“2-2.5 percent of GDP, some 120 billion euros, will have to be invested in environmental protection development projects over the next 30 years to achieve the goal of climate neutrality in Hungary by 2050”, the Ministry for Innovation and Technology’s State Secretary for Energy and Climate Policy said on Saturday in Gödöllő.

At the opening of the gala dinner of the 20th National Environmental Protection Meeting, Péter Kaderják said that during the European Union’s next programming period at least 25 percent of the budget will have to be spent on energy, water management, transport and other programmes relating to climate protection, and accordingly opportunities for development are not only given within the field of climate protection, but also within other fields of the economy.

“In the interests of enabling the know-how that Hungarian enterprises have acquired within the field of environmental protection to be exportable, the Ministry set up the Western Balkan Green Fund last year, the tenders of which will be published over the coming weeks. The goal of the tenders is to support the successful functioning of enterprises in the region that operate within the field of environmental protection”, the State Secretary added.

The State Secretary for Climate Policy pointed out that last December the government decided to join the European initiative aimed at achieving the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050, and accordingly on 8 January 2020 it adopted the energy and climate strategy documents that designate the path that leads to the achievement of this target.

Mr. Kaderják said the programme includes, amongst others, the target that Hungary must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030, and increase the application of renewable energy sources.  He highlighted the fact that according to the Ministry’s economic development plans, in future the growth of the Hungarian economy must possess three main characteristics: it must be Hungarian, hi-tech and green. “Climate protection and economic development are not antagonistic, but are two synergistic processes”, the State Secretary underlined.

(MTI)