climate

PM Orbán calls for climate policy ‘guided by common sense’

Climate policy should be guided by common sense, rather than ideology, alarmism or panic, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Baku on Tuesday, addressing COP29, the annual UN conference on climate change.

PM Orbán talks about climate policy

Speaking among more than 40 heads of state and government, Orbán thanked Azeri President Ilham Aliyev for hosting the event. Azerbaijan is a key partner of Europe in reaching its climate goals, and an ideal place to hold the conference, he said.

PM Orbán calls for climate policy
MTI/Azertac

Orbán noted that Hungary held summits of the European Political Community and the European Council last week, where EU leaders adopted a declaration on competitiveness that will shape the EU’s approach to climate issues.

“Our mission is to make Europe more competitive, and we approach climate protection with this vision in our mind,” Orbán said. Hungary is proud to have improved its economic performance while cutting emissions in recent years, he said.

“We cannot sacrifice our industry or our agriculture in this process. We must continue advancing the green transition while also maintaining our use of natural gas, oil and nuclear energy. The price of climate change should not be paid by our farmers, the backbone of our economy and society,” the Hungarian PM said. “We cannot impose unrealistic quotas or burdensome rules on farmers and companies, but should offer practical support for them.”

Green transition and the fight against climate change should be conducted in cooperation with the business community, rather than opposed to it, Orbán said. “We need clear financial guarantees and significant investment, large companies must contribute their fair share to climate protection.”

Regarding Hungary’s achievements, Orbán said the country was vying for an important role in the development of electric vehicles and electricity storage. Hungary is further investing in its already robust nuclear industry, increasing it to meet 70 percent of the country’s electricity demand, he said.

“Geographically, we play a key role in energy transit between East and West,” the Hungarian PM said. Meanwhile, Hungary boasts the lowest utility prices for households in Europe and it has also posted one of the largest increases in the use of green energy, he added.

Hungary is also a leader of economically sustainable climate protection, ranking fourth among EU countries in reducing carbon emissions for unit of energy produced, he said.

Looking ahead, the country aims to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2030, Orbán said.

“I firmly believe that by working together, we can balance ambition with pragmatism, establishing Europe as a global leader in climate action, in compromise with the prosperity of our agriculture and industry,” Orbán said.

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Hungary’s bottle redemption system: Major change ahead, many consumers furious

MOHU Hungary's bottle redemption system

Many people in Hungary are frustrated with the MOHU bottle redemption system due to a range of operational issues that have surfaced since its launch. Consumers have reported problems with the machines frequently failing to recognise bottles, leading to long queues and confusion at collection points. Now, a new change will make customers even more furious.

Hungary’s bottle redemption system faces new limit

Blikk reports that Hungary’s bottle redemption system recently introduced a transaction limit, capping the number of redeemable bottles at 100 per session, equivalent to a maximum voucher value of HUF 5,000 (EUR 12.36). Implemented by MOHU, this update requires individuals looking to redeem more than 100 bottles to conduct separate transactions. This policy, which came into effect on 26 October, was highlighted by a notice on a vending machine, as reported by Pénzcentrum. The instructions also advise that any queries be directed to MOHU, the overseeing organisation for this redemption programme. Many people have already been frustrated by Hungary’s bottle redemption system, and now even more express their annoyance on social media platforms.

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Hungary deposit-return system reaches half a billion milestone

Half a billion bottles and cans have gone through Hungary’s new deposit-return system (DRS), MOHU, a unit of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL that has a nationwide municipal waste management concession, said on Friday.

MOHU repont bottle redemption system in Hungary
Hungary’s deposit-return system reaches milestone. Source: Facebook / MOHU

MOHU noted that more than 3 billion beverages in bottles and cans are sold each year. The goal is to boost the recycling rate for that packaging to at least 90pc within three years, it added. The DRS operates at 3,700 locations around the country, including 1,300 where returns are manual.

