Implications of coal disappearance from the energy mix in Romania

The firm commitment of the European Union (EU) to fully implement the 2030 Agenda requires the Member States to find and implement solutions to meet global targets, including ensuring clean and affordable energy. The EU encourages the elimination of coal from the energy mix in order to quantitatively reduce emissions and the impact on the environment and human health. Romania attaches great importance to the 2030 Agenda and understands that developing the national economy, increasing the quality of life, and caring for the environment are inextricably linked to the development and modernization of the energy system, for which the National Energy Strategy 2019-2030 was developed. According to it, in the perspective of 2050, Romania will be based on a diversified, balanced, and modern energy mix through clean technologies. But what if coal would disappear from the energy mix? The causes of the disappearance of coal from the energy mix could be represented by global or national policies or the depletion of known exploitable reserves, the latter being a less probable variant. In this paper, we aim to highlight and analyze some scenarios related to the possibilities of replacing coal in the energy mix, which would change the perspectives.

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Przezwyciężanie kryzysu w procesie integracji europejskiej, poprzez zmiany regulacji dotyczących rozliczalności w podejmowaniu decyzji w UE, w wymiarze makroekonomicznym i fiskalnym

10.31338/1641-2478pe.3.15.1 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 10-23

Author(s):

Anna Sroka

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Democratic Deficit ◽

The European Union ◽

Integration Process ◽

Quality Of Democracy ◽

Research Questions ◽

The Impact ◽

The Eu

This article concerns the impact of the crisis on the manner in which the European Union functions, with particular attention paid to the issue of accountability. The analysis of particular legal solutions adopted since the eruption of the economic crisis enables capturing of the changes that have occurred with respect to the functioning of democracy in the EU. This facilitates the search for an answer to the following research questions: during times of crisis, do transformations lead to improvements in the quality of democracy, or do they rather deepen the existing democratic deficit, particularly in respect of accountability? Are modifications to mechanisms governing the functioning of democracy in the EU helping to overcome both shortand long-term crises in the integration process? In order to find answers to these questions, an analysis has been performed of the changes made to regulations addressing governance in the European Union in the macroeconomic and fiscal sphere implemented between 2008 and 2013.

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Potential European Emissions Trajectories within the Global Carbon Budget

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10114225 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 4225 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ilaria Perissi ◽

Sara Falsini ◽

Ugo Bardi ◽

Davide Natalini ◽

Michael Green ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Budget ◽

Paris Agreement ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

The European Union ◽

Global Carbon Budget ◽

Greenhouse Gases Emissions ◽

Reduce Emissions ◽

The Impact ◽

Global Carbon ◽

The Eu

The Paris Agreement, ratified in 2015, pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within a Global Carbon Budget that limits the global temperature increase to less than 2 °C. With the Roadmap 2050 mitigation measures, the European Union has a target to reduce emissions by 80% of their 1990 value by 2050 but without giving an estimation or a maximum ceiling for the total amount of cumulative greenhouse gases emissions over that period. Thus, the impact of the EU regulations on global warming remains unestimated. The aim and the novelty of this study are to develop a set of potential European emissions trajectories, within the Global Carbon Budget and at the same time satisfying the Roadmap 2050 goals. The result of the study highlights the urgency to reinforce mitigation measures for Europe as soon as possible because any delay in policy implementation risks the Roadmap 2050 mitigation package being insufficient to achieve the objectives of the Paris treaty.

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Policy Monitoring in the EU: The Impact of Institutions, Implementation, and Quality

Politische Vierteljahresschrift ◽

10.1007/s11615-019-00209-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 60 (4) ◽

pp. 719-741 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Jonas J. Schoenefeld ◽

Kai Schulze ◽

Mikael Hildén ◽

Andrew J. Jordan

Keyword(s):

Regression Models ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Learning Effects ◽

The European Union ◽

Quality Of Information ◽

Institutional Settings ◽

The Impact ◽

Crucial Ingredient ◽

The Eu

AbstractPolicy monitoring is often seen as a crucial ingredient of policy evaluation, but theoretically informed empirical analyses of real-world policy monitoring practices are still rare. This paper addresses this gap by focusing on climate policy monitoring in the European Union, which has a relatively stringent system of greenhouse gas monitoring but a much less demanding approach to monitoring policies. It explores how institutional settings, policy implementation, and the quality of information may impact the practices and politics of policy monitoring. Drawing on quantitative regression models and qualitative interviews, it demonstrates that policy monitoring has evolved over time and is itself subject to implementation pressures, but also exhibits learning effects that improve its quality. In further developing both everyday policy monitoring practices and academic understanding of them, there is a need to pay attention to their design—specifically, the impact of any overarching rules, the institutional support for implementation, and the criteria governing the quality of the information they deliver. In short, policy monitoring should be treated as a governance activity in its own right, raising many different design challenges.

