President János Áder has said Hungary will honor its climate protection commitments for 2030.
During an interview on Kossuth Radio on Friday morning, President Áder citied official EU figures to confirm that Hungary had reduced its carbon-dioxide emissions by 31.9 percent between 1990-2017. The rate of reduction was similar to that of Denmark and higher than in several other EU members.
According to MTI, the President added that Hungary had also increased its woodlands, which helps absorb carbon-dioxide.
President Áder said Hungary is among 21 countries worldwide that managed to increase its economic growth while reducing carbon-dioxide emissions and energy consumption, adding that the achievement was largely due to changing technologies after the year 2000.
The President also announced that at least 90 percent of Hungary’s power production could become CO2-free by 2030, once the Paks nuclear plant upgrade is complete and solar energy production is further increased. He added that coal-fuelled power plants will also need to be shut down in part or in full by 2030, or they will need to be converted to other fuels such as natural gas.
President Áder said climate protection requires “starting actual work at last” rather than “ceremonious declarations”, adding that further delays could make the climate situation much worse in 5-10 years. He warned that the world’s CO2 emissions have increased rather than the opposite since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed.
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