climate change

Minister: Hungary to be among winners of green transition

LMP Hungarian Green Party

Hungary has the financial means “to make the country a winner of the global economic green transition,” Finance Minister Mihály Varga told the United Nations Climate Conference in Dubai.

“To be successful we must produce and store green energy, and the government will utilise every means to achieve this,” Varga said.

The minister said Hungary was one of a few countries able to increase its industrial production and reduce its emissions at the same time. He added, however, that “green energy is the future of the Hungarian economy” and he said efforts were being made to transform the economy into a modern and sustainable system.

“The new economic world order is being shaped in the competition of national economies and businesses, and since Hungary started making green investments in time, its prospects are good,” Varga said.

The minister mentioned Hungary’s tax policy involving climate targets in the national budget, and issuing green bonds as tools to achieve those targets, adding that “Hungary is especially successful” in this respect.

Varga is in Dubai attending a financial day within the COP28 Climate Conference.

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Hungarian President met Charles III and pharaoh-researcher Hungarian archaeologists in Egypt

Hungarian archaeologists Hungarian President
Hungarian archaeologists at Egyptian excavations – Meeting with Hungarian archaeologists researching in ancient Thebes, present-day Luxor, Katalin Novák wrote under some photos shared about her official visit in Egypt.
“As the final stop of my official visit to Egypt, I visited the excavation of the Theban cemetery, where Hungarian archaeologists have been working for forty years, initially led by Professor of Egyptology László Kákosy, and now under the leadership of Professors Tamás Bács, Zsolt Vasáros, and Zoltán Fábián.
We can be proud of the Hungarian archaeologists! And now, I am heading to the Climate Summit, where I will speak tomorrow”, she wrote. Here are her photos:
Furthermore, she met with Charles III. “We had a conversation with King Charles III before the opening ceremony about our expectations from the Climate Summit.

The Climate Summit (COP28) is about to begin, and I will be speaking on behalf of Hungary”, she wrote.

President in Dubai: ‘Sustainable future requires sustainable demography’

Family is not the cause but the solution of the climate crisis, a sustainable future requires a sustainable demography, the Hungarian president said in her address at the UN COP28 climate conference in Dubai on Friday. Katalin Novák called climate change one of the few issues in which world leaders shared a common understanding and were uniting their forces.

“Hungary has done its homework. We have one of the world’s most ambitious climate agendas. We have substantially reduced our CO2 emissions while increased economic productivity,” she said.

Novák said Hungary expected to achieve its renewable energy target set for 2030 already by 2026, adding that the country’s greenhouse gas emission target for 2030 was 50 percent of the 1990 level. “Hungary is at the forefront of producing and storing green energy, and we are not giving up on the use of zero-emission nuclear energy, either,” the president said.

She pointed to the problem of welfare states witnessing a dramatic population decline. She said correlation between GDP and fertility was obvious, arguing that “the higher the prosperity, the lower the fertility. The more money, the fewer children.”

“Climate crisis, poverty, equality, biodiversity, water, and the phenomenon of the demographic ice age can only be understood together. What is the point in protecting the Earth if not for our children?”, said Novák .

She warned against “discouraging the youth from childbearing” and called for “giving up the culture of fear” and “listening to Pope Francis saying yes to life”.

The UN COP28 conference is attended by 80,000 participants including the heads of state and government from 140 countries.

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Former President: Budapest sustainability expo will be held

Adapting to the changed climate and hydrological conditions is essential, János Áder, chairman of the board of the Blue Planet Foundation and Hungary’s former president, told a meeting of Water and Climate Leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations’ COP28 climate summit on Friday.

In his online address delivered from Budapest, Ader said the targets earlier set by the body had been correct. Eighty percent of the effects of climate change are felt through water, he said, adding that it was right to agree on the need for a global water management information system that links climate, meteorology and water databases.

Highlighting the timeliness of the work of the body, Ader cited the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s latest report which said global temperature increase from the pre-industrial average exceeded 2 degrees C. for the first time on Nov 17.

