The energy transition comes with restrictions (limiting the use of wood for fuel) and obligations (imposing CO2 emissions tax) at household level, with the need to make important investments in households (purchase of green energy heating systems, electric cars), with increases of electricity, gas and even wood prices (a World Bank report shows that Romania must invest USD 345 billion for the energy transition, which will be amortized through price increases), claims Dumitru Chisăliță, president of the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI).

The widening urban-rural earnings gap (urban earnings were 1.5 times higher than rural in 2023 vs. urban earnings were 1.4 times higher than rural rural in 2022, according to the INS), makes it easier for people from the urban environment to go over this transition, while many people from the rural environment will find it impossible to cope with the energy transition.

The Romanian rural environment is, in general, dominated by a lower administration as well as enthusiasm and preparation for the urban environment, an area where energy waste is very high (the majority of buildings being in classes E, F, and G – i.e. consuming double face of a home in the urban environment), lacking the money needed to co-finance some projects, an environment in which the level of information is very low and especially marked by poverty. Last but not least, the behavior of the administration in the rural area is generally “to be given from the center”, both the money and the companies with which to carry out the works, often the works being carried out at an overpriced and of questionable quality.

According to a 2023 World Bank Report, in the last twenty years, Romania has made impressive economic progress, moving to a market-based economic model after joining the European Union in 2007 and achieving a high-income country status. Between 2000 and 2022, the standard of living (real GDP per capita in PPP) increased more than two and a half times (from $12,177 to $32,738). From 2015 to 2020, the percentage of Romanians living below the poverty line dropped rapidly from 27.8% to 10.7%. But with economic prosperity unevenly distributed, regional disparities in income and service provision are wide, with the poverty rate and inequality rate among the highest in the EU. Poverty is still highly concentrated in rural areas, which host 40% of Romania’s population and 70% of Romania’s poor. We have an urban Romania, dynamic and integrated with the EU, and a rural Romania, poor and isolated.

Thus, in the rural environment, the need for investments both at the individual and at the administrative level is higher per household than in the urban area and the probability of using the money from different funds made available by the EU is limited (due to the lack of co-financing and qualified people from the administration).

This situation will increase the gap between the two Romanias, urban Romania that will tend to more and more efficient houses, less polluted energy sources and lower bills, even if there are high incomes here and rural Romania with inefficient houses, polluted energy sources and high bills, even though there are very low incomes here (one and a half times lower than in the urban area).

A paradox of Romania, the highest subsidies for the different forms of energy are found in the urban environment, where the earnings on average are 1.5 times higher than in the countryside and the bills on average for heating (at the same level of comfort and area) are up to 50% smaller.

While achieving net zero and reducing poverty is possible, this depends on a coordinated approach that removes paradoxes and carefully analyzes the trade-offs between social and environmental objectives; both must be addressed in a coordinated and integrated manner in order to achieve long-term sustainable development and it cannot be achieved without the development of distinct rural/urban public policies and above all the identification of clear measures to overcome the barriers that block poverty reduction energy in the rural environment, concludes Dumitru Chisăliță.