The city of Craiova will have 30 new electric buses, which cost €19 million. The first bus will be brought to Craiova by the end of April, 23 will be brought in May, and the last 6 will arrive by the end of July.
Restart Energy installed an 800 kW photovoltaic system for Rekord, a shoe manufacturer from Alba. The company will install another 300 kW for the same company. The company will eventually cover 80% of its own energy consumption.
Delgaz Grid begins, in the Mediaș training ground, the tests within the 20HyGrid project, through which it aims to validate the use of the technological solution based on the mixture of 23% hydrogen with natural gas. The company shows that Romania has the remarkable potential both in terms of the production of green hydrogen, but also in terms of the production of renewable energy from which green hydrogen is produced.
Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22. On this occasion, Google presents the popular searches of Romanians, related to climate change and environmental protection. Thus, climate changes and their effects on the environment, solar energy, recycling, or electric bicycles were among Romanians' searches on Google.
Romania is among the most vulnerable countries in the region to the risks related to the transition to a green economy, in the context where investments in decarbonization are expected to put additional pressure on public finances. According to the global rating agency Fitch Ratings, the cost impact of the decarbonization transition on sovereign ratings in the region appears to be manageable.
Four out of ten Romanians have not heard of any brand involved in sustainable actions, shows a study carried out by IZI for the Romanian Sustainability Embassy (ASR). According to him, responsible communication from truly sustainable companies is essential to combat the greenwashing phenomenon.
The Civil Society Development Foundation, ProPark, and the OMV Petrom Foundation launch the "Green for the Future" program. The program is dedicated to biodiversity conservation and the responsible development of local communities in protected areas. The OMV Petrom Foundation fully finances the program in the amount of €800,000 in the 2023 edition.
Braşov City Hall is launching a tender for the construction of the largest garage for electric buses in Romania. The investment, carried out from European funds, exceeds RON141 million (€28.2 million), without VAT.
Kaufland becomes the first Zero Waste certified company in Romania. At least 90% of all operational waste has been prevented, reused, recycled, composted, or fermented. The goal is to limit the amount of waste, make waste reuse more efficient, and evaluate the performance of the waste and recyclable materials management system.
OTP Leasing supports green mobility by financing the electric vehicle fleet of e-Mobility Rentals. This financing marks the beginning of a partnership that will support the purchase of 400 electric vehicles for the company's fleet by the end of 2024. e-Mobility Rentals green vehicles are currently used by companies in the food delivery industry and hypermarket chains.
The 100 trolleybuses that Bucharest City Hall bought from Solaris will be delivered in the first quarter of next year. Trolleybuses have a minimum autonomy of 20 km. The operation guarantee will be at least 300,000 km from the date of commissioning or at least 5 years.
Vienna Insurance Group considers sustainability as an important part of its strategic orientation. The insurer established the VIG Family Fund, a fund in which approximately €7 million were collected, which will support in the medium and long term the efforts to help the families of VIG employees in Ukraine who were affected by the war. The company shows that it supports social and ecological causes by investing in businesses such as solar and wind farms, in ecologically sustainable and affordable housing projects, or in eco-mobility.
At least 10,000 photovoltaic systems could be installed every month in Romania, says the Minister of Environment, Water and Forests, Tanczos Barna. In Romania, 3 million houses are registered. According to the minister, the issue of smart meters is a challenge, because it happened that inappropriate meters were ordered.
Complexul Energetic Oltenia announces that it has complied with its compliance obligations and purchased all CO2 certificates for last year's electricity production. The deadline for compliance was April 30.
The report of the Romanian Automobile Manufacturers and Importers Association on car registrations in the first three months of 2023 shows strong new growth in the 100% electric car segment. In the first three months of the year, 36,592 new cars were registered, of which 3,130 are fully electric, 1,269 were plug-in hybrids, 2,981 were "full hybrids", 24,539 powered by gasoline, and 4,673 were diesel.
In 2021, the source that contributed the most to the EU's primary energy production was renewable energy, respectively 41% of the total energy production in the European Union. In the case of Romania, the main sources of energy in 2021 were natural gas (32.3%), renewable energy (26.7%), solid fuels (14.5%), crude oil (14.1%), and nuclear energy (12.5%).
Auchan has set up collection points in the parking lots of its stores or within its premises where customers can recycle three types of packaging: PETs, aluminum cans, and glass bottles. Starting from Tuesday, April 18, customers are encouraged to bring the PET, glass, and aluminum packaging used during the Easter holidays, to the collection-recycling points equipped with automatic machines in 37 Auchan stores. Customers will be rewarded with a voucher worth RON0.5 (€0.1) granted exclusively in the form of a loyalty voucher, for each packaging recycled in its stores until May 31, 2023.
Simtel Team wants to access credits of €100 million for photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of over 100 MWp. The decision will be approved in the General Meeting of Shareholders on April 26.
The EVconnect electric car charging network will exceed the threshold of 500 stations by the end of the year, and by 2025 the network will include at least 3,000 electric car charging stations. Last year, 166,244 charging sessions were registered on the EVconnect network, totaling 2.37 Gwh, which represents a reduction in the CO2 footprint of 1,989 tonnes.
One of UniCredit's priorities in Romania in 2022 is the implementation of the local ESG strategy, as the bank's report shows. Thus, the bank finances businesses in the area of green energy, renewable energy, and energy efficiency, and the green loan with mortgage intended for individuals continued to be one of the requested products.
Nestlé Romania is aligning and adapting global initiatives at the local level, actively contributing to the achievement of the company's ambitious objectives.
Equinor and Polenergia have received the final environmental permit for the Bałtyk 1 offshore wind farm project.
HORNBACH Romania, a key player in the local DIY retail market, will launch reusable plant trays across all nine of its stores in the country with the start of the spring season.
The European Commission (EC) provides €52 million to support nine renewable energy projects across Finland and Estonia.
OMV announced the successful start-up of its 10 megawatts green hydrogen production plant, located at the Schwechat refinery near Vienna, the largest of its kind in Austria.