The former president invited the participants of the COP28 summit to the Budapest sustainability expo set to be held in two years’ time.

According to a press release, water and climate leaders are asking countries at the summit to work together in coordinating their water and climate policies, to support each other in sharing their data, experiences and ideas and to incorporate the issue of water into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Read also:

  • Sorrowful prediction: Pines to disappear from Hungary – Read more HERE
  • Lake Velence could completely disappear by 2050 – Details in THIS article

Freedom of choice for families important principle in Hungary

Katalin Novák

Real freedom of choice for families is considered one of the most important fundamental principles in Hungary, President Katalin Novák said in Brussels late on Wednesday, arguing that not every decision could be applied to every family the same way.

Addressing an event on demographic issues organised by the Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations and the Liszt Institute, Novák said the Hungarian state strived to give families freedom of choice, noting the challenge that was the fertility gap.

She said everything possible needed to be done to close the gap and help couples have as many children as they want. This, she added, could not mean interfering in people’s private lives.

Hungary spends 6 percent of its GDP on family support, Novák said, noting the PIT exemptions, preferential student loans and housing support offered to those with more children. She also mentioned the broad creche services, extended parental leave and allowances for grandparents providing childcare.

Hungary’s family policies have allowed the fertility rate to rise by nearly 30 percent, she said.

Novák said Europe would be making a mistake if it did not focus enough on its falling birth rates, adding that Europe’s population was only rising because of immigration.

Meanwhile, she said it was a flawed argument on young people’s part to say that one of the ways of fighting climate change was not having children.

She said there was no point in dealing with climate change without a future generation, adding that climate change and demographic challenges needed to be confronted at the same time.

Here is when Hungary could be climate neutral

Climate neutral Hungary

The opposition LMP is submitting an amendment proposal to parliament to tighten the targets in Hungary’s climate law, as the government’s policy has “failed”, party board member Örs Tetlák said on Tuesday.

Under the proposal, greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 60% by 2030, instead of the currently targeted 40%, Tetlák told a press conference. Energy consumption would be cut by 25% and the ratio of sustainable energy sources would be raised by 40% from 21% by the same year, he said.

That way, Hungary could be climate neutral by 2045 rather than 2050, he said.

Tetlák, the deputy mayor of Érd near Budapest, also called for a government-subsidised programme to insulate homes with a view of cutting utility and energy consumption. With an investment of 600 billion forints (EUR 1.6bn), at least 100,000 households could be insulated a year, he said.

Tetlák called for banning further battery plants and ending the government’s “car-centered policy”. Further, water management should see a fundamental reform and made independent from the government, and large farmlands should be replaced with small family farms using soil-friendly methods, he said.

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Sorrowful prediction: Pines to disappear from Hungary

pine tree pine forest

According to a WWF programme manager, a significant proportion of pines and pine forests will disappear, radically transforming Hungary’s forests. Pines have been languishing for years, living under climate stress in large parts of Europe – including Hungary.

Spruce to disappear from Hungary with time

As InfoStart writes, pines have been under climate stress for many years in large parts of Europe. According to Dr László Gálhidy, increasingly hot and dry summers, storms with extreme weather and the emergence of insect pests not previously typical of the area are all contributing to the death of trees.

The head of WWF Hungary’s Forest Programme points out that in 2019, a tenth of the black pine (Pinus nigra) population was lost in one year. Similar trends can be observed in neighbouring countries. In Germany, more than 110,000 hectares of forest were lost in 2018: an area the size of Hamburg and Bremen combined.

Damage by climate change

The damage to trees is caused by drought, storms and bark beetle damage. It mainly affects spruce trees, as drought and lack of water mean that trees cannot produce enough resin to help them control pests, according to an interview with Dr Gálhidy, published on wmn.hu.

According to the expert, “many pine trees have been planted in places where they would not otherwise have been, and many forests that were previously mixed forests or beech forests have been planted with pine. And this has happened not only in Hungary but also in neighbouring countries”.

