Stochastic Methods of Analysing Macroeconomic Indicators Characterizing Environmental Protection in Romania, in Line with the Europe 2020 Strategy for Sustainable Development

Environmental protection encompasses several activities aimed at a better maintenance or restoration of a clean environment by collecting, recycling and treating waste, preventing emissions of pollutants, of noise, as well as by reducing the presence of pollutants in the environment. The European environmental policy is based upon the principles of caution, prevention, correction of pollution at source and the fact that the polluter must pay. That is why, under the Treaty of Lisbon (2009), "combating climate change" and sustainable development in relations with third party countries, have become specific objectives. At the same time, in 2011, the EU decided to slow the decline of biodiversity and the degradation of the ecosystem by 2020, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy. In May 2016, the EU Commission launched the Assessment of Environmental Policy Implementation, a new tool to help fully implement the EU legislation. The field of environment protection is closely linked to the adequacy checking (REFIT), as well as to monitoring and reporting obligations pertaining to environmental policy, in order to simplify and reduce costs. The Europe 2020 strategy proposed for implementation identifies three key environmental objectives: protecting, preserving and increasing the Union's natural capital; transforming the Union into a resource-efficient economy; green and competitive low-carbon economy to protect the citizens of the Union from pollution. The National Strategy for Sustainable Development of Romania – Horizons 2013-2020 has the following main objectives: improvement of the environmental infrastructure and reduction of the current gap between EU Member States; biodiversity preservation; reducing pollution and improving air quality and, at the same time, promoting alternative, renewable and non-polluting sources of energy production, as well as stimulating sustainable economic growth, with a focus on providing new green jobs. An essential element will be the increase of the absorption capacity of European funds through the Sectorial Operational Programme †Environment†and to prepare the Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2014-2020. The main purpose of the paper is to make a comparative study of the various statistical techniques used to describe environment protection in Romania: the graphical method, the structural modification method, the regression and correlation methods; methods to be implemented with database management and analysis programs: E-Views, Excel. The main conclusion of this paper is that such a complex approach will help the EU thrive in a low-carbon environment with limited resources and, at the same time, will prevent environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and the unsustainable use of resources.