Energy #8 Legislative focus

The President has sent back for reexamination the law approving GEO No. 55/2025, which updates the framework for auctioning EU ETS allowances and managing the resulting revenues. The request argues that the law adopted by the Chamber of Deputies changed the substance and configuration of the text approved by the Senate, raising a bicameralism issue. The file has therefore returned to Parliament.

A relevant element for business is that one of the changes introduced by the Chamber of Deputies concerns the financing of the state aid scheme from ETS revenues. The amended version provides that annual financing for the scheme must reach at least EUR 150 million and that, if the 15% share of ETS revenues is insufficient by 30 November, the difference would be covered from the state budget and paid to beneficiaries by 15 December.

The reexamination is relevant because it may affect a concrete financing mechanism. If Parliament revisits the provisions introduced by the Chamber of Deputies, the budget backstop for the ETS indirect cost compensation scheme may be maintained, amended or removed.

For energy-intensive industries and other beneficiaries exposed to indirect ETS costs, the issue is the predictability of annual compensation. A guaranteed minimum envelope, backed by the state budget where ETS revenue allocation is insufficient, would strengthen payment visibility. If this provision is weakened or removed, beneficiaries remain more dependent on the actual collection and allocation of ETS revenues.

The law returns to Parliament for reexamination, where the provisions introduced by the Chamber of Deputies will need to be reassessed before a final version can be sent again for promulgation.

The Chamber of Deputies has adopted the law approving GEO No. 119/2024, which establishes the institutional and procedural framework for preparing, negotiating, approving, implementing and monitoring the National Social Climate Plan. The act designates MIPE as national coordinator and creates the basis for Romania’s access to financing under the EU Social Climate Fund.

The development should be separated from the approval of the plan itself. The National Social Climate Plan has not yet been approved. The current legislative step concerns the framework needed to manage the plan and the related funding.

The file remains relevant even though national implementation of ETS2 has been delayed to 2028. The immediate issue is no longer short-term carbon price exposure for households, transport users and microenterprises, but Romania’s administrative readiness to access and manage Social Climate Fund financing for the 2026-2032 period.

For companies and stakeholders active in energy efficiency, building renovation, heating solutions, distributed renewables, batteries, clean mobility and support services for vulnerable consumers, the plan may shape future financing pipelines. The adopted framework does not yet define final allocations or calls, but it moves the governance architecture forward after a long procedural pause.

The law proceeds to promulgation, while the National Social Climate Plan will continue through its own approval and negotiation process before implementation measures and funding instruments can become operational.

A legislative proposal completing OG No. 2/2021 on waste storage and GEO No. 61/2025 on the application of the Critical Raw Materials Act has been sent to the reporting committee. The proposal would allow the controlled reopening of industrial waste deposits that have been definitively closed, where they contain critical raw materials or other recoverable materials.

The reopening would be possible only for recovery and valorisation activities and would require environmental approval and environmental authorisation, based on technical documentation covering the materials present, recovery potential and environmental protection measures.

The proposal introduces a potential exception to the current logic of final closure and post-closure monitoring for industrial waste deposits. If adopted, it could create a legal route for recovering materials from legacy industrial sites, connecting waste management policy with resource security and critical raw materials objectives.

For companies active in waste management, industrial remediation, mining-adjacent services, recycling or materials recovery, the initiative may open a new category of projects. The practical relevance will depend on how Parliament defines the safeguards, permitting conditions and responsibilities for environmental risks.

The proposal is under committee review, with amendments and the committee report expected before the file can move to plenary debate.