Janos Ader – Photo: wikipedia

Hungary making progress in sustainable development, president tells UN forum

Ader explores Hungarian water management industry in podcast

President Janos Ader on Monday discussed the activities of Hungarian water management companies at home and abroad with Balint Horvath, the CEO of Pureco, a Hungarian-owned company installing water purifying systems in African countries.

Ader noted that 90 percent of waste water is dumped uncleaned into natural waters in Africa, which is an “enormous strain”. Water resources are also overused, which is expected to lead to lack of water in a few decades, he said.

Horvath noted that Pureco installed a waste water purifying system in Ghana in May. The company’s self-developed purifying system allows the waste water handled there to be let back into natural waters without posing infection risks, he said. Experts of the Danube Regional Waterworks are currently training local professionals in operating the system, he said.

Pureco has been present at all Budapest Water Summits, and has used the forum to develop its network in Egypt and other countries, in line with the government’s southern opening strategy, Horvath said.

Ader noted that Budapest is organising the Planet Budapest 2021 sustainability expo, an extended version of the summits, between November 29 and December 5. The event is expected to draw more than 160 exhibitors from the Visegrad Group countries, he said.

The president’s Blue Planet (Kek bolygo) podcast will air weekly until then, presenting one of the participants each week, he said.

Hungary making progress in sustainable development, president tells UN forum

Despite the pandemic and the world’s slow pace in implementing its 2015 sustainability goals, Hungary in recent years has managed to make progress on several of its own related goals, Ader said in a video message to a United Nations forum on Monday.

The president told the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG Moment) forum that the capacity of Hungary’s solar power plants have increased ten-fold over the last five years, adding that this trend was set to continue. Solar electricity production in Hungary this year exceeded coal-based electricity production, he said.

Hungary plans to increase the capacity of its solar plants to 6,500 megawatts by 2030 and to 12,000 megawatts by 2040, Ader said, adding that 90 percent of the electricity generated in Hungary would be carbon-free by 2030.

Ader said the Planet Budapest 2021 sustainability expo Hungary is hosting between Nov. 29 and Dec. 5 this year would demonstrate that achieving a turnaround in sustainability was not just a challenge but also an economic opportunity.

Hungary’s plans for the foreseeable future also include doubling the country’s GDP per capita while reducing the economy’s ecological footprint, he said.

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