Biomass Energy in Hungary

In Central and Eastern European countries, a large part of renewable energy comes from burning biomass, such as wood. Plans to expand renewable energy under the REPowerEU plan will likely involve increasing biomass energy even further. However, scientific evidence shows that biomass burning is not carbon neutral in the short to medium term, can lead to biodiversity destruction, harm people’s health, and make food supply problems worse. This is especially a problem for the sustainability of household heating: with increasing energy prices, even more people will burn wood to keep their homes warm.

For Central and Eastern Europe to become carbon neutral, energy efficiency in buildings must be improved, solar and wind power have to expand, and significant support is needed to move people in fuel poverty away from burning solid fuels.