Hungary nudges the Commission to devise a geothermal energy action plan

Hungary, which presides over the Council of the EU rotating presidency until the year’s end, proposed for the Commission to devise a plan to facilitate and accelerate geothermal projects in a draft document dating to 25 September 2024. European diplomats are set to discuss the draft on 1 October 2024 during the Energy Working Party meeting. The draft is expected to be approved in a meeting of the bloc’s energy ministers in December.

The plan could include guarantee schemes to ease the risks of steep upfront investments, as well as guidance on investment-related business models, advice on slashing permitting, actions to address a lack of bloc-wide geological data and ideas to tackle th…