Proposed Sustainable Development Solutions from the Perspective of Sustainable Development Goal 7

The analysis of the Romanian economy’s strategies for achieving the SDG7 has highlighted that research, innovation and competitiveness, the internal energy market, energy security and energy efficiency are the main dimensions of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Change Plan for Horizon 2050, which aims to achieve eight strategic objectives and implement a priority investment program in this field. From a strategic point of view, the objectives are aimed at strengthening institutional capacity for energy market regulation, achieving clean energy and energy efficiency, ensuring access to energy for all consumers, reducing energy poverty, competitive energy markets, increasing the capacity for education and innovation in the energy sector, transforming Romania into a regional energy security provider and increasing Romania’s energy contribution to regional markets. From the analysis of the main indicators related to the SDG7 we observed that the primary energy consumption is on an oscillating slope being on the increase since 2017; the same trend is also registered by the final energy consumption at national level while the final energy consumption in households has assumed a slightly increasing variation compared to the decreasing trend at European level. These aspects show that Romania has vulnerabilities in achieving the objectives proposed by the National Integrated Energy and Climate Change Plan, being far from the more favourable developments recorded in the European Union. However, there are also favourable points such as the increase in energy productivity at national level or the decrease in the energy poverty rate. The picture of vulnerabilities is completed by an unfavourable dynamic since 2018 of the shares of renewable energy in gross energy consumption and the increase of energy import dependence by almost 50% in the period 2010–2021 (from 21.39% to 31.65%), so that the analysis carried out has demonstrated the need to improve energy solutions to achieve energy sustainability at the national level.