May 12 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said that it has approved Romania's plans to partially compensate energy-intensive companies from indirect emission costs.
The scheme will cover the 2019-2020 period, with a provisional budget of approximately 1.397 billion lei ($315 million/ 291 million euro), the Commission said in a press release on Monday evening.
Companies will be compensated for higher electricity prices generated by indirect emission costs under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
The measure will benefit companies active in Romania in sectors that face significant electricity costs and are particularly exposed to international competition, the Commission said. The compensation will be granted to the eligible companies, by partially reimbursing the indirect costs generated by the ETS.
Also, the scheme will help avoid an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions caused by the relocation of companies to non-EU countries with less stringent environmental regulations.
In April, the Commission approved a 16 billion lei Romanian scheme to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
(1 euro=4.8295 lei)