Romania is having in place a National Sustainable Development Strategy  (NSDS) adopted in 2018 (GD no. 877/2018 and an Action Plan adopted in 2022 (GD 754/2022).

Through this strategy, Romania establishes its national framework for supporting the 2030 Agenda and implementing the set of 17 SDGs.

The strategy supports Romania's development on three main pillars, namely economic, social and environmental. The strategy is citizen-oriented and focuses on innovation, optimism, resilience and the trust that the state serves the needs of each citizen, in a fair, efficient and clean environment, in a balanced and integrated manner.

The strategy is structured in three chapters:

Chapter I - Introduction presents a recent chronology of the evolution of the concept of sustainable development from an international, European and national perspective, as well as the way in which it has gradually materialized both in the programmatic documents of the UN and the EU, and in the public policies of Romania.

Chapter II - Sustainable Development Goals presents the current stage of development of Romania, following the implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development of Romania. Horizons 2013-2020-2030, approved by the Government in November 2008. It reveals the shortcomings found and identifies the specific areas where additional efforts and resources are needed to achieve the convergence objectives and significant approximation to the EU average in the main indicators of sustainable development. Chapter II also presents the national targets for each of the 17 SDGs, namely Horizon 2020 for the expected measures and Targets 2030 for the rational scheduling of efforts aimed at achieving this goal. 

Chapter III - Implementation and Monitoring presents the decisions to be taken to ensure the operational framework for the implementation and monitoring of the achievement of the specific objectives and targets of the Strategy. The aim is to ensure the coherence of government actions and increase the active involvement of all relevant factors of society and citizen actions, with the motivation to ensure the harmonious combination of the three dimensions of sustainable development for the transformation into a sustainable society.

The NAP provides an integrated and multidimensional facilitation framework for public policy makers at all levels in order to concentrate resources for the implementation of the NSDS. The NAP identifies four Priority Directions, 12 Specific Objectives and 22 Actions, making it the main instrument for the coordination of actions aiming at the creation, consolidation, functioning and development of specific governance structures directed towards the implementation of the NSDS during the decade 2021-2030.The National The  4 priority directions are:

1. Strengthening and Expanding the Governance Framework for Development;

2. Supporting the Implementation of the 2030 SDGs through Education and Training Programs for Sustainable Development;

3. Promoting the Principles and Values ​​of the Sustainable Development Concept;

4. Monitoring and Evaluation of the Implementation of the 2030 SDGs

https://dezvoltaredurabila.gov.ro/strategia-nationala-pentru-dezvoltarea-durabila-a-romaniei-2030-i

https://dezvoltaredurabila.gov.ro/planul-national-de-actiune

Department for Sustainable Development  (DSD)– General Secretariat of the Romanian Government

Department for Sustainable Development,

Anda-Monica Giurgiu, councilor

Monica.giurgiu@gov.ro 

Romania adhered as the first OECD non-member to the OECD Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development on 27 July 2020, indicating a strong commitment to align its policies and practices to this standard. Since then, Romania has taken several steps to align its institutional mechanisms and policy making processes with the Recommendation’s main principles, including strategic visioning, whole-of-government co-ordination and capacity to manage policy impacts on sustainable development.

The DSD’s coordination efforts are facilitated through an inter-institutional framework and policies, such as the NSDS. The NSDS guides Romania’s efforts to enhance policy coherence for sustainable development, and is supported by various sectoral plans and programmes. 6.    In 2022, a participatory and multi-sectoral process led to the development of the National Action Plan (NAP) for implementing the NSDS. The process sparked several initiatives contributing to strengthening the government’s capacity on policy coherence. These include the Occupational Standard for Expert of Sustainable Development profession, the set of National Indicators for Sustainable Development 2030, the Aggregator Sustainable Romania open data platform, a network of Sustainable Development Hubs in line ministries, the National Circular Economy Strategy with its Action Plan (GD no. 927/2023), and the Romanian Code of Sustainability. In general, Romania’s policies and practices align with OECD best policies and practices in this area.

The key institution for PCSD is the Interdepartmental Committee for Sustainable Development (ICSD), established in 2019, that comprises ministers and is headed by the Prime Minister. The main role is to analyse, at least once per year, the state of NSDS implementation and find solutions for any blockages that may appear in the process and to approve the annual implementation report elaborated by DSD. 

The approved report is also presented to the Sub-Committee for Sustainable Development of Romanian Parliament. 

This Sub-Committee was set up in 2016 as part of the Committee for Foreign Policy of the Chamber of Deputies and represents a liaison between the executive branch the government) and legislative branch (Parliament). 