Paper vouchers for in-store purchases with a value of more than HUF 20 billion (EUR 50 million) have been issued in the DRS. Between 10pc and 15pc of return refunds are transferred directly to consumers’ bank accounts. The DRS application has been downloaded more than 1 million times.

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Hungary adopts OECD declaration on consumer protection in digital, green transitions

Hungary has adopted a declaration committing to further protecting and empowering consumers in the digital and green transitions at a meeting of the OECD’s Committee on Consumer Policy, the National Economy Ministry said on Thursday.

Bence Gerlaki, a deputy state secretary at the ministry, highlighted the need for consumer protection authorities to take steps against online marketplaces outside of the European Union that fail to comply with basic rules on product safety.

Hungary also joined an OECD awareness campaign on the safe and responsible use of lithium-ion batteries, the ministry said.

Hungary ‘making strides’ in green transition – minister

oecd green transition
Minister of Finance Mihály Varga speaks at the presentation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country report on Hungary in March 2024. Photo: MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd

Energy Minister Csaba Lantos said Hungary was “making strides” in the green transition, addressing the Portfolio Energy Investment Forum on Thursday.

Lantos said Hungary aimed to boost the share of renewables in gross final energy consumption to 30pc by 2030. He added that 85pc of state-owned energy group MVM’s electricity output was carbon-neutral, but the rate of zero-carbon electricity in consumption sometimes reached 100pc.

Last year, Hungary’s solar power capacity was the third-biggest in the world and now stands at 7,200 MW, he said. That capacity is set to reach 12,000 MW by 2030, but will require infrastructure upgrades, he added.

Around 280,000 homes in Hungary have solar panels.

Lantos said energy investment subsidy programmes with a combined value of HUF 1,200bn were underway. He added that without nuclear energy there could be no sustainable climate policy.

He said Hungary was among the top five countries in Europe in terms of tapping geothermal energy, and he saw potential for making biogas. He added that energy storage was a “big task” and noted that a feasibility study for a pumped storage facility would be completed by year-end.

Acknowledging Hungary’s dependence on energy imports, Lantos said gas was part of the green transition as Hungary couldn’t give it up “from one day to the other”. He added that Hungary’s gas stores were at 93pc of capacity.

He said that Hungary was no longer dependent on transit deliveries of gas via Ukraine, which were likely to cease at year-end, while MVM had recently acquired a 5pc stake in one of the world’s biggest offshore gas fields, in Azerbaijan.

Hungarian-Serb integrated water management project launched on Tisza river

A Hungarian-Serbian cross-border cooperation project has been launched with EU funding to tackle challenges posed to water management by weather extremes and related floods and droughts on the Tisza River in the border region, the communications department of the Szeged University, a project partner, said on Thursday.

Weather extremes resulting from climate change and related events have become a significant threat to communities, infrastructure and ecosystems in the Tisza river’s basin and its catchment area, the department said in a statement.

These challenges have prompted the launch of a cooperation project involving water and disaster management experts and researchers in the Hungarian-Serbian border region with the aim to mitigate hydrological risks and increase the region’s resilience to weather extremes, it said.

Dubbed ADAPTisa, the project’s participants include Szeged University’s research team and Hungary’s Lower-Tisza District Water Directorate, and Serbia’s European Affairs Fund of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and Public Water Management Company “Vode Vojvodine”.

The EU is providing EUR 1.2 million to the total project cost of EUR 1.4 million, according to the statement.

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Hungarian MOL starts production at green hydrogen plant

Production started at Hungarian oil and gas company MOL’s green hydrogen plant at its refinery in Százhalombatta, on the outskirts of the capital, on Wednesday, the company told MTI.

The 10 MW capacity plant can turn out 1,600 tonnes of clear, carbon-neutral green hydrogen annually that can be used for fuel production, the company said.

MOL inaugurated the plant in April and recently carried out the tasks necessary to start up the plant. Technology for the plant was supplied by US-based Plug Power.

Its electrolysing equipment breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen with electricity from renewable sources.

While creating one tonne of hydrogen, the plant also produces 8-9 tonnes of clean oxygen.

