FIRST ROUND TABLE IN ROMANIA "OPERATIONALIZATION OF STRATEGIES AND ACTION PLANS IN THE FIELD OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY"

The round tables organized within the SMAFIN Expanded project aim to encourage a structural dialogue between key stakeholders in Romania, to define the barriers to wider investments in building renovation, in the context of discussions related to energy efficiency financing, in line with priorities and opportunities national.

Increasing energy efficiency is assumed at the European level as a transversal strategic objective to protect the environment and reduce the impact of climate change, improve the quality of life and reduce the EU's dependence on external oil and gas suppliers. Romania has assumed ambitious objectives in the national strategic framework in the field of energy and climate change, being concerned at the current stage with identifying the best ways to promote actions and support the necessary processes both from national budget resources and through the European funding framework which will benefit in the coming period from the European Green Deal and the EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.

At the same time, it is recognized that the current levels of investments in sustainable energy are not sufficient to meet Romania's climate and energy objectives for the year 2030, and it is necessary to find smart financing mechanisms to support large-scale and long-term investments, with mainly in buildings and industry.

The European Commission - DG Energy organized the Sustainable Energy Investment Forums (SEIF) during 2018-2019. The positive experience accumulated is relevant to further identify the barriers to financing energy efficiency and support the design of public policies in the field, but also of market solutions, attracting private capital and increasing investments in energy efficiency throughout Europe.

Starting from the dialogue facilitated by the SEIF events, the SMAFIN project (www.smafin.eu) funded under the EU Horizon 2020 program, facilitated the cooperation between the involved factors, within permanent discussion forums on energy efficiency investments in buildings , infrastructure, industry and SMEs, in four countries, including Romania. Thus, the SMAFIN project organized annual round tables in each of the countries participating in the project.

The SMAFIN Expanded project continues the organization of annual round tables, in physical format with the aim of bringing together interested parties with different perspectives, providing value to debates and facilitating the foundation of relevant recommendations for the success of energy efficiency programs in the mentioned economic sectors.

The choice of these discussion topics takes into account, on the one hand, the conclusions and recommendations of the previous Round Table, but also the current challenges facing the financing of some projects in the field.

Apart from the topic related to the renovation of buildings, the topic of financing energy efficiency in the industrial and services sectors is addressed in an integrated manner, within parallel sessions no. 2 and 3.
The event is organized by the Romanian partners within the project SMAFIN - RoGBC - Romania Green Building Council (www.rogbc.org) and Pro-nZEB - Cluster for the Promotion of Buildings with Almost Zero Energy Consumption (www.pro-nzeb.ro) and benefits from the support of the Government of Romania through the Department for Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects, the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance.