Environmental Investments Well Under EU Average

Most Hungarian businesses are aware of the effects of climate change, with 50% of firms having environmental protection goals, compared to the EU average of 41%, while only 18% have invested in environmental protection projects, according to a survey by GKI Economic Research Co.

Due to a lack of resources, only 15% of domestic companies have environmental experts, compared with 23% in the EU, although this is also linked to company size and industry structure, they note.

The survey also found that Hungarian businesses perceive the impact of climate change on business operations to be lower than their EU counterparts, with only 16% expecting a major impact compared to 23% in the EU.

GKI points out that only 18% of Hungarian businesses have invested in environmental protection projects, less than half the EU average. Another 35% are only planning such investments. The latter also means that they would be willing to invest (also) for such purposes if they had the right (budgetary and/or EU) support.

On the other hand, the share of domestic firms that have made energy efficiency improvements is almost as high as that of their EU counterparts, at 36%. This means that 11% of all business investment was partly directed towards this, above the EU average of 8%.

“This indicates that domestic businesses see little motivation to make environmental efforts and little sense of the longer-term impacts of climate change, as most are struggling to survive in the current economic environment," the GKI concludes.