Menu
Our climate policy must be guided by careful considerations and common sense, not by ideology, inflated concerns or panic, the Hungarian Prime Minister said, addressing a conference attended by more than 40 heads of state and government in Azerbaijan.
Mr Orbán thanked the leader of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for hosting the climate summit. Azerbaijan is a key partner of Europe in achieving our climate policy goals, and so an ideal venue for hosting today’s conference, he highlighted.
He recalled that the week before Budapest had hosted the summits of the European Political Community and the European Council, and so almost fifty heads of state and government had gathered together in the Hungarian capital.
Mr Orbán told members of his audience that at last week’s informal EU summit in Budapest, European leaders had adopted a new declaration regarding competitiveness which would also shape the EU’s approach to the climate issue.
Our mission is to make Europe more competitive, and we approach climate protection with this vision. We are proud that Hungary has been one of the countries in the world in the past few years which have succeeded in improving their economic performance parallel with reducing their emissions, he said.
He stressed that in this process we could not afford to sacrifice our industry or agriculture. We must continue the green transition, whilst continuing to use natural gas, oil and nuclear energy.
He pointed out that farmers could not be expected to pay the price of climate change as they constituted the backbone of our economy and society. He added that rather than imposing unrealistic burdens or overly complex rules on farmers and businesses, we must provide them with practical support.
The green transition and the fight against climate change must be achieved not against, but in cooperation with the business community, he stated.
He stressed that we needed clear financial guarantees and significant investments, while large corporations were required to make a fair contribution to climate protection.
Talking about Hungary, he recalled that we sought to position ourselves in a way that would make us a major player in the development of electric vehicles and the storage of power. We continue to invest in our already robust nuclear industry, increasing its share in the fulfilment of our total electric power needs to 70 per cent.
He also added that geographically we played a key role in the energy transit between East and West. Hungary stands out in Europe with its lowest household energy costs, whilst having achieved one of the highest green energy expansions of recent years, he observed.
Hungary plays a leading role in the area of economically sustainable climate protection, and is in fourth place among the countries of the EU in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions falling on one unit of energy produced, he recalled.
Regarding the future, he said we set even more ambitious goals for 2030. For instance, in the reduction of greenhouse gases, instead of a 40 per cent reduction, we targeted a 50 per cent fall.
With joint efforts, we can achieve a balance between ambition and pragmatism, making Europe a global leader of the fight against climate change, without compromising the welfare of our industry and agriculture, Mr Orbán said, concluding his address.
