By Vlad Stoicescu, President of Sustainable Fuels Association & CEO at VoltVert

Romania is entering a stage in which the European energy agenda, industrial pressures and climate objectives converge in a way rarely seen in recent decades. The transposition of Directive (EU) 2023/2413 on the promotion of energy from renewable sources, known as RED III, initiated through Government Emergency Ordinance No. 59 of 2025, is not a mere update of the legislative framework. It marks the beginning of a structural realignment. The direction is unmistakable. Europe demands accelerated decarbonisation, private capital demands predictability, and Romania finally has a context in which the two can meet.

Within this process, the Sustainable Fuels Association has actively participated in the technical dialogues with the Ministry of Energy, ANRE, the Department for Sustainable Development and the Interministerial Council on Climate Change. These contributions are not spectacular by visibility, but by the analytical discipline required to ensure that the secondary legislation now being drafted is compatible both with European requirements and with the real potential of the Romanian market. This type of steady, rigorous involvement is what allows a European transposition process to become functional rather than formal.

RED III fundamentally reshapes the position of renewable gases, green hydrogen, Power-to-X technologies and carbon capture and storage. They are no longer peripheral solutions, but structural pillars of a modern energy system. Romania holds a structural advantage in relation to these technologies. Biomethane, for example, can be produced at scale from agricultural and organic resources that are available in significant quantities. Once injected into the grid, it proportionally reduces the carbon intensity of conventional gas, and when certified through Guarantees of Origin it becomes eligible for European markets that require full climate traceability. It is, in fact, one of the fastest ways for Romania to improve the climate profile of its domestic energy mix.

Green hydrogen, articulated explicitly in the National Hydrogen Strategy, is an essential energy carrier for sectors that cannot be electrified efficiently. Its gradual integration into gas infrastructure is already technically feasible and will soon become an industrial requirement. In energy-intensive industries, hydrogen is not an alternative but a necessity.

Against this emerging backdrop, the natural gas resource in the Black Sea acquires a strategic significance of its own. The Neptune Deep project is scheduled to begin extraction in 2027, according to official announcements. Until then, Romania has already concluded a commercial agreement with the German company Uniper for the future delivery of volumes from the field. This means that Romania will not only produce gas in the region but will also have direct commercial access to one of Europe’s most important industrial markets, precisely at the moment when Germany is expected to increase its procurement of low-carbon molecules.

The relevance of this fact is underscored by analyses developed within Germany’s Ariadne project. These analyses demonstrate that in decarbonisation scenarios, Germany cannot sustain its energy-intensive industrial base solely through electrification and domestic resources. It will continue to rely on imports of hydrogen, synthetic methane and low-carbon gases, because essential processes in steelmaking, petrochemicals and materials manufacturing cannot be fully electrified. This is where the academic concept known as the renewables pull becomes pertinent: large industries diversify their supply chains toward regions where renewable energy and clean molecules can be produced competitively and at scale. Romania, through its geographic position, its biomethane potential, its realistic hydrogen production prospects and its existing gas interconnection with Europe, is situated within the category of potential suppliers identified by these analyses.

In this sense, Romanian gas modernised through blends of biomethane and hydrogen, accompanied by Guarantees of Origin, can become a product aligned with the requirements of German industry over time. This is not a promise, but a realistic scenario supported by independent analysis and by the commercial context already in place.

The development of Power-to-X technologies amplifies these opportunities. Romania has the potential to produce hydrogen from renewable sources, and when combined with captured CO2, this can generate a range of synthetic fuels such as methanol or sustainable aviation fuels. These fuels have a structurally growing demand in aviation and maritime transport. In parallel, Romania’s geological formations allow for CO2 storage, giving the country a strategic advantage in building complete industrial value chains for the transition.

The infrastructure required for these developments is already framed at European level through Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 on alternative fuels infrastructure. AFIR mandates the roll-out of electric charging stations along TEN-T corridors, the deployment of hydrogen refuelling points at defined intervals, and the modernisation of ports and airports to accommodate synthetic fuels and renewable gases. Unlike the previous directive, which focused predominantly on electromobility, the new regulation adopts a balanced, technology-neutral view, recognising the essential role of high-energy-density fuels in heavy transport. AFIR therefore provides the physical backbone needed for the clean molecules envisaged by RED III to reach actual economic use.

Taken together, Romania finds itself in a position where conventional resources, renewable potential, industrial capabilities and European policy directions reinforce each other. If secondary legislation continues with the same degree of precision, and if investments in modern technologies advance, Romania can become a regional supplier of clean energy in molecular form. This is a real possibility, supported by European context and domestic characteristics, and the outcome will depend on the ability of institutions and industry to convert this opportunity into durable economic advantage.

The Sustainable Fuels Association will continue to play its role in this evolution through precise technical contributions, institutional dialogue and a vision oriented toward a realistic modernisation of the energy sector. In a transition as complex as this one, Romania has an opportunity to demonstrate that the future of energy is not built through abandonment of existing resources, but through their intelligent transformation into solutions compatible with Europe’s climate objectives.