On 11 April 2024, the first national workshop organised within the framework of the Ready4NetZero project took place in Szentes for representatives of the participating Hungarian pilot cities: Szeged, Tatabánya and the host (Szentes).
Representatives from Tatabánya, Szeged and Szentes explained how the topic of combating climate change is being addressed in the municipal election campaign (either not at all or marginally) and presented the main steps taken by the municipalities so far on this issue. In Szentes, the development of district heating based on geothermal energy is an important task with significant potentials, Tatabánya is proud of its public awareness and information campaigns, while Szeged has made good use of the Green City development programme, with large-scale public and green space improvements.
The cities worked in a workshop to address the problems and possible solutions to the obstacles to long-term climate neutrality.
In all three cities (and most Hungarian cities), key challenges are:
- insufficient internal cooperation between departments and colleagues in the municipalities,
- projects are not implemented in an integrated way,
- staff working in the municipalities is underpaid and overworked,
- lack of capacity to deliver high quality, effective communication to the public.
During the lunch break, the team planted a tree to commemorate their work together. The event ended with a study visit to inspiring examples of good practice, including thermal water utilisation in agriculture and a climate-smart investment in an industrial park with a green roof and community garden for employees.
Ready4NetZero is a EUKI funded project coordinated by the Polish Network “ENERGIE CITÉS”, with a consortium formed of the Ecologic Institute from Germany, ENERGIAKLUB from Hungary, REGEA from Croatia and Energy Cities Romania. Ready4NetZero aims to support cities from the participating countries in developing and implementing 2050 climate neutrality strategies and seeks to do this by building capacity, knowledge and skills among local leaders, municipal staff and local stakeholders, facilitating experiences exchange and dialogue between local authorities.