“Romania Eficienta” Forum 2025

The “Romania Eficienta” Forum, organized by the Energy Policy Group (EPG) with the support of OMV Petrom, brought together renowned energy experts, representatives of public authorities and civil society in a dialogue dedicated to energy transition in the building sector.

Radu Dudau, President of EPG, opened the event by emphasizing the importance of the Forum as a space for debate and analysis of current topics in the field of energy efficiency in buildings.

Christina Verchere, CEO of OMV Petrom, emphasized the decisive role of information in accelerating positive change, reiterating her confidence in the “multiplier effect” generated by the “Romania Eficienta” program, both through its educational and informational component and through its practical component, dedicated to renovating school buildings to nZEB standards.

Bogdan Atanasiu, expert at the European Commission (DG Ener), present online, delivered a preview of the EPBD Implementation Support Package and the new legislation to be published by the European Commission at the end of June, and introduced the first panel of the conference, dedicated to mechanisms for integrating socio-economic criteria and protecting vulnerable groups in the process of energy renovation and decarbonization of the building stock, highlighting the opportunities created by the revised EPBD and the European funds allocated to Romania to combat energy poverty.

Among the challenges highlighted by Eliza Barnea, coordinator of the Just Transition Campaign, Bankwatch Romania, and technical coordinator involved in the development of the National Social Climate Plan, are the lack of property documents limiting financial assistance to the most vulnerable households, the reduced capacity of local authorities to access European funds, and the need to identify locally specific solutions for decarbonizing heating and improving the energy efficiency of housing.

In terms of solutions, Catalin Lungu, President of OAER, spoke about financial incentives, measures to protect vulnerable households and priority renovation of buildings with the worst energy performance, provided for by the EPBD.

The President of OAER was complemented by Eugen Panescu, board member of the Architects Council of Europe (ACE), who called for an integrated and collaborative approach to address not only energy poverty, but also the lack of resources and technical knowledge at local level.

The second panel of the Forum addressed strategies for ensuring energy performance in public buildings following renovations. Anca Ginavar, Director in MDLPA, emphasized the importance of integrating energy efficiency and renewable energy sources into urban planning and the need to diversify sources of funding.

Andrei Ceclan, President of SAMER, drew attention to the negative impact of the knowledge deficit of the construction workforce responsible for the quality of renovation works and of administrators who cannot operate BEMS (Building Energy Management Systems) after renovation.

Adrian Ghita, Director of the Romanian Fund for Energy Efficiency, complemented the discussion from the perspective of private financiers, concerned about the financial risks and the payback period.

During the panel discussion on the transition to ZEB buildings through renewable energy and the preparation of the existing network, Horia Petran, President of Cluster-PRO nZEB, and Mihai Moia, Executive Director of ROENEF, focused on the correct implementation of the nZEB standard as a first preparatory step towards ZEB: we need an integrated approach that includes renovation passports and one-stop shops, as well as better information on available technologies and the benefits of energy-renovated buildings. The second step: identifying the most appropriate clean energy source, in relation to the local grid to which the building belongs.

Dalia Stoian, Chief Engineer & Project Manager at EFdeN, continued the discussion, talking about prosumers, challenges, and the evolution of energy communities in Romania in the context of the existing energy system, while Tobiasz Adamczewski, Vice President of Forum Energii, presented the case of Poland, one of the most advanced European countries in terms of integrating solar energy into the national mix.

The full conference recording is available on https://www.romania-eficienta.ro/romania-eficienta-forum-2025/

 

About Romania Eficienta

Romania Eficienta is a nation-wide private project carried out by Energy Policy Group (EPG) in partnership and with funding from OMV Petrom. The project started in the summer of 2019 and consists of carrying out a national program for the promotion of energy efficiency. Romania Eficienta aims to support achieving Romania’s targets for 2030 in terms of reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy efficiency, both through information and education campaigns, and by carrying out concrete major renovation projects in public schools in different regions of the country. More details can be found on the website romania-eficienta.ro.

 

About Energy Policy Group

Energy Policy Group (EPG) is an independent, non-profit think-tank specializing in energy and climate policy, market analysis and energy strategy, founded in 2014. EPG contributes to a technologically advanced, sustainable and socially acceptable energy system. EPG also promotes long-term decarbonization policies and measures in all economic sectors: energy, buildings, transport, industry, agriculture.

 

About OMV Petrom

OMV Petrom is the largest integrated energy producer in Southeastern Europe, with an annual Group hydrocarbon production of approximately 40 million boe in 2023. The Group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tons annually and operates an 860 MW high-efficiency gas-fired power plant. The Group is present on the oil products retail market in Romania and neighboring countries through approximately 780 filling stations under two brands – OMV and Petrom.

OMV Petrom is a company in which, as of end-2023, Romanian shareholders hold over 43% of the shares (of which the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Energy, holds 20.7%, and 22.5% are owned by pension funds in Romania, to which are added almost 500,000 individual investors and other Romanian entities). OMV Aktiengesellschaft, one of the largest listed industrial companies in Austria, holds a 51.2% stake in OMV Petrom, and the remaining 5.6% are held by other foreign investors. Of the total shares of OMV Petrom, 28.1% represents the free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

OMV Petrom is one of the largest contributors to the state budget, with approximately EUR 44 billion in taxes and dividends paid between 2005 and 2024. During the same period, the company invested approximately EUR 20 billion.

Since 2007, OMV Petrom has included corporate responsibility principles into its business strategy. Between 2007 and 2024, the company has allocated around EUR 190 million to develop communities in Romania, focusing on environmental protection, education, health, and local development.

On 29 July 2020, OMV Petrom announced its support for the recommendations issued by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) regarding risks and opportunities on climate change. OMV Petrom annually reports on the progress made in implementing these recommendations.