scholarly journals Tackling Complexity of the Just Transition in the EU: Evidence from Romania

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1509
Author(s):  
Roxana Voicu-Dorobanțu ◽  
Clara Volintiru ◽  
Maria-Floriana Popescu ◽  
Vlad Nerău ◽  
George Ștefan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Energy Mix ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Vulnerable Consumers ◽  
The Eu

The process of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 and cutting CO2 emissions by 2030 by 55% compared to 1990 as per the EU Green Deal is highly complex. The energy mix must be changed to ensure long-term environmental sustainability, mainly by closing down coal sites, while preserving the energy-intensive short-term economic growth, ensuring social equity, and opening opportunities for regions diminishing in population and potential. Romania is currently in the position of deciding the optimal way forward in this challenging societal shift while morphing to evidence-based policy-making and anticipatory governance, mainly in its two coal-mining regions. This article provides possible future scenarios for tackling this complex issue in Romania through a three-pronged, staggered, methodology: (1) clustering Romania with other similar countries from the point of view of the Just Transition efforts (i.e., the energy mix and the socio-economic parameters), (2) analyzing Romania’s potential evolution of the energy mix from the point of the thermal efficiency of two major power plants (CEH and CEO) and the systemic energy losses, and (3) providing insights on the socio-economic context (economic development and labor market transformations, including the component on the effects on vulnerable consumers) of the central coal regions in Romania.

Research Activities in the European Union on Ageing Management for Long Term Operation of Nuclear Power Plants

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Martin ◽  
Antonio Ballesteros ◽  
Christiane Bruynooghe ◽  
Michel Bie`th
Keyword(s):  
Energy Supply ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Term Operation ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Ageing Management ◽  
The Eu

The energy supply of the future in the EU will be a mix of renewable, fossil and nuclear. There are 145 nuclear power reactors in operation in 15 out of the 27 EU countries, with installed power ∼132 GWe. The age distribution of current nuclear power plants in EU is such that in 2010 most of them will have passed 20-years and approximately 25% of them 30 years of age. The decrease of energy supply from nuclear generated electricity can not always be compensated in a reliable and economical way within a short time span. For this situation utilities may be keen to upgrade the reactor output and /or to ask their regulatory bodies for longer term operation. Under the research financed in the Euratom part of the Research Directorate (RTD) of the European Commission several projects explicitly address the safe long term operation of nuclear power plants (NULIFE, LONGLIFE) and the topics proposed in the 2010 call explicitly address issues concerning component ageing, in particular non metallic components, i.e. instrumentation and cables (I&C) and concrete ageing. This paper presents an overview of the plans for long term operation (LTO) of nuclear power plants in the EU. Special emphasis is given on research activities on component ageing management and long term operation issues related to safety.

scholarly journals Spatial Integration of the Milk Market in Poland

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Roman
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Granger Causality Test ◽  
Raw Milk ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Spatial Integration ◽  
Causality Test ◽  
Price Differences ◽  
Milk Market ◽  
The Eu

The production of milk is an essential branch of agricultural production in Poland. There have been considerable changes in the milk market in Poland over the last 20 years (such as, e.g., the adjustment of the market to the EU requirements, which had an impact on the functioning of this market as well as its spatial integration. This research mainly aimed to assess the processes of spatial integration on the Polish milk market in the period 1999–2018. In order to process the material collected, the author applied the analysis of price differences, the analysis of correlation, the Johansen test of cointegration and the Granger causality test. As a result of the research conducted, it was found that there is a long-term balance between prices in various voivodeships in Poland. Moreover, the closer the voivodeships were to one another, the greater the co-variability of prices was between them. In addition, it was indicated which voivodeships were crucial from the point of view of the process of revealing and determining raw milk prices in Poland by two distinguished periods (1999–2008 and 2009–2018).

International carbon transition debates to intensify

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Coal Production ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Subject Carbon transitions. Significance The EU in May failed to reach an agreement on how to achieve a long-term strategy on reducing carbon emissions. One of the issues underlying the persistent differences among member states was the question of how to achieve a ‘just transition’. This is becoming an increasingly significant element of national and international debates on tackling climate change. Impacts The International Labour Organisation believes a transition limiting heat rises to 2 degrees by 2030 would create 24 million jobs globally. Global coal production may stabilise as reductions in developed economies are offset by increases in Asia. The UK Treasury estimates that achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 will cost 1 trillion pounds (1.26 trillion dollars).

scholarly journals Biomass Availability in Europe as an Alternative Fuel for Full Conversion of Lignite Power Plants: A Critical Review

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 3390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Tzelepi ◽  
Myrto Zeneli ◽  
Dimitrios-Sotirios Kourkoumpas ◽  
Emmanouil Karampinis ◽  
Antonios Gypakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Biomass Availability ◽  
Phase Out ◽  
Full Conversion ◽  
The Eu