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Russia - European Union: The continuation ofthe sanctions standoff

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2017-6-114-127 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 114-127

Author(s):

M. Klinova ◽

E. Sidorova

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Economic Recession ◽

Economic Sanctions ◽

Current Data ◽

The State ◽

The European Union ◽

The Impact ◽

The Eu ◽

Year 2013

The article deals with economic sanctions and their impact on the state and prospects of the neighboring partner economies - the European Union (EU) and Russia. It provides comparisons of current data with that of the year 2013 (before sanctions) to demonstrate the impact of sanctions on both sides. Despite the fact that Russia remains the EU’s key partner, it came out of the first three partners of the EU. The current economic recession is caused by different reasons, not only by sanctions. Both the EU and Russia have internal problems, which the sanctions confrontation only exacerbates. The article emphasizes the need for a speedy restoration of cooperation.

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The Southern Gas Corridor infrastructure project – implications for the energy security of the European Union

Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej ◽

10.36874/riesw.2019.4.4 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 79-99

Author(s):

Justyna Misiągiewicz

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Soviet Union ◽

Energy Security ◽

Energy System ◽

Caspian Region ◽

The European Union ◽

Energy Field ◽

Eu Member States ◽

Infrastructure Project ◽

The Eu

Nowadays, energy security is a growing concern in state foreignpolicy. Interdependency in the energy field is a very important dimensionof contemporary relations between states and transnational corporations.Energy security is becoming a key issue for the European Union (EU). TheUnion is one of the world’s fastest-growing energy markets and the biggestimporter of energy resources. For the foreseeable future, Europe’s energydependence will probably increase. Facing a shortage of energy, Europe isdependent on imports and the EU member states need to diversify their energysupplies. The Caspian region contains some of the largest undevelopedoil and gas reserves in the world. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, thenewly independent Caspian states became open to foreign investment. Thegrowing energy needs have given the EU a strong interest in developing tieswith energy-producing states in the Caspian region to build the necessarypipeline infrastructure. In this analysis, the pipeline infrastructure that exists orwill be built in the near future will be presented. The analysis will concentrateon routes transporting gas from the Caspian region and the most importantproblems and solutions in designing the midstream energy system in the region.The key aim of the article is to analyse the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC)infrastructure project, which will inevitably contribute to the EU’s energy securityinterest.

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Tracking the Fate of Aluminium in the EU Using the MaTrace Model

Resources ◽

10.3390/resources10070072 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 72

Author(s):

Gabriela Jarrín Jácome ◽

María Fernanda Godoy León ◽

Rodrigo A. F. Alvarenga ◽

Jo Dewulf

Keyword(s):

Secondary Production ◽

Economic Importance ◽

Baseline Scenario ◽

Light Weight ◽

The European Union ◽

High Corrosion Resistance ◽

Product Categories ◽

The Impact ◽

Selective Collection ◽

The Eu

Aluminium is a metal of high economic importance for the European Union (EU), presenting unique properties (e.g., light weight and high corrosion resistance) and with applications in important sectors (e.g., transportation, construction and packaging). It is also known for its high recyclability potential, but relevant losses occur in its life cycle, compromising the amount of aluminium available for secondary production. A novel methodology that allows the identification of these losses and their impact on the aluminium flows in society is the MaTrace model. The objective of this article is to perform a dMFA of the secondary production of aluminium in the EU technosphere using the modified version of MaTrace, in order to estimate flows of the metal embedded in 12 product categories. Twelve scenarios were built in order to assess the impact of changes in policies, demand and technology. The flows were forecasted for a period of 25 years, starting in 2018. The results of the baseline scenario show that after 25 years, 24% of the initial material remains in use, 4% is hoarded by users, 10% has been exported and 61% has been physically lost. The main contributor to the losses is the non-selective collection of end-of-life products. The results of the different scenarios show that by increasing the collection-to-recycling rates of the 12 product categories, the aluminium that stays in use increase up to 32.8%, reaffirming that one way to keep the material in use is to improve the collection-to-recycling schemes in the EU.