DSD established and coordinates the network of sustainable development hubs, consisting of 22 hubs at the level of ministries, The network is established by Law 300/2024. Moreover, through tripartite conventions between DSD, National Institute of Statistics (NSI) and ministries, indicators for SDGs are collected and reported.

Vertical alignment is advancing through the planned “one-stop shop” platform for localising SDGs (NRRP financed) and NAP actions/tools designed for local authorities. NAP Specific Objective 3 deals specifically with the support given to local authorities for the incorporation of sustainable development values and principles in local policies and strategies. It includes Action 4, which aims at developing communication instruments to facilitate the integration of the SDGs in local strategies. This includes guidelines, manuals, procedures, training sessions, workshops on national and European 

regulations dedicated to sustainable development and good administrative practices at local level. Vertical coherence is also strengthened through the new 2000 sustainable development experts, mostly (1600) coming from the local level.

The Regulatory Impact Assessment framework references international/transboundary environmental impacts. Further systematic consideration of transboundary effects is being reinforced.

Participatory mechanisms are in place, such as the Consultative Council for Sustainable Development (CCSD) (34 external experts from academia), the Sustainable Romania Coalition (civil society & business dialogue), public consultations under the strategy/evaluation framework, and NAP actions (promoting the principles and values of the concept of sustainable development, raising public awareness of sustainable development, organise conferences, forums and debates for sustainable development). The DSD organises and supports the organisation of workshops at national and international level, which promote and accelerate the implementation of sustainable development cross-sectorally. Since 2017, the Department for Sustainable Development has been funding annually NGO projects related to SD.  In 2021-2022, an online publicity and communication campaign was initiated, using Facebook ads, web banners, setting keywords on Google SEO campaign; a database of more than 3000 stakeholders was developed and newsletters are sent to them monthly; video spots were produced, broadcasted and promoted on TV channels; The Sustainable Development Gala, a programme aimed at raising awareness and providing information on the 17 SDGs, has been organised annually in December since 2020, to highlight and award impactful projects.

1^st VNR (2018): 19952Voluntary_National_Review_ROMANIA_with_Cover.pdf

2^nd VNR (2023): https://hlpf.un.org/sites/default/files/vnrs/2023/VNR%202023%20Romania%20Report%20Subnational%20Report.pdf

A functional inter-institutional network ensures SDGs implementation at all levels and there are mechanisms and tools to streamline implementation through collaboration, partnerships, training and upskilling.

​​Romania operates a central SD data-aggregator/dashboard that auto-pulls from NIS database indicators to monitor progress on SDGs. A set of National Indicators for Sustainable Development was developed to monitor and evaluate progress made in implementation of the national strategy for sustainable development. This set includes 292 indicators, of which 99 main indicators and 193 additional indicators. The indicators are a benchmark to measure Romania’s progress and some of them are linked to the European Union’s indicators of sustainable development, EUROSTAT SDGs or to some of the global indicators of the 2030 Agenda.

DSD reports annually to Interdepartamental Committee for Sustainable Development and to Parliament (Sub-committee on Sustainable Development) monitoring reports on the NAP and VNR processes provide regular, transparent updates on progress.

http://agregator.romania-durabila.gov.ro/

https://insse.ro/cms/ro/123innnssse678

Reporting and review on progress towards sustainable development is mandatory in Romania, through GD 754/2022 that approved the NAP. Elaboration and presentation to the Romanian Parliament of the Annual Report on the state of implementation of NSDS is one of the provision of the NAP (Action 19), adopted in 2022. Since then, DSD is preparing annual reports on Romania's progress in reaching the 2030 targets, which are submitted to the ICSD for approval and presentation to the Romanian Parliament. 

Another action of NAP (Action 20) states that Voluntary National Reports on the progress of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at national level have to ensure regular reporting on SDG implementation to the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), but also to the European Union. DSD is responsible for preparing the necessary documents for these reports. Romania’s second VNR was released in 2023.

The NAP details a number of Actions to integrate SDG-related bodies in policy and delivery of the NSDS. The most relevant are the ministries through the network of sustainable development hubs, the Consultative Council for Sustainable Development (CCSD), the Sustainable Romania Coalition, the National Institute of Statistics, the Interdepartamental Committee for Sustainable Development and the Subcommittee for Sustainable Development from the Romanian Parliament. 

1st VNR (2018): 19952Voluntary_National_Review_ROMANIA_with_Cover.pdf

2^nd VNR (2023): https://hlpf.un.org/countries/romania/voluntary-national-reviews-

2023 VNR Stastical Annex: https://hlpf.un.org/sites/default/files/vnrs/2023/VNR%202023%20Romania%20Report%20Statistical%20Annex.pdf