Biomass has been demonstrated as a capable source of energy to fulfill the increasing demand for clean energy sources which could last a long time. Replacing fossil fuels with biomass-based ones can potentially lead to a reduction of carbon emissions, which is the main target of the EU climate strategy. Based on RED II (revised Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001/EU) and the European Green Deal, biomass is a promising energy source for achieving carbon neutrality in the future. However, the sustainable potential of biomass resources in the forthcoming decades is still a matter of question. This review aims at estimating the availability of biomass for energy reasons in the EU, and to evaluate its potential to meet the coal power plant capacity of the main lignite-producer countries, including Germany, Poland and Greece. Plants in line with the sustainability criteria of RED II have been selected for the preliminary estimations concerning their full conversion to the biomass power concept. Furthermore, the various barriers to biomass utilization are highlighted, such as the stranded asset risk of a future coal phase-out scenario, biomass supply chain challenges, biomass availability in main lignite-producer EU countries, the existing full conversion technologies, and biomass cost. A variety of challenges in the scenario of lignite substitution with biomass in a plant are investigated in a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Technological risks and issues should be tackled in order to achieve the coal phase-out EU goal, mainly with regard to the supply chain of biomass. In this direction, the development of logistics centers for the centralized handling of biomass is strongly recommended.

Economics of Campus Sustainability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly S. Hodge ◽  
Jane Stewart ◽  
Lilly Grella
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Administrative Leadership ◽  
Fiscal Responsibility ◽  
Campus Sustainability ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Institutional Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Initiatives ◽  
Student Programming

Can sustainability initiatives support positive economics, or are they necessarily cost-additive? With thousands of colleges and universities across the globe actively pursuing sustainability and carbon-neutrality goals, the question of how to balance institutional sustainability priorities and fiscal responsibility hovers in discussions ranging from utility planning to student programming. Educational institutions often heavily weigh the economics and academics of a potential sustainability project. However, pressing issues with long-term implications, such as climate change and rising operations costs, can make campus sustainability projects an appealing option. Institutions will incorporate the environmental, financial, and social aspects of a decision differently and through different avenues of funding. Examples of measures that institutions of higher education are taking to incorporate sustainability include adaptations of campus infrastructure, operations, and administrative leadership, and those measures necessarily intersect with financial planning and outcomes. An overview of general models and specific institutional examples of sustainability initiatives in the areas of infrastructure, operations and management, education and community engagement, and administration indicate that sustainability measures, especially for environmental sustainability, can contribute to positive campus economics. This outcome, however, is most likely when decision-making considers both long-term and cross-sectoral impacts to evaluate the true cost–benefit profile as it applies to the institution as a whole.

scholarly journals Economic analysis of exporting Serbian honey

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 929-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Ignjatijević ◽  
Ivan Milojević ◽  
Rosa Andžić
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Comparative Advantages ◽  
Exchange Character ◽  
Quantitative Indicators ◽  
Balassa Index ◽  
The Eu

Researching competitiveness of Serbia’s honey sector represents an introduction into a complex issue of dynamic changes with complex heterogenic and long term socio-economic implications. Tracking changes of comparative advantages in export during Serbia’s transition period and accession to the EU is significant for viewing the effects that trade liberalization and integration in international streams have on the sensitive honey sector. The research started from indicators of demand and level of foreign trade in the EU. Quantitative indicators of Serbia’s honey export on European market were shown in order to confirm Serbia’s potential and dominant presence. Research subject of this paper is the analysis of Serbia’s comparative advantage in exporting honey and specialization in international trade with the EU. The Balassa index, Revealed comparative advantages index and Revealed symmetric comparative advantage index were used with the goal to measure the level of Serbia’s comparative advantage, Grubel Lloyd Index and Trade Balance Index were used to measure the specialization level. Research results point to a positive comparative advantage value in exporting Serbia’s honey to EU and inter-industry exchange character.

scholarly journals Impact of Flexicurity Policies on the Romanian Labor Market

ECONOMICS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18
Author(s):  
Adriana Grigorescu ◽  
Arina Mihaela Niculescu Diaconu
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Recovery ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Along with joining the EU and with the desire to be compatible with the European labor market, flexicurity begins to penetrate gradually the Romanian labor market, becoming a topical concept, an economic and social recovery tool. In the simplest possible way, flexicurity can be defined as the compromise between flexibility and work safety. The flexicurity principle was born as a solution to the European dilemma: how to increase the competitiveness of European enterprises in global competition without sacrificing the European social model. Although a gradual passage is attempted, the tradition of a profession inherited from one generation to another or a stable job still exists in the human resource mentality, but it no longer exists in the present society. The concept of flexicurity is relatively new, introduced in Europe in 2006, when the principles of flexicurity were developed, but they were implemented according to the economic specificity of each EU member state. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects that EU accession has had on the Romanian labor market and the subsequent steps to harmonize Romania with the European Union requirements from the point of view of human resources management, flexicurity at the labor market. In Romania, the flexicurity balance is balanced, in the sense that the trade unions support a broader level of security, and the employers tend to a greater degree of flexibility. In conclusion, the Romanian labor market to develop a high degree of flexicurity must aim at increasing employment and reducing long-term unemployment, promoting workplace security and reducing the rigidity of labor law, especially in case of voluntary dissolution of firms, or of collective redundancies. In addition, the flexibility of collective and individual work contracts is also sought.

