Municipalities

Energiaklub provides support for Hungarian municipalities in developing their Sustainable Energy Action Plans and climate and energy strategies. Our objective is to help settlements reduce their harmful emissions and be more prepared for the impacts of climate change.

In a survey of municipal leaders by Energiaklub more than half of the respondents stated that climate change is a serious or very serious issue for their settlements. Seven out of ten leaders think that problems are perceivable in their own environments due to hot summers, UV radiation, droughts, fluctuations of temperature and increasingly turbulent storms.

Energiaklub’s Climate Response program provides support for municipalities in developing settlement-level plans and strategies for climate change mitigation. The training series lasting several days was accomplished by more than 140 municipal leaders, staff members and NGOs in 2016.

 
The results of our representative survey show that more than 70% of the Hungarian population had been experiencing hotter summers and sudden temperature changes in their own settlements. Six out of ten respondents witnessed increasingly frequent and turbulent storms and winds and warmer winters in their environment.

More than 70% of the population feel vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Half of the respondents think that their local municipalities should launch concrete defence measures in their settlements.
 

lakossagi_klimavalasz_ENG_0.JPG

According to our survey, only 10% of the settlements have designed a strategy specifically on climate change, 40% have considered developing it, but haven’t done it yet. Strategies are not just pieces of paper: our experience proves that municipalities taking on strategic planning soon start concrete actions and projects as well. 

The Covenant of Mayors, established by the European Commission, is a European movement with the objective of reaching and surpassing the 20% emission reduction target set by the European Union for 2020. In order to achieve this, the signatories develop a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP), and since 2016, an extended Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) using a shared methodology. This includes the emission reduction plan and the municipal climate adaptation strategy as well.

Energiaklub has already developed Sustainable Energy Action Plans for more than 20 municipalities all over Hungary ((eg. Szarvas, Szekszárd, Tab, Mecseki Energiakör). Experience shows that households and residential buildings are responsible for 30-40% of the greenhouse gas emissions of settlements. Therefore it is a priority to reduce household energy consumption in all settlements.