The UK and Hungary believe that moving to a low carbon economy is an important part of Europe's long term prosperity.
At a time when Governments are doing all they can to help boost growth, we should recognise how new low carbon energy sources and other green technologies can help stimulate investment.

Today's low carbon finance forum - jointly chaired by our two countries - shows how we want to break down the practical barriers to make that investment a reality in Europe. That's why we are bringing together in the City of London key thinkers, experts and business leaders to discuss how private finance in low carbon investment can be unlocked. Of course national policy frameworks play an important part in attracting such investment. In the UK, radical reforms designed to create new markets and to attract greater amounts of private investment into the green economy are being implemented.

In Hungary, government efforts are directed towards ensuring attractive investment opportunities and thus establish joint development projects with foreign and domestic partners in the green economy. These aims are reflected both in the recently approved National Energy Strategy and regulatory changes.

But the barriers also include the lack of knowledge and capacity to assess financial risks as well as knowing who to approach and how to put a bid together. These will be key issues to discuss at today's event and the City of London, with its unique expertise in innovative financial products, will have a vital contribution to make. But we mustn't underestimate the scale of the decarbonisation challenge we face. To move away from our dependence on fossil fuels to one powered by low carbon energy and technologies won't happen overnight. Whether we succeed depends in large part on Governments and businesses working collaboratively together. There is much common ground between the UK and Hungary in our approaches to the low carbon economy. We are both considering our future energy needs and the huge scale of finance needed to move to a low carbon energy mix.

To succeed, our approach needs to be business and investment friendly. Our climate policies can't exist in a bubble, separated from the reality of the current economic situation.

The aim must be to support economic prosperity and facilitate investment, not drive business and jobs abroad, with little resulting benefit to the world's climate. While the high tech green economy of the future provides huge potential for growth and investment across Europe, the green agenda must always be rooted in the reality of the wider economic challenges we face. For both our countries, decarbonisation must not mean deindustrialisation.

But with the global market for green goods and services estimated to be worth $4 trillion and growing at nearly 5% a year, there are real economic opportunities for the UK and Hungary. These are opportunities that we don't want to see let slip through our fingers.

Gregory Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change

Fellegi Tamás, Minister for National Development

(Ministry of National Development , Department of Communication)