Final Assessment of the Revised Hungarian National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP)

EUKI project „Strengthening Ownership of Climate Policy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)“ increased Central and Eastern European policy makers’ ownership of EU climate policy by improving their understanding of the EU climate agenda and the benefits of climate action.

In this assessment, eight non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have reviewed the final Hungarian NECP and the accompanying Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). They have concluded that civil society’s contributions were largely disregarded during the process. Furthermore, the 50 per cent emissions reduction target for 2030 set out in the NECP falls short of the EU target of ‘at least 55 per cent’. The target also falls short of the reduction of approximately 60 per cent required to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. For sectors like agriculture and industry there are only minimal or no reduction commitments at all. The report lists ten specific shortcomings compared with the NGOs’ recommendations. These include insufficient funding for building renovations, insufficient ambition in the area of wind energy, and the absence of a timetable for phasing out coal and lignite in the heating sector. The NGOs called on the Energy Minister to incorporate these recommendations into future amendments to the NECP, the update of the National Climate Strategy, the Social Climate Plan and the revision of the Climate Protection Act.

The briefing is available in Hungarian only.