Climate protection will be a top priority also in the Hungarian construction industry

- this is one of the key messages of the Portfolio.hu organized 'Construction Industry 2020' conference, where I had the privilege to participate this week. As it was not only a high-level networking opportunity but also a unique professional content, here I am going to summarize the presentations from the sustainability perspective.

State Secretary for Construction Economy, Infrastructure and Sustainability, Dr. Habil. Anita Boros highlighted the eight-point climate and nature protection action plan which the government has adopted recently. She referred to 4 significant elements of the plan, how the Ministry for Innovation and Technology foresees that the circular economy will be implemented in the construction industry:

• The government would launch the Waste Management Authority in July, to deal with illegal waste dumps, and the construction waste has a high share in the Hungarian waste-mix.
• The government is committed to the NetZero goals, and therefore also expects large foreign and multinational companies to take part in the struggle. At the same time, in the case of small and medium-sized businesses, the government will support the wider use of renewable energy sources with HUF 32 billion.
• The capacity of solar PV energy will be increased by 6-fold until 2030 (noting, that the 6GW figure covers only utility-scale PV, as an addition to that rooftop PV expected to grow up to 200.000 units by 2030)

• Introduction of green bonds will be part of the financial mechanisms - as the minister explained details in his interview on the same day, the Polish green bond will be considered as a yardstick and details will be announced in Q3 2020. Finance minister Mihály Varga said earlier this week that talks are ongoing on the issue of a three- to five-year “green bond” with investors in Japan and China.

The panel discussion on the future prospects in the construction industry, moderated by Barta Zsombor MRICS, president of HuGBC (Hungary Green Building Council) was more highlighting the uncertainties of the after-2021 period regarding constructions. Gyorgyevics Benedek, the CEO of Városliget Zrt. emphasized that sustainability is extremely relevant in the case of the public investments, as the ROI calculations are different from the market-based projects.

Paks II Nuclear power plant will be the construction project of the century in terms of materials volume, and this was one of the most awaited presentation talking to the audience over the lunch break. The presentation summarized the project only on a very high level: 156 hectares of the total construction site, 70 meters high reactor building and standard construction materials to be used such as concrete and steel - covered by a 10.000.000.000EUR framework contract. According to the presentation, supporting buildings already under construction and more to come in 2021.

Buday-Malik Adrienn talked on behalf of the éMI Conformity Assessment Center about circularity, energy efficiency and sustainability. The institution has a wide range of experience in the subject, therefore I recommend to visit their website for regular updates and if interested in real-life examples, check out SolarDecathlon2019 as the realization of an international university competition in innovative homebuilding.