No spruce for Christmas, but fear not

According to Gálhidy, from a nature conservation point of view, it is important to restore the original vegetation cover in areas where the pines will soon disappear.

As for Christmas, he also has some bad news. Spruce “will have to go, but not all conifers will disappear from the country. There will be some that can adapt to the changed conditions and some that would have survived naturally in this area before”.

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Planet Budapest 2023 will open soon

Green Eco Nature Environment

Hungary has nothing “to be ashamed of” in terms of green transition and as regards climate protection, former president János Áder told the news portal Index, in an interview published ahead of the upcoming Planet Budapest 2023 expo on Thursday.

He told the portal that the expo, the largest international sustainability event in central Europe, will feature 140 Hungarian participants.

Áder, the founder and chairman of the Blue Planet Climate Protection Foundation which has organised the event, told the portal that in his address at the United Nations’ climate conference in 2021 he had raised the issue of an urgent need for global action to prevent a climate catastrophe. “But, as data suggest, no changes have taken place ever since in effect,” he said. Carbon dioxide emission continues to go up year by year and “in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the world today is in a poorer state,” Áder added.

The agreements in place cannot be enforced because “everybody is afraid of losing competitiveness”, Áder said, insisting that the only solution was an agreement by the G20 countries that defines which activities are supported and which one would be sanctioned. He said he saw the Russia-Ukraine war as hindering the conclusion of a broad agreement, arguing that beginning climate talks with Russia, a major polluter, was under the present circumstances “inconceivable”.

“The war and any event that sharpens to confrontation between the leading powers hinders the conclusion of a comprehensive climate agreement,” Áder said, adding that the rivalry between the United States and China “was not pointing in the direction of an agreement, either”.

The former president, however, mentioned as an achievement the enforcement of the Montreal Protocol, a global agreement finalised in 1987 on the protection of the stratospheric ozone layer. “The ozone layer is now recovering as a result. It is true though that we had to wait 25 years for that process to start.”

Speaking about Hungary’s achievements in green transition and climate protection, Áder noted that the country was ranked among those 21 that had significantly reduced their CO2 emissions since 1990 while simultaneously raised their GDP. In terms of switching to alternative energy sources, he noted the doubling of solar energy capacity in each year since 2017.

The Budapest expo will be held between September 27 and October 1.

Lake Velence could completely disappear by 2050

Lake Velence

Lake Velence, the third largest natural lake and one of the most popular holiday resorts in Hungary, is located only 50 km from Budapest. Also known as the  “Sunshine Lake”, it has made more headlines than usual in 2022. Last year, the water level of the lake had dropped to a critically low level. Although there was no similar threat this year, a study suggests that the lake could simply ‘disappear’ in our lifetime.

Last summer, the water level in Lake Velence dropped to a low of 58 cm in some places, instead of the average 158 cm, a level never seen in decades! On the beaches, holidayers were greeted by muddy water instead. The low and warm water has also been accompanied by mass fish kills, with more than 1.5 tonnes of fish were removed from the lake last year. As a result, a bathing ban was imposed on one beach due to poor water quality. If we don’t want to see a dried-out Lake Velence, we have to be careful of our groundwater resources close to the lake, writes Masfelfok.hu 

Lake Velence has dried up several times in history 

Photo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3M_3C85PMngCmfk_m7F2zQ/

Since 2022, the issue has regularly been the subject of public debates. Many wonder if Lake Velence can really dry up, and if so, when?  As far as we know,  it has “dried up” fourteen times in its 1500 years lifetime, on average of about once every 100 years.

Similar example was last recorded between 1863 and 1866, when, according to rumours, the Hussar Regiment of Fehérvár practiced in the dusty mud. Hence, from a geological point of view, drying up is a natural alteration of the lake. The question, is to what extent this is influenced today by the increasing man-made climate crisis.

Lake Velence
Photo: FB/EFOTT

As per the researchers, it seems certain that the increasing difference between annual precipitation and evaporation would dry out the lake. In recent decades, except of 2010, annual evaporation has always been higher than precipitation.

