On 27 February 2025, the third Hungarian workshop of the Ready4NetZero project was held in Tatabánya.
The meeting was attended by urban development and city management experts from the cities of Szeged, Tatabánya and Szentes, as well as representatives from HungaroMet Hungarian Meteorological Service Nonprofit Ltd. The professional guidance of the workshop was provided by Energiaklub Climate Policy Institute.
Barbara Bezegh, head of department for the LIFE IP HungAIRy project, provided information to the Ready4NetZero participants, followed by a presentation by Anita Tóth, an expert from HungaroMet’s Air Quality Modelling and Emissions Department, on the ATMO-Plan urban-scale air quality planning application. Zsolt Bauer, project manager of the Project and Monitoring Group of Tatabánya, reported on the experiences of Tatabánya’s pilot projects, including the T-Bike public bicycle system and micro-sensor measurement stations. Gábor Koterle, the professional lead of the project titled "Energy Modernisation of the Entire Municipal Rental Housing Stock and Public Buildings of Tatabánya County-Ranked City Municipality", introduced the methodology of the investment concept being developed under the European City Facility (EUCF) programme.
Thanks to the invited speakers, the participating municipal experts gained practical knowledge that they can apply in their daily decision-making processes. Municipal representatives shared their planned climate protection activities for the year and provided updates on the progress of the Ready4NetZero pilot actions.
Tatabánya’s pilot action is a continuation of the "Hand in Hand Programme." In previous years, this initiative—organised by the municipality—was highly successful in fostering cooperation between businesses and educational institutions, primarily benefiting nurseries, kindergartens, and primary schools. Future plans include expanding the list of eligible institutions and complementing the programme with the "Adopt a Park or Public Space" initiative to enhance the biodiversity of existing green areas.
To support the successful implementation of pilot actions, Energiaklub has offered professional consultation opportunities for urban development staff from the participating municipalities.
During the final phase of the project, discussions were held about future cooperation opportunities. The project’s professional lead aims to continue supporting municipalities on their journey to climate neutrality by developing a methodology for emissions reduction planning.
The final conference of the Ready4NetZero project will take place on 3 April 2025 in Kraków, focusing on presenting the project’s results and developing long-term local climate neutrality strategies.
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.