Acad. Prof. univ. dr. Gheorghe Zaman (gheroghezaman@ien.ro)
Institute of National Economy – Romanian Academy
Prof. univ. dr. Giani Grădinaru (giani.gradinaru@gmail.com)
The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Institute of National Economy – Romanian Academy
Alin-Cristian Maricuț (alin.maricut@yahoo.com)
National Institute of Statistics from Romania, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies
Abstract
The climate change challenges led to inclusive policy making, in all fields, for each European citizen. European Green Deal represents European Union’s transition process toward a sustainable and inclusive economy.
In this context, the paper aims to analyse the transition process of romanian economy to a green economy. In order to achieve this aspiration, the problem should be considered from ecosystems perspective. Roughly 60% from global emissions are generated by urban areas. In the meantime, around 1/3 from energy consumption is recorded at urban tier. Thus, the direction to rehabilitation and maintenance of urban ecosystems are becoming a priority, because an intense economic activity leads, through indirect activities, to pollution and an irrational usage of natural resources. Environmental protection is still one of the most important issues in order to draw a sustainable society.
The article analyses the interdependence among environmental protection and economic activity, in the context of European Green Deal, aiming to offer viable solutions to sustain urban ecosystems.The interrelationship will be analysed from the perspective of an important moment of recent history of Romania, accession to the European Union (2007). Hence, it has been used two moments of reference, year 2006, the last year before Romania’s accession to European Union, and year 2018, the last year with available official data. Thereby, through reporting to these two moments of reference it is possible an assessment of Romanian transition to green economy, according to values and targets of the European Commission, being well-known the public agenda of the European Commission which has as main purpose the efficiency of use of resources.
Solutions found from research activity are shown as a statistical radiography of Romania’s economic development model for the period between 2006 and 2018 reporting to European Union’s development model and sustainable consumption, having as main target the importance of urban ecosystems in order to make a sustainable economy.
Keywords: sustainable development, European Green Deal, public policy, urban ecosystems
JEL Classification: O13, P18, Q53, R11