However, the above mentioned analysis shows that the water balance of Lake Velence has always recovered after periods of water shortage. The shortage compensated by both natural processes and human interventions: the surface water inflows from the catchment area, previously ignored groundwater inflows and the two reservoirs in Pátka and Zámolyi.

Two different scenarios

The researchers used a so-called climate simulation to model future changes in the lake level. The water experts created a hydrogeological model using three regional climate simulations for the period up to 2050. They wanted to know what harmful impact human activities caused concerning the state of the lake. Two scenarios were considered. One was an optimistic version with immediate reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, assuming a maximum global warming of 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. The other, pessimistic scenario assumed that by 2100 humanity will badly fail to reduce emissions, and fossil energy use will continue to increase.

No reason to panic?

Based on the results, the authors of Masfelfok.hu state that the annual rainfall-evaporation balance will not change significantly over the years in the Lake Velence area if the optimistic scenario proves to be true. In the pessimistic scenario was to happen, however, the delicate water level balance becomes so disrupted that we can expect the worst by 2050. According to the researchers, the results of the simulations with the hydrogeological model so far show that the lake receives a considerable amount of water from below the surface, about 3,100 cubic metres per day, which is responsible for an average rise in the water level of almost 5 centimetres per year.

In other words, the fate of Lake Velence could depend on how we manage the groundwater resources around the lake – the researchers stress.

 

Climate change: Deserts and cacti will conquer Hungary?

Desertification has been called “the greatest environmental challenge of our time” and climate change is making it worse – wrote The Guardian more than a decade ago. Could climate change turn Hungary into a desert?

Although the term brings to mind the windswept sand dunes of the Sahara or the vast salt pans of the Kalahari, it is a problem that threatens the food security and livelihoods of billions of people. What is more, the so-called desertification is a real threat not only in Africa, but also in Hungary.

Fortunately, this summer has been less droughty than last year, when, for example, the eastern part of our country did not receive significant rainfall for half a year, while the Lake Velence was threatened by drought. All this was compounded by water restrictions, drinking water shortages and weeks of heatwaves of over 40 degrees Celsius. Is last year’s extreme weather anomaly just an unprecedented period of extreme weather, or is it a preview of things to come? The leading Hungarian news portal 24.hu asked Dr András Balázs Lukács, senior research fellow at the Ecological Research Centre (Ökológiai Kutatóközpont), about the phenomenon.

According to the researcher, if we do nothing, our Great Plain will be facing desertification in the long term. “This is no longer the future, the visible signs of the transformation are the loss of grassland cover, the drying out of closed forest communities and the spread of cacti, the emergence of species native to the Mediterranean and the increasing number of watercourses classified as intermittent. ”

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Will future Szeged look like this?

Frequent and prolonged droughts in Hungary

Lukács notes that precipitation is clearly decreasing in Hungary and that frequent and prolonged droughts are predicted in the near future. Nevertheless, it is not last year’s extreme drought that is the most worrying, but the slow desiccation, which is only noticeable in its progression.

Desertification. What does this mean in practise? Imagine a ‘sponge’ that expands to the first impermeable layer, several metres below us, with large cracks and depressions on its surface. As long as this sponge is the soil, and if it is saturated with water after a rain, the plants are safe, they can get the water they need without rain for a while. If the water is artificially drained and a drought of several years sets in, the soil moisture disappears with the surface water for years and decades.

“One of the most striking signs of this change, for example, is that the amount of biomass produced is decreasing, forests are changing, fodder is dwindling. In addition, some plant and animal species are disappearing and being replaced by a variety of drought-tolerant species. Desertification has begun, the Mediterranean climate is displacing much of the fauna and flora, and if we continue like this, the process will intensify,” the ecologist concludes.

Water conservation is a must

The key to the solution lies in water conservation, another long-standing scientific priority, and the European Union has also set up concrete action plans. The EU Water Framework Directive, adopted in 2000, sets a clear, practical target for restoring water (and thus, inevitably, its environment) to as natural a state as possible through various technical interventions, including the purchase and flooding of certain areas by the state.