Ádám Horváth, MOL Group VP for DS New and Sustainable Businesses, said they plan to set up similar plants in their refineries in Bratislava and Rijeka, the latter of which could start production in 2026.

The Hungarian company has invested EUR 22 million into the plant in Százhalombatta which will cut CO2 emissions of the Danube Refinery by 25,000 tonnes.

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Battery plants in Hungary have to prepare environmental impact assessment in the future

Battery plants will be obliged to prepare an environmental impact assessment in the future, the Energy Ministry said late on Thursday.

The government’s aim is to make the economy greener and strengthen its circular operation, with a special emphasis on protecting people’s health and environmental values, the statement said.

All industrial establishments are expected to meet strict environmental and safety standards, including companies and plants involved in the production and storage of green energy, it added.

In line with new regulations coming into force, the preparation of an environmental impact assessment will be obligatory for plants manufacturing any type of battery or battery parts, or involved in the handling of battery waste, the ministry said.

The amendment of the government decree published today applies to the production of all types of batteries and battery parts, and the preliminary treatment and utilisation of battery waste, it added.

When the original regulations for the environmental licensing of battery plants were introduced, only “traditional” lead-acid batteries existed, the ministry said. With the introduction and increasing popularity of lithium-ion batteries, it has become necessary to standardise the environmental licensing that applies to the manufacturing and other activities connected to such batteries, too, it added.

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Success? Hungary reached 2030 climate target last year

Between 1990 and 2023, Hungary reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent, the energy minister said on Friday, adding that the country had overachieved its 2030 climate policy target of a 40 percent reduction.

The energy ministry quoted Csaba Lantos as saying that last year alone, emissions had been reduced by 9.5 percent, adding that the energy sector accounted for the largest reduction with 11 percent. “Emissions by major power and heating plants were reduced by one-fifth through increased consumer awareness and mild winter weather,” the ministry said in a statement.

It noted that Hungary’s fossil energy production had been reduced by 18 percent, and solar energy production had increased by 47 percent.

Referring to August figures by Eurostat, the ministry said that in the first quarter of 2024, Hungary was in the first third of European Union members in terms of reducing their emissions.

“The results spectacularly indicated Hungary’s commitment to meeting climate targets and the country’s making significant progress towards a sustainable economy,” Lantos said.

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Saturday marks 4th consecutive day of record-high early-morning low temperatures

Record high early-morning temperatures were recorded for the fourth day in a row on Saturday, when a weather station in Pécs, in southern Hungary, measured 27.7 degrees Celsius (81.86 °F), the national HungaroMet weather service reported on Sunday.

The highest early-morning temperature that day so far, 24 degrees (75.2 °F), was measured in Berettyóújfalu, in eastern Hungary, in 1952.

Saturday also saw the maximum temperature record for the day broken. A weather station in Baja, in southern Hungary, measured 40.4 degrees (104.72 °F). The earlier record temperature measured on this day was 37 degrees (98.6 °F), measured in Baja and Kübekháza in 2022.

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Lake Balaton waters warming at alarming rate: Future summers may leave no room to cool off

Lake Balaton, Holiday, camping

Over the past two decades, Lake Balaton’s average water temperature has increased by 0.7°C per decade, with the most dramatic rise occurring in the western basin near Keszthely.

Researchers at the HUN-REN Balaton Limnological Research Institute have been studying satellite data to track changes in the lake’s surface water temperature over the last 20 years, Economx reports. Their findings reveal that the average temperature of Lake Balaton has risen significantly: by 0.7°C every 10 years. The most affected area is the shallow western Keszthely basin, where temperatures have surged by 1.8°C between 2000 and 2024.

Lake Balaton experiences warming at an alarming rate

Lake Balaton, Holiday, camping
Photo: depositphotos.com

Boglárka Somogyi, senior researcher and head of the Hydrobotanical and Microbial Ecology Research Group, explained that the shallow western regions of the lake experience the most warming in spring and summer, while the deeper eastern parts are more affected during autumn and winter.

