The Social Climate Fund, established by Regulation (EU) 2023/955, is designed to address the social and distributional impacts of the Emissions Trading System for buildings, road transport and additional sectors (ETS2). To access the fund, each Member State must prepare a Social Climate Plan setting out its national approach for 2026–2032.

Romania’s draft Social Climate Plan is built around three components: investments in buildings, measures addressing transport poverty and sustainable mobility, and temporary direct income support for vulnerable households. Romania is expected to benefit from approximately €6 billion under the fund, including national co-financing. The buildings component accounts for €3.44 billion of this total.

Developed as part of the JustReno project, this report assesses the draft plan with a focus on buildings. It looks at how vulnerable households and worst-performing buildings are identified, assesses the four investments in the buildings component, and reviews the plan’s governance, its links with other strategic documents, the public consultation process and its financing. A checklist at the end gives an overview of how the plan addresses each of the categories assessed.

The report, that was prepared by Andrei Iorgulescu and Mihai Moia (ROENEF), and Diana Viscan and Alexandru Coman (AE3R Ploiesti), is a useful read for anyone following Social Climate Plans in Romania or elsewhere in Europe.

The full report is available to download in both English and Romanian.