Obviously, the water-covered part of the land will be taken out of agricultural production in a given year, but in return, the crops in the surrounding area will have access to water and can produce better crops, thus reducing the extent of the drought.

A good example of optimal water distribution is the Ős-Dráva Program, which was launched in 2018 along the River Drava in the Hungarian-Slovenian-Croatian border area. The main objective of the project was to improve the water management potential of the once water-rich and still naturally beautiful region, to help retain water from the area and to provide recharge from the Drava to compensate for the increasingly frequent periods of drought.

Copy editor: István Vass

Climate protection youth conference will be held in Budapest

UNICEF conference climate change

UNICEF Hungary is organising the Climate Heroes conference in Budapest on Oct. 7, with the aim of giving young people access to “authentic information about climate change”, the organisation said in a statement on Tuesday. The interactive event involving experts, business representatives, media personalities and opinion leaders will take place at the Eotvos 10 Culture Centre.

The conference will focus on solutions such as new technologies and employing everyday household practices for laying the foundation for a livable and long-term sustainable future, the statement said. Energy and resource management will take place in the “fire room”, while topics related to water, human well-being and health will held be in the “water room”, it added.

Last summer, UNICEF Hungary asked young Hungarians about their attitudes to climate change, and 90 percent reported feelings of anxiety and a lack of access to authentic information about it, while they also felt left out of the discourse concerning their future, the statement said. At the same time, three-quarters expressed willingness to take action, even at the cost of making personal sacrifices in order to address climate change, it added.

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Featured image: illustration

Budapest records highest-ever dawn temperature

#viewpoint #budapest #trip #spring

Budapest’s János Hill witnessed 24.6 C° at dawn on Saturday, a national record for the highest minimum temperature on this day, the national weather service said on its website.

In 2011, 23.4 C° was recorded in Lágymányos, near Budapest, and 24.5 C° in the southern city of Szeged, met.hu reported.

A daily high of 38.6 C° was recorded in Derekegyház on Saturday – though this was not a historical record – the same as the highest maximum temperature measured in Komárom in 1992.

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Former Minister: climate protection is Christian, patriotic duty

Climate protection Christian duty

Having effective climate and green policies is a “Christian and patriotic duty”, Justice Minister Judit Varga told the World Law Congress in New York on Thursday.

Speaking at the biannnual event which this year focused on the connection between sustainability and law, Varga said Hungary’s Fundamental Law made it a duty of all citizens to protect cultural and environmental assets in the interest of future generations. At the same time, the only way to guarantee lasting solutions is through international cooperation, she said.

Rather than burdening the poorest countries, the costs of environmental protection should be borne mostly by large polluter countries and corporations, she added. Cooperation based on equality can’t lead to “certain countries being stigmatised for the measures taken to ensure their citizens’ welfare and democratic choices,” she said. The war in Ukraine has had an effect on global energy policy in general and hit Hungary, Ukraine’s immediate neighbour, especially hard, she said. Energy prices skyrocketed in the wake of the EU sanctions on Russia, and Hungary is focusing on ensuring the country’s energy supplies and curbing the “sanctions surcharge”, she said.

Hungary’s government will not support any proposals “directly or indirectly risking our energy security or lifting energy prices above an acceptable level.” Meanwhile, Hungary is expanding its use of sustainable and nuclear resources and diversifying natural gas procurement to curb dependence on exporting countries.

Hungary has pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 40 percent compared with 1990 levels, and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, she noted. Hungary is 13th of the 32 countries surveyed in the Net Zero Readiness Index, she said.

Judit Varga in the USA:

Government: Hungary will meet international climate committments

Energy nuclear

Hungary has made significant achievements in the fight against climate change in recent years, Energy Minister Csaba Lantos told an informal meeting of EU energy and environment ministers in Valladolid on Tuesday.

