survey of 1,000 respondents across urban and rural areas shows high curiosity and cautious openness, with acceptance depending on transparency, safety, and visible local benefits, while a latent Not In My Backyard attitude persists for projects perceived as close to communities.
• Financial Architecture: The country has not established dedicated national funding instruments for CM and has not effectively leveraged available EU funding opportunities.
• Research and Workforce Development: Academic initiatives are fragmented, and there is no coordinated strategy for developing the necessary skills and workforce to support CM deployment.

The primary obstacle remains the limited political understanding of CM and the absence of a strong and consistent political mandate to support its integration into national climate and energy strategies. This lack of political commitment has led to fragmented policy priorities and the absence of a coherent national framework guiding long-term CM deployment. The report is available on the GreenHorizon CEE project website, here.

The report was developed as part of the GreenHorizon CEE: Industrial Carbon Management for a Sustainable Future in CEE project, through which a consortium of five organisations aims to address the need for strategic planning of future carbon management initiatives in the region. The project promotes a targeted approach, ensuring that technologies are applied where they can deliver the greatest climate and socio-economic benefits.

The GreenHorizon project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). Further information on the project is available here.