for the summer finalization of National Energy and Climate Plan from Friends of the Earth Hungary

Following 10 points and considerations were compiled by Friends of Earth Hungary for the summer finalization of National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), based on previous considerations on the draft. Original article here.

1. The NECP’s target system should prioritize reducing economy’s energy consumption, increase energy saving and energy efficiency. In this way, the NECP should show the direction for economic development and investments, not the other way around.

Let’s not ride the horse backward: the revised climate plan cannot sacrifice the previous domestic and EU emission reduction and energy saving commitments and efforts for the sake of forced and crisis-reproducing reindustrialization. Unproduced and unconsumed energy is the cleanest and cheapest.

In Hungary, in 2020, about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions came from transport, 17% from energy-wasting, outdated buildings. NECP therefore must focus on reducing energy demand and using it more efficiently, as well as on the energy modernization of transport and the building stock. Accelerating the energy transition from a fossil energy-dependent economy to an energy-efficient, renewable energy-based economy, decarbonization, and compliance with the Paris climate goals is not only an environmental issue, but as the recent report showed, it will bring economic and social benefits of five trillion forints, 8.8% GDP growth by 2030, and create more than 50,000 new, permanent jobs.

2. NECP should urge energy savings that can be achieved by renovating the building stock, and the deep energy renovation of residential buildings to be encouraged with multi-year, predictable, legal and financial measures tailored to target groups, in the magnitude of one thousand billion Hungarian forints.

In Hungary building stock is responsible for 40% of primary energy consumption, and 16% of total energy consumption could be saved by renovating all outdated residential and public buildings. By 2050, 3% of the building stock and more than 100,000 residential buildings should be renovated annually. Therefore, NECP should place the renovation of outdated real estate at the center of energy efficiency policy and outline what long term, predictable, multi-trillion-euro subsidy and loan programs should be used to help the population in the deep renovation of buildings.

3. Immediate lifting of restrictions on the establishment of wind power plants, promotion and regulation of the establishment of wind power plants in accordance with environmental criteria. The NECP should describe the program plan for the widespread establishment of wind power plants, adapted to local conditions. Taking into account environmental expectations, capacity of wind power plants should reach half the capacity of solar power plants by 2030. NECP should describe the workplan for the necessary development of the electricity network.

Combined, side-by-side production of weather-dependent solar energy and wind energy balances out fluctuations, results in a more predictable, more plannable system, and simpler and cheaper regulation. Utilization of solar and wind energy should develop in parallel, and capacity of wind energy should reach half of solar capacity by 2030. Capital-intensive enterprises are waiting for this opportunity, even without subsidies. Today’s modern wind turbines can utilize air movement almost everywhere in the country: annual utilization of new wind power plants is already around 40%. Another advantage of wind energy is that its area requirement – for the same performance – is hundred times smaller than that of solar power plant.

4. NECP should limit the use of biomass according to strict sustainability criteria, while should encourage the use of local biogas in a regulated manner!

In addition to agricultural by-products, short carbon cycle energy crops can be considered as fuel for biomass power plants. This can not only pose strain with other land uses (even with food production), but also contributes to rapid depletion of soil, so it is not a solution on a large scale. If the fuel is brought from further away, it will again worsen the carbon dioxide balance of the technology.

At the same time, biomass power plants use mostly forest biomass, an average of about 1.1 million cubic meters per year, while their overall efficiency is only 40%. In order to achieve nature conservation and carbon absorption goals, forest logging must be limited. On the one hand, this protects Hungary’s biodiversity and natural wealth. On the other hand, it also promotes the sequestration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is also responsible for climate change.

5. Complete phase-out of coal (including lignite) from electricity generation by 2025 and from residential heating by 2030, while supporting the population’s switch to clean heating (as in the original climate plan).

The most polluting and unhealthy fossil energy source must be phased out of both electricity generation and residential heating as soon as possible, and in parallel, EU and domestic programs must be used to help households switch to clean heating and coal regions phase out coal, in a just transition.

It is regrettable that instead the environmental use and operating permit of the lignite-fired units of the Mátra Power Plant was extended until the end of 2029, and the Home Renovation Program, which also supports residential heating modernization, also supports a switch from coal heating to more efficient fossil heating (gas boiler) on a wide scale until the end of 2024.

6. NECP should not increase but reduce Russian fuel dependence; there is no need to build 3 new gas power plants under an ambitious, predominantly renewable energy transition scenario. TNECP should define a roadmap to reduce methane emissions.