Hungary has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP by nearly 28 percent since 2010, the energy ministry cited Lantos as saying. Meanwhile, the share of renewable energy sources in electricity consumption rose to almost 14 percent from 7.7 percent between 2010 and 2021, he said. The minister pointed out, however, that the ongoing war in Ukraine had endangered energy security and pushed global energy market prices to historic highs. Hungary responded to these challenges by focusing on supply security, affordable energy prices and utility price caps, he said.

Hungary is committed to meeting its climate goals and preserving its environmental assets as evidenced by its review of its National Energy and Climate Plan, the ministry said. Lantos at the meeting reaffirmed the Hungarian government’s commitment to the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality strategy, but said it did not support Brussels significantly accelerating the climate goals and the phasing out of fossil fuels.

Tuesday’s meeting was held in preparation for the UN’s upcoming COP28 global climate conference.

New tick species carrying potentially fatal disease found in Hungary

It has been confirmed by experts that a new tick species, the Hyalomma rufipes has successfully reproduced in the territory of the country and has created one or several populations. The researchers know of at least 10, which were born domestically and did not arrive through migration from Africa.

While at first sight, this might not sound that concerning, there are a few things we should possibly worry about. The main problem is that they have the potential to carry a very serious, sometimes deadly disease, wrote 24.hu.

The tick

The Hyalomma rufipes is an extremely agile tick in comparison to the ones that are common in Europe. Most tick species found in Hungary are all very similar to each other in their characteristics. These are small, clumsy, and slow arachnids, they can barely walk, and they are practically blind as well. They cling onto their victims by dangling off the top of the grass and waiting to latch onto somebody.

In comparison, the Hyalomma rufipes is a true athlete of its kind. The fully grown ticks are at least half a centime in length, they run incredibly fast, and have great eyesight. They can chase down their chosen prey, meaning they technically hunt. The biggest concern for us is that this species is also capable of carrying the pathogen for the Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Hyalomma-rufipes-female-male.jpg/640px-Hyalomma-rufipes-female-male.jpg
Source: Wikimedia Commons/[Daktaridudu] – The Hymalomma rufipes

The disease

The Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is not an illness to be taken lightly. Many animals are infected with it asymptomatically. For humans, it means a possibly life-threatening disease.

It enters the Hyalomma rufipes by the tick sucking the blood of those animals who have the pathogen. When they reproduce, they also infect each other, and the eggs also have the possibility to carry the illness. This means that every newborn tick will also be born with the illness.

The symptoms in humans include headache, fever, muscle, and joint pains, back- and stomachache. It can also cause the tissue under the skin to start bleeding, hence the name, and that is what makes it so dangerous. It lasts for a few days, possibly 1-2 weeks. In some cases, it can get more severe, and it has a 30 percent death rate, which is quite high. There is no special therapy or treatment against it.

So, should we worry?

According to Dr. Gergő Keve, a research fellow involved in the study, we don’t have to fear an epidemic for now. The territorial spread of the tick is very constrained (in the western region of Lake Balaton), and the pathogen count of the disease in Hungary is extremely low. All in all, we don’t have to worry about catching the disease.

However, there is something else that’s worth paying attention to. The fact that the Hyalomma rufipes managed to stay alive and reproduce in our domestic weather should bring our attention to the effects of climate change. In some parts of the Balkan Peninsula, these infections are not isolated incidents anymore, they record a good dozen of them every year.

It’s also good news that it’s highly likely that the pathogen will slowly but steadily disappear from the new generations. Also, numerous traditional anti-tick measures are useful, when it come to protecting ourselves from these bloodsuckers.

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We are further away from reaching climate goals, says former Hungarian President

thermometer temperature climate change

Compared with when 15 climate goals were adopted in Paris 8 years ago, the world now is further away achieving them, János Áder said at a UN meeting on water issues in New York.

The former president of the republic in Hungary, who is a member of the global body’s Water and Climate Leaders grouping, said that the world was also further away from attaining the aims on water and hygiene than when they were set in 2015. Growing populations and higher energy consumption is boosting demand for water, he said, and based on current trends, by 2050 roughly of half of the world’s population will live in regions where water is scarce. Investments in water infrastructure must be increased, Áder said.