Lead author of the study, Huan Li, noted that although they lack precise figures on how much warmer the lake could become in the next 10 to 20 years, their ongoing long-term research aims to provide clearer forecasts. Preliminary data suggests that if climate change continues unchecked, the lake’s temperature could rise by 0.5-0.7°C per decade over the coming years.

Li also mentioned that the increasing size and number of marinas around the lake do not directly influence water temperatures. However, the urbanisation of the shoreline—2/3rds of which is now developed—is contributing to the heating of the lake. This is supported by their current research, which highlights that human activities, such as urbanisation and land reclamation, are exacerbating the warming trend.

Better environmental, water management, and tourism strategies needed

The researchers stressed that understanding these temperature changes is crucial for developing better environmental, water management, and tourism strategies for the region.

Milder winters and hotter summers, now typical around Lake Balaton, create favourable conditions for non-native species, such as subtropical and tropical algae, fish, and plants, which may compete with native species. If native species, accustomed to cooler climates, cannot adapt quickly enough to the changing environment, they could face extinction.

Although native species have some capacity to adapt, the rapid pace of environmental changes could overwhelm their resilience. This, in turn, may lead to significant shifts in the lake’s ecosystem, with more resistant non-native species potentially becoming dominant, as pointed out by senior researcher Viktor Tóth.

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Featured image: depositphotos.com

Expert: Is climate change in Hungary more drastic than elsewhere?

climate change in Hungary

As global warming reshapes climates worldwide, Hungary is witnessing profound changes in its weather patterns and agricultural practices. Due to the climate change in Hungary, once snowy winters are becoming rare, summers are increasingly scorching, and vineyards are transitioning from white to red wine production.

Shifting climate in Hungary

Climate change, driven by global warming, has profoundly altered weather patterns around the world. As Szeretlek Magyarország writes, although a little snow falls each year, briefly turning streets and landscapes white, Hungarian winters are no longer characteristically snowy. Conversely, summers have become increasingly hotter, with record-breaking temperatures becoming the norm.

Remarkably, banana trees have started to grow in the gardens of several homes, a clear indication of the climate change in Hungary. Initially surprising, the sight of these tropical plants has become more common and accepted over the years. Over the last decade, global warming has become a tangible disaster, profoundly affecting daily life. Climate scientist Péter Szabó explains the expectations regarding climate change in Hungary and the adaptations needed.

climate change in Hungary
Source: Pixabay

Will the current heatwave stay?

Hungary has been experiencing the hottest temperatures in Europe, a situation influenced by global warming. This persistent heat is due to warm frontal air trapped above the country, unable to dissipate because of cyclones in Western Europe that push warm air from the south to the north. These cyclones are held at bay by a blocking anticyclone, which causes prolonged heat waves and disrupts the usual west-to-east airflow.

According to the expert, this is not an anomaly we must prepare for annually, but it highlights the broader trend of rising average temperatures, leading to more frequent hot days. Despite Hungary’s traditionally sheltered position within the Carpathian Basin, the temperature rise here has surpassed the global average.

Climate models

In Hungary, climate models run by institutions like HungaroMet and ELTE’s Department of Meteorology are adapted and tested for reliability by comparing their outputs with historical data. Projections indicate that Hungarian winters in the 2040s and 2050s will become significantly milder, with extremely cold temperatures disappearing and the ski season becoming a distant memory. Due to the climate change in Hungary, the growing season will start earlier, potentially leading to more spring frosts, while the decrease in frosty days may allow pathogens to thrive, necessitating the planting of more resistant plant species.

Adapting to the climate change in Hungary

Agriculture is already adapting to climate change in Hungary, shifting from white to red wine production as heat levels rise, with future climates expected to favour Malaga wines. Adaptation may require breeding new grape varieties rather than relocating vineyards. When it comes to human adaption, air conditioning remains essential, especially in densely populated areas like Budapest, where average summer temperatures hover around 30 degrees Celsius. However, the expert warns people not to set the AC below 27 degrees Celsius, as the indoor-outdoor temperature difference has bad effects on the human body.

