Joining online from Italy, Vlad Stoicescu, President of the Center for Sustainability – Romanian Association for Sustainable Fuels (ACS), described how Romania’s environmental NGOs are moving from the margins of activism to the core of policymaking. His presentation, at the “Young Voices, Green Choices” workshop in Bucharest, revealed a sector that has matured dramatically over the past decade — one that now provides technical expertise, drafts legislation, and builds bridges between government, industry, and society.

Stoicescu’s organization, ACS, is a cross-industry platform advancing hydrogen, biomethane, and renewable power. It contributes directly to the transposition of EU legislation such as RED III, the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, and the forthcoming ETS 2 framework for transport and buildings. “Our goal,” he said, “is for Romania to meet the European carbon market not as a sanctioned member, but as a prepared one.”

He offered a vivid picture of a collaborative NGO ecosystem: networks that include EPG, Future Energy Leaders, Concordia, and media outlets like Energynomics, working side by side with ministries and the private sector. The transformation, he noted, is not only institutional but cultural: “We moved from megaphones to Microsoft Word — yet the mission remains the same: to push society forward.”

Stoicescu highlighted how the NGO community now co-creates public policy rather than merely commenting on it, serving as a technical and ethical interface between administration and industry. He also underlined Romania’s potential in biomethane and hydrogen, sectors that could create new value chains and export capacity.

“The future,” he concluded, “belongs to partnerships. Cooperation is the new activism.” His words mirrored Norway’s lesson in a different form: sustainable progress demands both confrontation and collaboration — the courage to challenge, and the skill to build.

The workshop “Young Voices, Green Choices” was financed by the Nordic Council and it was co-organized by the Royal Danish Embassy in Bucharest, the Embassy of Finland in Bucharest, the Consulate of Iceland in Bucharest, the Embassy of Sweden in Bucharest and the Norwegian Embassy in Bucharest, Energynomics and the Faculty of Energy Engineering of the University Politehnica of Bucharest.