Green and Digital Visegrad

On November 15, 2022, the Euro-Atlantic Center organised an e-learning titled Green and Digital Visegrad, as a part of the project Visegrad Youth Forum 2022. Michal Hrubý, a researcher from the Czech think-tank EUROPEUM, took the floor as a speaker. Mr. Hrubý specialises in the topics of green transition and decarbonization. 

At the beginning of the e-learning, the speaker explained that there is a gap between V4 countries and other EU member states when it comes to digitalization and green transition. Visegrad countries are by history focused on industries and depend on the industrial sector, which also means that nowadays the V4 is going through tough times. The major challenge of the V4 region is in the question of where the energy comes from and how to utilise it. What the region lacks are more renewable energy resources and momentum for the transition to using more efficient solutions. At the same time, the V4 states fall behind the rest of the EU in terms of lowering energy consumption both in housing and in the industry sector. In the times of high energy prices, there is a need to systematically tackle the given issues.

The V4 industries are generally ready for the transformation, however, there is a need to distinguish the different options for different sectors. The automotive industry, well established in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, is closer to the green transition in technical terms, than the hard-to-abide industries like chemical, steel or cement. These heavy industries are hit even harder now, not only due to rising prices but also because they use commodities such as natural gas or oil as their input materials. The whole sector is therefore hard to decarbonize since it is not possible to electrify everything.

It is important to remember that many of the green transition or decarbonization processes take place in private companies. In the Visegrad region, the big companies are usually part of international concerns and global supply chains. It is often not up to them to decide on the transition processes, instead such businesses follow the strategies of their mother company located elsewhere.

The speaker pointed out that another challenge of the V4 region is the rhetoric used when talking about renewables or a low-carbon economy. More space should be given to basic solutions that have the potential to make V4 greener in a short time. These include photovoltaics, wind and geothermal energy or electric vehicles. 

In the V4 countries, the changes that the green transition brings will be, according to Mr. Hrubý, seen as very dramatic. It is the consequence of the low starting line of the green transition in the V4 region. There are many specific fields in which the transition needs to be scaled up. The fields vary from energy-inefficient residential houses in urban settlements to high individual energy consumption or not fully utilised public transportation systems. There is also a need for behavioural changes in society. In this aspect, people need to be more informed about the possibilities of green transition in their local setting – from options of purchasing photovoltaic panels to buying electricity-powered vehicles. What the speaker identified as an available solution for the V4 region is to look at the processes in countries where these challenges and changes had already happened and modify the existing solutions to the Visegrad region. 

In the view of Mr. Hrubý, the key to any successful green transformation lies in accurate data, because we can measure different aspects of sustainable solutions. Smart technologies offer us a way to optimise different green processes. The data also comes with the electricity cost, but it is a trade-off that is inevitable to count on.

The Russian-induced war made a push for a green transition and put a stop to the high reliance of V4 countries on Russian oil. Mr. Hrubý believes V4 should stay united on the EU level and have a strong voice, but unity is not visible, especially in the case of Hungary. The war also brought light on a topic of broader energy security, not just on a state level but also on the level of individual households. The trend is visible especially in the V4 region as households consider being more energy self-sufficient and the demand for photovoltaics has skyrocketed. There are also many new ideas on how to lower energy consumption or push the green transition, the question is how fast the countries are able to materialise these ideas and if they are ready for it.

Should we be afraid of pushing the green agenda too much, and therefore alienating it from the general public?

The key is communication. When we want to get rid of Russia as a business partner it comes with higher energy prices, for both industries and households. The governments need to communicate the trade-off and bear in mind that the costs cannot be borne by households. Special attention must be paid when communicating with vulnerable people, who are influenced by the crisis the most. The key to a green transition while phasing out fossil fuels and Russian gas and oil, is the fast implementation of national strategies into practice.

Could you mention some of the programmes and initiatives which help countries or enterprises to facilitate green transformations?

There are EU plans and strategies such as REPowerEU or Fit for 55, but countries also need their own national plans. These were to a large extent created as a part of the EU post-covid financing. In the Czech Republic, there are several successful initiatives that deal with lowering the energy consumption of households. For example, the Green savings project gives people the opportunity to renovate houses and provides technical solutions to make the buildings more energy efficient.

We often hear of cobalt as a very important resource for making electric vehicles. What are the other minerals that are needed in green transition? 

There are many raw materials that are crucial for the green transition. Two sectors are targeted the most – the automotive and the power industry. In the future, we might see a high demand for cobalt, copper, rare earths, lithium as well as graphite. In the case of some of these minerals, we can find their deposits even in Europe. Not so long ago, the Czech Republic had active graphite mines, and there are still available deposits. The challenge is to make them cost-competitive with the mines in China or elsewhere. The solution would be to partner up with countries around the world to acquire these materials, bearing in mind, such countries have to be stable political partners.