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Does Budapest mayor Karácsony want to ban cars older than 10 years out of Budapest?

city traffic budapest travel mayor karácsony speed limit car

On Thursday, Alexandra Szentkirályi, Fidesz’s candidate for mayor in Budapest, wrote on her social media page that Mayor Gergely Karácsony and the new head of the Climate Agency, Ada Ámon, would ban cars older than ten years from the streets of Budapest. Karácsony reacted to the claim and responded to questions on Facebook.

Does Karácsony really want to ban older cars out of Budapest?

city traffic budapest travel mayor karácsony
Does Budapest mayor Karácsony want to ban cars older than 10 years out of the city? The answer is a short one. Photo: Daily News Hungary

According to Szentkirályi, the head of the Climate Agency spoke in a podcast about the feasibility of banning cars over ten years old from Budapest, thus helping to create zero-emission zones, Index writes.

In a video published on her Facebook page on Thursday, Alexandra Szentkirályi said that according to the Ministry of Interior, there are currently 440,000 cars older than ten years on the streets of the capital. That is 61 percent of all cars in Budapest.

In a comment on his social media page, Gergely Karácsony was asked, “what is true out of this?”. The major provided a short but to-the-point answer:

Nothing.

The head of the Climate Agency also responded to Szentkirályi’s comments. According to Ada Ámon, she never said what Szentkirályi claims, and assessed the video of the candidate for mayor as the latest product of Fidesz propaganda.

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No stopping: heat records broken on Sunday in Hungary

stilt show easter heat record spring summer

Several heat records were broken in Hungary on Sunday, the national weather service HungaroMet said on its website.

Heat record broken again

A daytime minimum of 16.6 degrees Celsius was measured in Napkor, in north-east Hungary. The last record (15.0 C) was registered in Kaposvár, in southern Hungary, in 1926, HungaroMet reports.

The Budapest dawn temperature record was also broken, with 14.5 C recorded in Zugliget, nearly 2 C  more than the daily minimum temperature of 12.6 C measured at the Orszagút station in 2017.

In the capital’s 18th district, a maximum of 25.1 C was measured, breaking the record daily high of 25.0 C recorded in Ferihegy in 1989.

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Easter brings summer: Heat records broken on Saturday in Hungary

easter decoration zalaegerszeg hungary heat record broken

Several heat records were broken in Hungary on Saturday, the national weather service HungaroMet said on its website.

Easter brings heat records

A daytime maximum of 27.6 degrees Celsius was measured in Kelebia, in southern Hungary. The last record (26.9 C) was registered in Szerep, in eastern Hungary, in 1911, HungaroMet reported.

Meanwhile, the dawn temperature was also broken, with 15.8 C recorded in Koroncó station, in north-west Hungary, more than 1 C  more than the daily minimum temperature of 14.3 measured in Lágymányos in 2017.

In the capital’s 18th district, 25 C was measured on Saturday, which is nearly 1 C higher than the record daily high of 24.1 C recorded in Budapest’s Országút station in 1926.

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FM Szijjártó: Hungary rejects extreme ideologies

New York Young Republicans Club Hungarian foreign minister Szijjártó

Hungary approves of the green transition as a way to “preserve the planet for our descendants”, but it objects to green ideologies that kowtow to “fanatical climate activists”, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in a speech to the India-Europe Business and Sustainability Conclave in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Economic development and environmental protection should coincide, he said, adding that tipping this balance either way was harmful.

Hungary is among twenty countries that has managed to raise its economic game while reducing harmful emissions; by 32 percent compared with the 1990 level, the minister said.

Szijjártó highlighted Hungary’s “pragmatic approach and common sense” to environmental considerations.

At a panel discussion on the circular economy, he said the green transition must be shepherded in a way that does not imperil the security of energy supply.

Szijjártósaid European demand for electricity was set to increase by 50 percent by 2030, with heating, cooling and transport taking up more and more electricity resources.

