Hungary on track to fulfil 2030 climate goals

Hungary has already cut greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared with 1990 levels, and it is well on track to fulfil the European Union’s climate goal of 55 percent by 2030, Laszló Palkovics, the minister of technology and industry, told commercial radio on Thursday.

In order to achieve that score, Hungary will shut down the lignite-operated block of the Mátrai power plant and increase solar capacity, he told Inforadio.

Hungary is expected to have 6gW solar energy capacity by next year, a goal originally slated for 2030, he said.

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The current geopolitical situation raises the value of domestically produced energy, he said. Meanwhile, Hungary is planning to ensure reserve capacity for supplying energy when sunlight is scarce, he said.

“The situation we are facing today is going to push our energy system towards green solutions,” he said.

Regarding the EU agreement proposing to sell only carbon neutral new vehicles by 2035, Palkovics said the original proposal “would have spelled the end of the internal combustion engine”. The final proposal, proposed by Germany and supported by Hungary, does not ban carbon neutral internal combustion engines such as those driven with hydrogen or synthetic fuel, he said.

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Source: MTI