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Environmental Production Efficiency in the European Union Countries as a Tool for the Implementation of Goal 7 of the 2030 Agenda

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14154593 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (15) ◽

pp. 4593

Author(s):

Katarzyna Cheba ◽

Iwona Bąk

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Production Efficiency ◽

Energy Use ◽

The European Union ◽

2030 Agenda ◽

European Union Countries ◽

Taxonomic Methods ◽

Development Levels ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Eu

The main purpose of the paper is to present a proposal to measure the relationships between Goal 7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and one of the areas considered in the green growth concept: environmental production efficiency. Both of these areas illustrate the relationship between the natural environment and the economy, emphasizing transformations in the field of energy use. Selected taxonomic methods, TOPSIS, and multicriteria taxonomy, were applied to study the relationships between the two areas. The results of the EU countries classification showed a variety of countries’ development pathways within a single economic community. Despite continued attempts to equalize the development levels between European Union countries in many strategic areas, they remain highly diversified. That is also true for the areas analyzed in the paper, which is a disturbing situation, indicating that both strategies might not correlate in all respects. Further research into the relationships linking the remaining dimensions of both strategies is required.

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New Plant Breeding Technologies: An Assessment of the Political Economy of the Regulatory Environment and Implications for Sustainability

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13073687 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 3687

Author(s):

Vincent Smith ◽

Justus H. H. Wesseler ◽

David Zilberman

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Development Policy ◽

Regulatory Environment ◽

The European Union ◽

Policy Makers ◽

International Policies ◽

Modern Biotechnology ◽

The Impact ◽

The Eu

This perspective discusses the impact of political economy on the regulation of modern biotechnology. Modern biotechnology has contributed to sustainable development, but its potential has been underexplored and underutilized. We highlight the importance of the impacts of regulations for investments in modern biotechnology and argue that improvements are possible via international harmonization of approval processes. This development is urgently needed for improving sustainable development. Policy makers in the European Union (EU) in particular are challenged to rethink their approach to regulating modern biotechnology as their decisions have far ranging consequences beyond the boundaries of the EU and they have the power to influence international policies.

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Characteristics of Plastic Waste Processing in the Modern Recycling Plant Operating in Poland

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14010035 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 35

Author(s):

Elżbieta Szostak ◽

Piotr Duda ◽

Andrzej Duda ◽

Natalia Górska ◽

Arkadiusz Fenicki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Distillation Column ◽

Solid Particles ◽

Fuel Quality ◽

Waste Processing ◽

The European Union ◽

Recycling Process ◽

Heat Demand ◽

Fuel Components ◽

The Eu

Although Poland is one of the leading recipients of the waste stream in the European Union (EU), it is at the same time below the average in terms of efficiency of their use/utilization. The adopted technological solutions cause waste processing rates to be relatively low in Poland. As a result, the report of the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) of the EU indicated Poland as one of the 14 countries of the EU which are at risk in terms of possibility of achieving 50% recycling of waste. This article discusses the implemented technological solutions, and shows the profitability of the investment and the values of the process heat demand both for extractor and reactor. The experimental part analyzed the composition of the input and output of the process and compared it to the required fuel specifications. Attention was drawn to the need to improve the recycling process in order to increase the quality of manufactured fuel components. As potential ways of solving the problem of low fuel quality, cleaning the sorted reaction mass from solid particles and extending the technological line with a distillation column have been proposed. The recommended direction of improvement of the technology is also the optimization of the process of the reactor’s purification and removal of contaminants.

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Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1968 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Stanisław Mazur

Keyword(s):

Public Administration ◽

Public Management ◽

Western Europe ◽

Economic Transformation ◽

The European Union ◽

Quality Of Governance ◽

Anglo American ◽

The 2008 Financial Crisis ◽

The Impact

In the early 1990s, the Central and Eastern European countries (CEE countries) saw the collapse of communist regimes and an unprecedented political and economic transformation that resulted in the establishment of democratic, law-governed states and market economies. Administrative reforms, which became an important milestone in this transformation, were considerably influenced both by administrative legacies predominant in the countries and by the Europeanization processes associated with their accession to the European Union. The administrative legacies, which combine elements of various traditions (e.g., German, Napoleonic, and Anglo-American) are still strongly affected by what is left of the communist era. Conversely, the impact of Europeanization processes on public administrations in CEE countries has proved to be much weaker than initially expected. The process of building a professional and apolitical civil service in CEE countries has been plagued by discontinuity and inconsistency, owing to the specific administrative culture of the region, the weakening pressure to modernize EU institutions, and the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis, as well as growing populist tendencies in the region. All these factors encouraged the belief that political control over public administration needs to be tightened in order for the effectiveness and quality of governance mechanisms to be improved. The quality of governance and public management varies widely across the CEE countries. What they have in common—at least to some extent—is the fairly high dynamics of change, including the reversal of the effects of previously implemented reforms. The latter factor may be interpreted as a search for country-specific reform paths, partly due to disappointment with the values and models prevailing in Western Europe, and somewhat as a consequence of growing populist tendencies in the region.

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