Over 90% of the projects carried out by the Administration of the Environment Fund (AFM) are aimed at reducing the carbon footprint, said Laurențiu Neculaescu, president of the institution, at an event organized by Energynomics and the Romanian Energy Center Association on the sidelines of the 8th Three Seas Initiative Summit in Bucharest.

“We thought of returning this money (with which the institution is funded – editor’s note) to the communities through programs and investment projects and we focused a lot on the environmental area,” Neculaescu said.

From 2021 to now, AFM has concluded financing contracts worth almost 2 billion lei with local public authorities for the rehabilitation of public buildings such as kindergartens, schools or hospitals.

In 2023, the institution will allocate about 1 billion lei for the refurbishment of public buildings in order to reduce their energy consumption as much as possible.

Also, from 2021 to date, AFM has carried out funding projects of 2 billion lei for the expansion or construction of street lighting systems in all localities in the country.

This year, the Casa Verde Fotovoltaice program for households has been allocated a record 1.75 billion lei for photovoltaic projects with installed capacities of at least 3 kW. According to Neculaescu, there are currently almost 90,000 individual beneficiaries of this program in Romania.

At the same time, AFM has allocated 150 million lei to NGOs to raise awareness of environmental issues.

Laurențiu Neculaescu was one of the guest speakers in a side-event organized by Energynomics and the Romanian Energy Center Association in the margin of the 8th Three Seas Initiative Summit in Bucharest.