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Hungary
Political Groups
OECD, EU
World Bank Income Group
High income
Global Climate Risk Index
69
The annually published Global Climate Risk Index analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).
Published by German Watch https://www.germanwatch.org/en/criShare of Global Emissions
0.13%
Legislation
8
Laws, Acts, Constitutions (legislative branch)
Policies
10
Policies, strategies, decrees, action plans (from executive branch)
Litigation
Coming soon
Court cases and tribunal proceedings
Targets
66
Climate targets in National Law & Policy
Latest Documents
, 2021
To benefit from the support of the Recovery and Resilience Facility set up by the EU in the aftermath of the COVID-19-induced economic crisis, Member States submit their recovery and resilience plans to the European Commission. Each plan sets out the reforms and investments to be implemented by end-2026 and Member States can receive financing up to a previously agreed allo...
, 2020
On June 4th, 2020, the parliament passed a resolution on "non-deferred tasks arising from climate change". This resolution approves the governmental climate and nature protection plan and related energy policy strategies. This plan and related documents aim at mitigating and adapting to climate change, upgrade the country's energy systems, enhance energy efficiency a...
, 2020
The Hungarian parliament passed a law on climate protection committing to protect the natural heritage and “the natural conditions of the way of life that we Hungarians have created together in this country”. The document stresses that the scope of the policy set out in the law must apply to the whole Carpathian Basin, be in line with international and EU commitments, allo...
, 2019
The National Energy and Climate (ENCP) Plan is a ten-year integrated document mandated by the European Union to each of its member states in order for the EU to meet its overall greenhouse gases emissions targets. The Energy and Climate Plan addresses all five dimensions of the EU Energy Union: decarbonisation, energy efficiency, energy security, internal energy mark...
Targets (66)
Request to download all target data (.csv)- Hungary will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 Economy-wide: Economy Wide | Target year: 2030Source: Law on climate protection
- Hungary will achieve complete climate neutrality by 2050Economy-wide | Target year: 2050Source: Law on climate protection
- Reduction by 16% to 25% of GHG emissions (in the case of a EU 20% plan) or reduction by 27% to 34% (in the case of EU 30% plan) by 2025 compared with a 1990 baselineEconomy-wide: Economy Wide | Target year: 2025Source: National Climate Change Strategy (Resolution of the Parliament no 29/2008)
- 25 to 33 M tonnes of CO2 captured, or even 47 to 58 M in case of planting fast-growing tree species by 2025LULUCF: Afforestation | Target year: 2025Source: National Climate Change Strategy (Resolution of the Parliament no 29/2008)
- To reduce GHG emissions by at least 40% compared to 1990.Economy-wide: GHG | Target year: 2030Source: Greece's National Energy and Climate Plan
Legislative Process
Hungary is a republic (since the constitutional amendment of 1989) which entered the EU in 2004. It is a unicameral parliamentary democracy governed by the principles of popular sovereignty. The Prime Minister is the head of the government and the President is the head of the state and appoints ministers according to the recommendations made by the Prime Minister. A Prime Minister is officially appointed by the President, subject to the majority vote of Members of Parliament (MPs). Executive power lies with the government and legal power is shared by the government and Parliament, which approves government programmes, and has the right to initiate a motion of no-confidence against the government and elect a new Prime Minister.
The Parliament is comprised of 199 members (down from 386 between 1990 and 2014) of the House of the Representatives, who are directly elected by citizens every four years. The last parliamentary election took place in June 2014, and the next one is expected to take place in 2018. Parliamentary decisions are made by simple majority of the votes of members present, and qualified majority is required for certain decisions. The Parliament adopts the Constitution, elects the President of the Republic and approves international treaties. The President is elected indirectly by the Parliament for a term of five years. The next presidential election is expected to take place in 2017.
There are four sources of law: the Constitution, Acts of Parliament, Decrees and international agreements. The Constitution, the Fundamental Law of Hungary, is the highest level of legal norm that define basic structure and operation of the state. Amendment of the Fundamental Law requires a two-thirds majority of all MPs. The Speaker of the House signs the Fundamental Law or its amendment, which is sent to the President for final signature and the official publication in the Official Gazette within five days of the receipt. A series of amendments to the 1989 Constitution following the 2011 elections attracted heavy international criticism (including from the European Parliament, the European Commission and the US government). Critics say that changes to judicial independence, religious rights, media independence and political campaign ads, weaken Hungary’s democracy.
Other forms of legislation are defined by the Act 11 of 1987 on Legislation. Acts of Parliament are adopted by a simple majority of votes in the Parliament (more than half of the MPs present) or qualified majority. Bills are discussed by designated parliamentary committees and the plenary meetings of the Parliament before the final vote to adopt the new bill or its amendment. Nearly 300 bills are submitted each year. While 55% of proposed legislation is submitted by the Government, 40% by MPs and 5% by the committees; 90% of the adopted bills come from the submission of the Government. An average of 130 Acts is passed annually. There are three types of decrees recognised by the Legislation Act, with government decrees being at the top of hierarchy, followed by ministerial decrees and local government decrees. International agreements are acceded to by the government and later promulgated by domestic legislative forms.