scholarly journals Environmental Awareness in Different European Cultures

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-54
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Bacsi
Keyword(s):  
National Culture ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Environmental Awareness ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Cultures ◽  
National Values ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The 28 countries of the European Union represent a rather heterogeneous group regarding their geography, history, and national cultures. Their response to the current global challenges depends on their way of viewing the world, and that is largely influenced by their national values and beliefs. The research compares the environmental awareness in distinct country groups and identifies the components of national culture, which, by their different approaches to the environmental sustainability, influence the most. The time span of the analysis is seven years from 2012 to 2018. National culture is defined by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, and the environmental awareness data were collected from the Eurobarometer surveys of the EU. The main findings show that the environmental awareness in the EU increases with time and is higher in indulgent, more individualistic, and more long-term oriented countries, while the level of masculinity and uncertainty avoidance or power distance did not matter. The Scandinavian countries are remarkably environmentally aware, while the other groups of countries do not differ in this respect.

scholarly journals The Threat of Environmental Pollution with Harmful Substances, on the Example of Uncontrolled Fires in Landfills and Actions Aimed at Reducing it

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-98
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Cygańczuk ◽  
Paweł Janik
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Hazardous Substances ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Volatile Phenols ◽  
Free Disposal ◽  
Harmful Substances ◽  
Copper Aluminum ◽  
The Eu

Aim: This article attempts to bring closer the issues related to the emission of harmful substances to the environment. The example of two fires that occurred in Poland in 2018 was used – in the former “Boruta” plant in Zgierz and in a landfill in Trzebinia. By presenting the results of measurements and tests available in this field, attention was drawn to the need to improve the methods of detecting and measuring hazardous substances, in particular with regard to their dispersion in the atmosphere. Introduction: The threat to the environment resulting from improper management, including waste disposal, remains a serious challenge for many societies, also for the EU countries, which are among the richest countries in the world. Increased waste generation, high costs related to waste management, i.e. landfilling and recycling, generate the risk of deliberately causing fires in landfills as a method of free disposal. It is cost-free only from the point of view of the dishonest owner of this waste, because the direct costs of long-term rescue and firefighting activities and the effects of the emission of hazardous substances to the environment are borne by the society. In addition, in the last of the aspects mentioned above, the price for this method of disposal is paid primarily by people living in the vicinity of the facilities in question. But not only. In the event of the penetration of the substances mentioned above into the soil and watercourses via e.g. firefighting waters, their impact – also delayed in time – may also affect many other people, e.g. consumers of agricultural products manufactured in the contaminated areas. Methodology: In the article, mainly theoretical research methods were used, including the analysis of literature. Also research reports of specialized research units involved in extinguishing the mentioned fires were analysed. The legal instruments were reviewed against the background of economic conditions and their impact on the efficiency of waste management in Poland was determined. Conclusions: Despite measurement imperfections mentioned above, the presence of the compounds such as toluene, benzene, ethylbenzene, styrene, methylstyrene, sulfur dioxide and o-xylene, which are characteristic substances released during the combustion of plastics, was found in the fire areas. The analysis of surface water samples showed exceeding the standard levels of metals such as copper, aluminum and antimony, as well as petroleum substances such as anthracene, fluoranthene, benzo (b) fluoranthene, benzo (k) fluoranthene, benzo (g, h, i) fluoranthene, petroleum hydrocarbons and volatile phenols. Moreover, elevated values of heavy metals were found in the soil. The above data fully justify the formulation of a thesis on the need to undertake increased, systemic actions aimed at reducing the number and size of fires in landfills. The description of some activities in the field of fire protection of the considered facilities undertaken in Poland will also constitute one of the issues of this article. Keywords: hazardous waste materials, environmental hazard, waste management, uncontrolled fires, legal regulations in waste management Type of article: review article

Partnerstwo Wschodnie po 10 latach: sukces czy porażka, realizm czy iluzja?

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-39
Author(s):  
Beata Piskorska
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eastern Partnership ◽  
Eu Foreign Policy ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Eu

It has been ten years since Poland and Sweden proposed the Eastern Partnership project, which was subsequently adopted on 7 May 2009 by the EU Council at the Prague Summit as the official policy of the European Union. It is a component of the broader EU foreign policy – the European Neighbourhood Policy, which was created in 2004. During this time, the EU has developed many forms of dialogue and cooperation with the six countries covered by the programme. Half of the countries have signed and started to implement new agreements to strengthen their relations. However, the Eastern Partnership is currently undergoing a serious test. Today, the biggest challenge of fundamental importance is the ongoing armed conflict in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea by Russia, which is a sign of a return to geopolitics in the region. These events have significantly changed the outlook and conditions under which the Eastern Partnership is implemented. Therefore, it is worth trying to answer a few research questions: has the Partnership proved to be a useful tool for attracting beneficiary countries to the EU? Have the initial and long-term objectives been achieved? Finally, is the project worth strengthening and continuing? The article will analyse the specificity of the programme, including strategic goals and their evolution, and attempt to assess the implementation of assumptions and instruments from the point of view of the research approach, which is the transformational power of the EU.

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