Sustainability Study of Projects Financed by European Funds in Romania, the South-Muntenia Development Region

The European Nation EU is a promoter of the idea of sustainable development. Projects developed and implemented with the help of European funds can contribute significantly to the transition towards sustainability, as they facilitate innovation, development and knowledge transfer. Mainstreaming sustainability in the EU projects goes hand in hand with the development indicators set by the United Nations and, beyond that, affects regional and local development. The identification of sustainable activities requires from the beneficiaries of EU funds a good knowledge of the sustainability indicators present in the guidelines and funding applications. Even if sustainability does not have a method to be measured, it can be shown through examples of good practice in EU-funded projects. This article tries to fill this gap, contributing to a better understanding of the initiation of project activities related to sustainability by: presenting the sustainability aspects mentioned in the funding guidelines, proposing a framework for describing sustainable activities: With the help of the 5 good practice -examples of projects related to axis 4.1 Reducing carbon emissions in county municipalities through investments based on sustainable urban mobility plans we indicate examples of activities and projects aiming at sustainable urban development. In a critical discussion, we analyzed the need to build a tool to measure sustainability in projects. Finally, we draw conclusions on the potential for growth and development towards sustainability in EU-funded projects, as these projects contribute to local and therefore regional, development.