The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) does not provide for any provision that would oblige the Romanian authorities to impose a ban on wood-based heating until 2023, according to a statement from the European Commission Representation in Bucharest.

“There is no specific provision in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) that would oblige the Romanian authorities to impose a ban on wood-based heating until 2023. Romania’s recovery and resilience plan includes reforms and investments in forestry management and resilience systems to address the problem of intensive illegal logging of forests in Romania, as a result of which we are witnessing a reduction in natural carbon capture by forests, a significant loss of biodiversity and an increase in disaster risk,” the statement reveals, according to Agerpres.

The European Commission Representation in Bucharest points out that similarly, the reform on the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector ensures the sustainability and traceability of biomass, to prevent any negative impact of bioenergy use on biodiversity and forests and to diversify the energy mix used, in addition to biomass forestry, for heating and cooling.

Therefore, a new national forest strategy and subsequent secondary legislation will establish sustainability criteria for forest biomass used for energy purposes and will include specific actions to combat illegal logging and improve forest management, the document said.

“It is expected that an integrated information system (which will include SUMAL – the Romanian timber tracking system) will monitor the legal obligations regarding timber harvesting, timely regeneration of forests, forest health, forest habitat conservation status, impact of changes climate change and adaptation to climate change of different forest ecosystems,” the statement said.

Also, the Representation of the European Commission points out that it should be noted that the plan includes energy efficiency measures for private/public buildings, with the aim of achieving at least a medium-level renovation, thus reducing energy consumption for district heating by at least 50%.

According to the quoted source, the plan also includes investments in high-efficiency cogeneration plants for district heating systems. Moreover, the gas distribution network that will allow the transport of green hydrogen in the Oltenia region is expected to replace solid fuels and biomass, which are currently used for heating homes, domestic hot water and cooking.