Most Hungarians Support Addressing Climate Emergency

67% of Hungarians are in favor of stricter government measures that impose changes on people’s behaviour (three points higher than last year) to address climate emergency, according to the 2021-2022 Climate Survey, commissioned by the European Investment Bank (EIB), that explores people’s views on climate change in a rapidly changing world.

The vast majority of Hungarian people (87%) feel that climate change has an impact on their everyday lives and 80% believe that they are more concerned about the climate emergency than their government. As a consequence, they are fairly sceptical regarding their country’s capability to undergo an ambitious green transition. Only 51% think that Hungary will succeed in drastically reducing its carbon emissions by 2050, as pledged in the Paris Agreement. About half (49%) think that Hungary will fail to meet its reduced carbon emission targets.

As a consequence, two-thirds (67%) of Hungarians are in favour of stricter government measures — similar to the ones implemented to combat the COVID-19 crisis — that would impose changes on people’s behaviour (three points higher than last year, 64%).

Meanwhile, only 8% of Hungarians believe that global warming is not due to human activities.

When asked about the source of energy their country should rely on to fight global warming, the majority of Hungarian people favour renewable energies (76%, 13 points above the EU average of 63%) to address the climate emergency. Support for renewables in Hungary is seen strongly among people over 64 (78%). This figure drops eight points for people younger than 30 (70% in favour). Meanwhile, 70% of lower-income earners would support further development of renewable energies, compared to 79% of higher-income earners.

Hungarians overall are slightly less supportive of nuclear energy than other Europeans (7% vs. 12%). The gender gap is noticeable: men (11%) are much more in favour of nuclear energy than women (3%). People with higher incomes are also more in favour of the development of nuclear energy (10%) compared to those with lower incomes (4%).

Finally, Hungarians are slightly less likely to think that their country should rely on energy savings than other Europeans (12% vs. 17%). Saving energy is ranked far above an increased role for natural gas (3%). The gender gap in energy savings is also noticeable: women (16%) are much more inclined to support energy savings than men (8%).