Romania risks penalties for methane-intensive hard coal production

This fact sheet by Ember warns that Romania's hard coal production in the Jiu Valley is significantly more methane-intensive than the limits set by the EU Methane Regulation of May 2024, risking penalties if intensity is not reduced by 2027.

• In 2021, methane emissions from coal mining in Romania, the EU's fifth largest coal producer, represented 60% of the energy sector's total reported methane emissions, totaling 213 thousand tonnes.
• Hard coal mines in the Jiu Valley, operated by the state-owned company CEVJ, produced an average of 14.9 tonnes of methane per kilotonne of coal in 2022. This is nearly three times the limit of 5 tonnes per kilotonne required by the EU methane regulation by 2027.
• Despite a plan to stop coal extraction by 2030, CEVJ increased hard coal extraction in early 2024, rising from 500 tonnes per day in January to a target of 2,000 tonnes per day by June 2024.
• Romania's average methane capture rate is 25%, significantly lower than the up to 60% achieved by countries like Russia, Poland, Germany, and France. Increasing Romania's degassing efficiency to 50% would raise usable methane from 447 to 1,300 tonnes per year, potentially generating 9 thousand MWh of electricity and heat annually and saving 24 million tonnes of CO2e per year.
• Romania has not implemented any Abandoned Mine Methane (AMM) projects, despite closing 173 underground mines between 1935 and 2019. In contrast, Germany has used AMM to generate 544 GWh of electricity and 108 GWh of heat.

APA

Assan, D. S. (2024). Romania risks penalties for methane-intensive hard coal production. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Factsheet-English.pdf

Chicago

Assan, Dr Sabina. Romania risks penalties for methane-intensive hard coal production. Ember, 2024. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Factsheet-English.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Assan |first1=Dr Sabina |title=Romania risks penalties for methane-intensive hard coal production |publisher=Ember |date=10 October 2024 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Factsheet-English.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{assan2024romania, author = {Assan, Dr Sabina}, title = {{Romania risks penalties for methane-intensive hard coal production}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Factsheet-English.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }