Hungary brings coal exit forward by five years, to 2025

(EurActiv, 4 Mar 2021) The country’s last coal power plant will be shut down in 2025 instead of 2030, Hungary’s secretary of state for EU affairs announced earlier this week.

“Our plan is to reach 90% carbon neutral electricity generation by 2030,” said Attila Steiner,  on Tuesday (2 March) at the annual summit of the Powering Past Coal Alliance.

Budapest intends to achieve this by maintaining its existing nuclear generation capacity and increasing solar power to 6 GW – three times more than the country’s existing nuclear capacity, Steiner said.

“Thirdly, we would like to phase out the lignite-fired blocs of our last remaining coal-fired power plant by 2025 – the Matra power plant,” he added, saying Hungary will benefit from EU funding to retrain coal workers affected by the closure.

The announcement was hailed by green activists as a major victory for the climate and workers affected by the plant’s closure, who will receive support from the EU’s just transition fund.

External link

EurActiv, 4 Mar 2021: Hungary brings coal exit forward by five years, to 2025