Implementing low-emission zones in Romania

The Romanian Ministry has published a national law on sustainable urban mobility to address the national mobility problem. Romania's cities face a number of difficulties caused by urban sprawl and inadequate public transport services, incoherent road networks, undersized pavements and inadequate parking solutions. But the major problem is traffic, which is very crowded and frequently congested.

In 2019, Bucharest was the most congested city in the European Union and the 14th most congested in the world and the situation is not better in Romania's smaller cities either.

Traffic calming measures and measures reducing pollution and greenhouse gases are of prime importance, and the creation of low-emission zones within cities is seen as an absolutely necessary measure to achieve these goals.

The Ministry wants to hear about the experience of other cities with regard to concrete and applicable measures such as:

• Defining the size, boundaries and pathways of the low-emission zones
• Defining the categories of vehicles that fall under the scope of the low-emission zones
• Establishment of vehicle identification and timing of access within the low-emission zones controls, charges and fines
• Establishing support measures for vulnerable populations
• Impact monitoring and reporting
• Public consultation and communication of measures

The event is by invite only. The key learnings will be shared afterward.