The individual EU member states need to gain a better understanding of precisely how the energy system will change in their country in order to identify which options they have for achieving national energy policy priorities and the overall targets agreed upon by the EU. In the case of Hungary there are only a small number of studies describing potential future energy scenarios. These kinds of studies are crucial in order to understand the challenges that the future national energy system might face, their consequences as well as possible policy options in order to reach political targets. Moreover, the framework conditions for the existing Hungarian energy strategy, approved in 2011, (with a strong fossil fuel and nuclear focus) have changed substantially, partly due to the suspension of the South Stream project and the EU raising concerns around the planned extension of the Paks nuclear plant, making a fresh look at the situation necessary.

For this purpose, The Greens / European Free Alliance Group of the European Parliament contracted Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in collaboration with Energiaklub to develop scientifically sound, comprehensive, alternative, and sustainable long term energy scenarios for Hungary, which cover potential development paths till 2030 and 2050. The scenarios developed deliver information about the costs and long-term effects of different energy choices for Hungary as well as credible information on potential benefits of greening the energy mix. As a result, the study aims to provide policy makers with better evidence for making informed, prudent and forward-thinking decisions in this field.