Balancing the production and consumption of renewable electricity and heat can be achieved through a combination of: other renewable energy sources, interoperability of the electricity and heat sectors, energy storage, decentralized and smart grids, demand-side regulation, renewable energy imports and, temporarily, existing gas power plants.

Natural gas and shale gas are fossil energy sources, and most of them are methane, which is a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, having a shorter lifespan of 15-20 years, that has already increased global warming by about half a degree.

7. NECP should present planned measures to establish a framework to promote and facilitate the development of renewable energy communities.

The government (see “green energy consultation” 2024) would support the establishment of energy communities by industry. In the same time we emphasize that planned measures should encourage genuine, bottom-up energy communities so that cooperation of different consumers (citizens, municipals, SMEs) can appear on the energy market with equal opportunities, so that they can participate in the just energy transition, have access to clean energy, and even become energy self-sufficient as possible.

8. NECP should present a plan for the substantive development of public transport. NECP should present how it intends to curb and offset the environmental and social (health) damage caused by increasing freight transport, and how it will give priority to sustainable modes of transport.

NECP should demonstrate how it intends to provide a substantial advantage to railways in both freight and passenger transport. Increasing freight and logistics activity causes very significant environmental and social (health) damage. NECP should demonstrate how it intends to make the beneficiaries pay for these damages – based on the polluter pays principle.

(In Hungary, transport sector accounts for 20 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, and 98 percent of this comes from road transport. We emit the least greenhouse gases when traveling by train. We emit one and a half times more by inland navigation, five and a half times more by truck, and forty-three times more by plane. We emit the least greenhouse gases when traveling by train. We emit two and a half times more when traveling by bus, three times more by car, and five times more by plane. Despite all this, between 2009 and 2019, the Hungarian road network increased by 2%, including the expressway network by 40%. The number of road vehicles increased by 27%. The number of passengers departing from Budapest Airport increased by 97%. During the same period, the Hungarian railway network lost 2%. Railway vehicles suitable for passenger transport decreased by 22%, number of railway freight cars decreased by 19%).

NECP should point out that if Hungary becomes a Central European logistics hub for global trade, it will cause economic structural distortions and irreparable environmental and health damage. NECP should introduce the way to reducing passenger and freight transport needs and assign measures. Read more.

9. NECP should define the scope of people living in energy poverty and the action plan for the long-term management of their situation, in addition to the gradual phasing out of utility pricecaps, with appropriately targeted subsidies and energy efficiency measures, also covering the EU Social Climate Fund.

Going beyond the concept of vulnerable consumers, a precise definition of energy poverty and the quantification of affected households are needed in line with EU standards. The long-term reduction of utility costs and affordable energy costs for low-income earners can and should be ensured by the immediate launch of an extensive housing energy renovation support programme.

10. NECP should present in detail the roadmap for the protection of natural greenhouse gas sinks (forests, grasslands, wetlands) and the enhancement of their absorption. The NECP should address the consideration of water management, with particular attention to water retention.

Hungarian climate law aims for climate neutrality by 2050, meaning that the country will not emit more greenhouse gases than (natural) absorption capacities can handle. Since, according to modelling, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced to 4.5 million tons by 2050, natural sinks – forests, fields, wetlands – should absorb this remainder. Meanwhile, forest stock of Hungary is aging; according to calculations, so carbon balance of existing domestic forests will continuously decrease in the coming years. We must also take into account the already noticeable, direct effects of climate change: higher temperatures, hot summer droughts… Natural grasslands, wetlands, forests are therefore needed simultaneously from a climate protection, energy and nature conservation perspective. We must find a balance that meets all three needs. You can read more about all this here.

Size of waterlogged areas has drastically decreased in the last two hundred years. We have gained huge arable land, but the process of drying has also begun. Climate change has further aggravated the situation. Irrigation is not a solution, the use of groundwater can bring apparent success in the short term, but in the long term it increases the problem. Water retention and biodiversity are the key: if we manage to keep water in the landscape, it compensates for evaporation losses. You can read more about this here or here.

National Energy and Climate Plan provides an opportunity to reflect on common energy issues. Let’s accelerate the energy transition, i.e. the transformation of the fossil energy-based economy into an energy-efficient, renewable energy-based one! Let’s achieve true climate neutrality as soon as possible! You can find more articles on the topic here: https://mtvsz.hu/together-for-1-5

21^st of May 2024