National environmental protection expenditures account for 1.9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2024, the equivalent of 28 billion lei, according to data published on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

According to the same source, the highest expenditures in this area were recorded on waste recovery, materials and material savings by specialized producers (70.2% of total expenditures in this segment, amounting to 10.6 billion lei). These are followed by public administration expenditures for the „air and climate” field, with 39.5% of the expenditures of this category of producers representing 84.5% of the national environmental protection expenditures for this environmental field.

Overall, in the „air and climate” field, the value of expenditures in the previous year stood at 6.6 billion lei, current prices.

At the same time, the most important investments were recorded in the field of wastewater and water resources in public administration, representing 66.9% of the total value spent in this segment.

In 2024, investments for environmental protection represented 26.3% of the total national expenditures for environmental protection, while public administration investments have the highest share in total (50.3%), followed by investments by non-specialized producers (37.1%) and those by specialized producers (12.6%).

According to official statistics, non-specialized producers recorded the highest environmental protection expenditures in the „manufacturing industry” sector (48.5%), in the „water collection, treatment and distribution” sector (21.1%) and in the „production and supply of electricity and thermal energy, gas and hot water” sector (16.6%).

During the previous year, the highest investments for environmental protection were recorded in the field of „wastewater and water resources”, with a value of approximately four billion lei in current prices, followed by the field of „waste, materials and material savings”, with 1.8 billion lei in current prices.

AGERPRES