Also, noting that there are now 32 UN agencies handling water issues as against 28 four years ago, he cast doubt on the efficiency of the UN’s operations in this area. Áder briefed the meeting on Hungary’s water-related measures related to maintenance of its 4,000km river dam system, the 41 billion forints spent on biodiversity and developing national parks in the past 10 years, and the creation of the Danube-Drava-Mura biosphere reserve. Fully 95 percent of waste water is returned to the environment after treatment, he added.

Future tasks include preventing the desertification of central Hungary, making better use of solar and wind energy, and the speeding up upgrades to the water utility network, he said. The 2023 Water Conference is starting today at the United Nations. Áder will speak on Thursday, while Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, will address the debate on Friday.

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Szeged Uni sole CEE participant in EU climate crisis research project

Szeged university

The University of Szeged (SZTE) is the sole central European institution participating in the European Union’s Phoenix project which explores solutions to climate change and the energy crisis, the university said on Thursday.

The Phoenix research project gauges the readiness of residents, decision-makers and economic players to respond to changes caused by climate change and the energy crisis in eleven regions in nine countries including Hungary, SZTE said in a statement.

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The first phase of the project is to explore opportunities in the natural environment and the appreciation, vulnerability and ways of using natural resources. Researchers in this phase will gauge the opinion of local societies on development options they may support in the areas of energy, environment protection and sustainability.

The research in Hungary will focus in Szeged on energy, geothermal energy and alternative heating methods and in the Lake Balaton region on local food production and distribution.

The research reports will be submitted to the EU decision-making bodies in January 2024 to help prepare a comprehensive action plan, SZTE said.

ELTE Campus Lágymányos 3
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Former Hungarian President: Money must be found to solve problems caused by climate crisis

jános áder former president

It is vital to provide funding necessary for solving the problems caused by the climate and water crises, János Áder, the former Hungarian president, told a preparatory meeting for the 2023 United Nations Water Conference in New York.

One dollar invested today will save six dollars in avoided recovery costs, Áder said on Tuesday local time, citing economists. “The climate and water crisis is already here,” he said. “Though we tried, we were unable to prevent it.”

The world must now adapt to the crisis, Áder said, adding that global, regional and local climate data was needed to determine what needs to be done to overcome it and how much this would cost. The world has the knowledge and technology needed to overcome the problems caused by the crisis, he said, adding that the question was whether it can provide the resources “that transform the intention to act into actual political and economic action”.

Áder proposed that a “plan B” should be formulated in case the world is unable to provide the money needed to address the crisis. This would involve launching pilot projects to prove that such investments are worthwhile, he said.

The projects, he said, could be similar to the development of sewage treatment in Africa, where 80 percent of wastewater is discharged untreated, creating serious environmental, economic, social and health problems. Prior to the meeting, the participants met UN ambassadors to discuss the incorporation of the climate and water crises and data-based decision-making into the 2023 Water Conference.

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Government aims to make Hungary fully climate neutral by 2050

Climate neutral Hungary

Some 200 Hungarian localities have joined the European Mobility Week environmental campaign aimed at encouraging the public to use green means of transport, the Ministry of Technology and Industry (TIM) said on Friday.

The ministry told MTI that it is supporting this year’s Mobility Week and Car-free Day programmes with 180 million forints (EUR 442,000). With more than 180 localities taking part in the programmes starting on Friday, Hungary has the fourth highest number of Mobility Week participants in Europe, it added.

Localities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants will receive a maximum of 500,000 forints in support, those with a population between 5,000 and 15,000 will get 1 million, with 1.5 million forints going to localities with 15,000-50,000 inhabitants. Localities with a population of over 50,000 will receive 2 million forints in support, the ministry said.

The Hungarian government aims to make the country fully climate neutral by 2050, a key aspect of which is the greening of transport, TIM cited Attila Steiner, the state secretary for energy policy, as saying. Road traffic accounts for 98 percent of harmful emissions in Hungary, he said.

Budapest traffic
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