E-government, digitalization, and environmental sustainability. A theoretical overview, focused on the Romanian national profile

: In the last 30 years, the internet revolution has seized all areas of life, being undoubtedly one of the most important innovations of the century. At the same time, digitalization and e-government slowly followed the lead, significantly impacting the way citizens, businesses, and public administrations interact. However, now that all agents have integrated the new technologies into the socio-economic structures, the mere study of the two concepts individually will not be enough, considering the complexity of the current times and the challenges of the future. Therefore, the current paper aims to introduce a new element in the picture, namely environmental sustainability, as the practice meant to limit global warming and ensure healthy conditions of life. In this sense, we will start to illustrate the theoretical relationship between e-government, digitalization, and sustainability, with a focus on describing the Romanian administrative reality. Consequently, the subject will be split into two sections, first by looking at the related literature for an explorative approach, and then proceeding to examine the national case study. In the second part, we will start by defining Romania’s e-government status quo, in comparison to the other EU member states, while also showcasing what has been done and what is pending in the next years. Lastly, we will explore some sustainability implications visible at a national level, introducing new digitalization vectors such as NGOs. Having in mind the approach presented, the subject at hand can be considered relevant for the current public agenda, while the methodology employed will help fill in the gap in terms of e-government and sustainability connections, especially in correlation with Romania’s reality.