The Central Bank of Hungary's Green Program

The Central Bank of Hungary ("MNB") has launched its Green Program early 2019 to mitigate the risks associated with climate change and other environmental problems, to expand green financial services in Hungary, to widen the related knowledge base in Hungary and abroad, and to reduce financial market participants’ and its own ecological footprint. The Program consists of three pillars: the various initiatives include elements about (i) the financial sector, (ii) the development of the MNB’s social and international relations and (iii) the further greening of its own day-to-day operations.

This site provides an overview of MNB's green finance activities, along with materials for professionals interested in climate & environmental financial risks. The site is in Hungarian, but this section contains the key documents and news items also in English. 

In case of questions, please contact us at zold.penzugyek@mnb.hu

Internationally, MNB is a member of the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), and contributes to the Sustainable Finance agenda of the European Union primarily through the work of the European Supervisory Authorities. The Bank also closely cooperates with other central banks, supervisory authorities, international financial institutions on a bilateral or multilateral basis in relation to green finance. MNB is also an official endorser of UNEP FI's Principles for Responsible Banking. 

Green Finance Conference 2022

The Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) organized its 4th international Green Finance Conference on 6th of October 2022 in Budapest.

This year’s conference focused on the fundamental question of how to maintain momentum in green finance amidst geopolitical conflict, rising inflation, and the threat of global recession.

As part of the conference, the Green Finance Awards for financial institutions and the Green Finance Science Awards for excellence in academia were presented.

• The agenda and the presentations of the conference are avaialble on this link. 

Central European Green Finance Conference 2021

This year the MNB's Central European Green Finance Conference was held in an in-person format at the Planet Budapest Sustainability Expo in Budapest.

The conference focused on the practical implications of COP26 on the financial system, on environmental anomalies beyond climate change such as biodiversity loss, and on the potential of well-designed ESG approaches to provide the necessary financing for the aforementioned challenges.

• More details about the conference are covered in the press release of the event.
• The agenda and the presentations of the conference are available on this link.
• The entire conference is available here.

Central European Green Finance Conference 2020

Following the inaugural conference from last year, the MNB, in cooperation with the EBRD organised the Central European Green Finance Conference in 2020, as part of the outreach activity of the NGFS. Due to the COVID pandemic, the conference was held online.

The key topics of the conference were quantification and management of climate and environmental risks, and financing a post-COVID green recovery. The change of perspective was also high on the agenda, focusing on the question: Why do we have to deal with climate change, and what are the consequences of our inaction?

• More details about the conference are covered in the press release of the event.
• The agenda and the presentations of the conference are available here.
• The entire conference is available here.

As an accompanying event, MNB and the Corvinus University of Budapest jointly organised a Scientific Conference on Green Finance and Sustainable Development as well, to provide researchers, academics, policy makers and professionals with a valuable forum for the discussion of ideas and questions related to the main theme, ie. Financing the transition to a low-carbon economy. See further details here.

International Green Finance Conference 2019

A key element of MNB's growing green finance international relations is our International Green Finance Conference, which took place on 15 November 2019. The large-scale event with almost 300 participants was organised jointly with the EBRD, and was attended by international financial institutions, central banks, supervisory authorities and market participants from Europe and Asia.

As part of the programme, a seminar for the Central, Eastern an Southeastern Europe region’s central banks and supervisory authorities was organised under the guidance of the NGFS. Participants discussed the responsibilities of supervisors and central banks related to climate risks and opportunities for future international cooperation.

• More details about the conference are covered in the press release of the event.
• The agenda and the presentations of the conference are available here.