Péter Magyar's Win Could Open a New Window for Climate Action in Hungary
Péter Magyar ended Victor Orbán’s 16 year rule over Hungary following a landslide victory in the country’s parliamentary elections on April 12. While Magyar hasn’t said much on climate action, his willingness to engage with the E.U. presents new opportunities for the country to reduce emissions and invest in clean energy.
Orbán, a far-right authoritarian known for his dismantling of democratic checks and balances and stringent media control, took a mixed approach to climate action throughout his years in power, with his rhetoric often out of line with his actions.
In 2019, he vetoed the E.U.’s plans to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and once described the bloc’s efforts to tackle climate change as a “utopian fantasy.” He has accused other European leaders of fearmongering over the threat of climate change.
“Europe is acting out of fear and fear makes us defeatist,” he said in 2023. “We say there’s no future, and as such, this is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Yet climate action is a pressing issue for Hungarians—95% of residents say it is important for their country to adapt to climate change, according to a 2024 survey from the European Investment Bank, and Orbán would often preach the importance of climate action.
In his 2020 state of the nation address, he declared that, “protecting the climate and nature is truly our Christian and patriotic duty,” and announced that the government was designing a program to reach 90% carbon-neutrality for energy production in the country by 2030.
Four years later, he re-emphasized the importance of the green energy movement in his February 2024 state of the nation address, saying that, “the future belongs to green energy,” and touted the nation’s solar capacity.
However, later that year, he joined President Donald Trump during his second presidential campaign at an anti-climate event co-hosted by the Heritage Foundation, the ultra-conservative group behind Project 2025, and the Danube Institute, a Hungarian think tank supportive of Orbán. Another think tank linked to Orbán’s administration held an event to discuss the “perils of net zero” in Brussels that same year.
While Magyar has yet to say much on climate action, the Tisza Party that brought him to power has pledged to rebuild independent protections for nature and enforce stricter regulation of polluting industries. The party has vowed to end the country’s reliance on Russian energy by 2035 and double its share of renewable energy by 2040. And Magyar hopes to end the country’s estrangement with the European Union—which could open up more funding for green investments.
The Tisza Party has also called for stronger oversight of polluting battery plants, which came under fire in the lead up to the election. “Investments cannot endanger people’s health and the competitiveness of the country cannot be built on the environment,” the Tisza Party said on Instagram earlier this year. “We are building a liveable country, not only until the next election, but for the next generations.”