Proposal
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European Union worked to secure liquified natural gas (LNG) deals with third countries to abolish its dependence on Russian gas. In this article, I sought to determine the environmental implications of the European Union’s new LNG deals on the air quality in Hungary and Poland, two former communist states. Despite LNG being a cleaner fossil fuel, I hypothesized that it posed a threat to Hungary’s and Poland’s air quality as both countries endured rapid industrialization under Soviet control that forwent environmental protections. To prove this, I used qualitative data from before the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), reports from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) before and after Hungary’s and Poland’s accession into the EU, and the European Commission’s 2022 Environmental Implementation Reviews to establish Hungary’s and Poland’s long history of mismanaging air pollution. Furthermore, I also built two timelines of Hungary’s Fidesz Party and Poland’s Law and Justice Party to support the notion that the new LNG deals strengthen both parties’ ability to deprioritize the EU’s decarbonization agenda. My results led me to the conclusion that, given Hungary’s and Poland’s past and present struggles to protect their air quality and the contentious relationship both countries’ ruling parties have with EU environmental policy, the EU’s pursuit of energy independence with new LNG gas deals could undo Hungary’s and Poland’s progress; therefore, the EU should consider additional measures to aid Hungary and Poland in meeting their emission reduction commitments.
Recommended Citation
Peterson, Stephanie P.
(2024)
"Security at Too High an Environmental Cost?: The European Union's Energy Independence Strategy and its Environmental Implications for Air Quality in Poland and Hungary,"
The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research:
Vol. 14, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2158-4052.1722