So, producing cheap electricity in large quantities in a sustainable way, he said, was vitally important, and only nuclear energy was up to the task.

With the expansion of Hungary’s sole nuclear power plant in Paks, around 70 percent of Hungary’s electricity needs will be met by Paks, while 17 million tonnnes of carbon dioxide emissions would be cut each year, 1.5 times the emissions of the domestic transport sector.

The circular economy is a strategic goal, he said, adding that storage as well as production of green energy was a key issue. Electric battery production, he added, was therefore crucial.

Hungary, the minister said, was without exaggeration “a global leader”, ranked fourth in the world in this respect, and would soon rise to second place now that five of the world’s ten largest manufacturers have committed themselves to investments in Hungary.

When it comes to sustainable management of natural and mineral resources, Hungary is ready for closer cooperation with Indian partners, he said.

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Debrecen prepares historic environmental strategy

debrecen university environmental strategy

The city of Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, has prepared the basis for a “historic” environment control system, László Papp, the city’s mayor, said on Monday.

Referring to a “stormy” public hearing concerning a new Chinese battery plant in Debrecen earlier this year, the mayor said he had pledged to introduce a comprehensive monitoring system based on input by Debrecen University experts, independent of similar systems operated by relevant authorities.

The new system will cover the city and the greater Debrecen area, with monitoring points already determined, Papp said, adding that deployment of the system will start next year, and “the first data will be recorded before the large plants start operating”.

György Kossa, the head of the foundation running Debrecen University, said the university will “record and assess environmental impacts and will do everything, in cooperation with the city, in the interest of residents’ safety”.

MP Lajos Kósa noted the key significance of storing energy, which “needs to be done in a way that it does not jeopardise the public”. The city “takes care of its residents … we cannot do anything that jeopardises residents, but developments must go ahead,” he said.

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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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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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Former President Áder opens Planet Budapest 2023 expo

planet budapest

Former President János Áder opened the Planet Budapest 2023 sustainability expo on Wednesday.

Climate change, water crises, diminishing bio-diversity, the exhaustion of arable land and deforestation were “the big, enduring, common stress situations of mankind”, Áder, the event’s founder and chief patron, said in his opening address, adding that the situation was unprecedented. “We must find different forms of adaptation,” he said.

The expo, the largest international sustainability event in central Europe, runs until 1 October.

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LMP: Hungary ‘is not a climate champion’

“Hungary is not a climate champion,” the opposition LMP party has said in a message to the government, urging more ambitious climate protection targets.

In reaction to a recent speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, LMP co-leader Erzsébet Schmuck told a press conference on Wednesday: “This isn’t football where there are winners and champions … our lives are at stake.” The question was, she added, “how much damage there’ll be and how far we can manage the losses”.

Schmuck rejected the prime minister’s statement that Hungary had made progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, insisting that while emissions had fallen between 1990 and 2013, they had increased again by 5 percent between 2014 and 2021. In addition, a further increase is expected due to plans of building three gas-fired power plants to serve new battery factories, she added.

Reducing emissions by 40 percent by 2030 from the 1990 baseline was not enough, Schmuck said, and urged a 65 percent target as well as a higher ratio than 21 percent of renewable energy by 2030.

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AgMin: Protection of soil, water reserves joint responsibility

The sustainable husbandry of soil and water reserves is key to global food security, the agriculture minister told a meeting of the European Committee on Agriculture of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in Budapest on Wednesday.

Greeting the meeting, Agriculture Minister István Nagy said that while Hungary was rich in good-quality water, last summer had been plagued by droughts. Preserving water in backwaters and rivers through systematic channelling, reserving water bodies and irrigation is an effective counter-measure against climate change, he said.

Another important factor is quality soil, a key to the production of healthy and high-quality food, Nagy said. Soil improvement and sustainable agriculture are a priority in Hungary, he told the meeting.

FAO’s European Committee on Agriculture is meeting in Budapest on 27-28 September, with the representatives of some 40 states discussing the sustainable use of soil and water in Europe and Central Asia.