ZAGREB, 1 Feb 2022 - A climate survey by the European Investment Bank (EIB) has indicated that 73% of Croatians say they would opt for a hybrid or electric vehicle next time they purchase a vehicle, whereas 27% say they would choose a petrol/diesel car.

The EIB Climate Survey 2021-2022 shows that older citizens prefer an electric vehicle whereas younger citizens prefer a petrol or diesel car.

The survey explores people's views on climate change in a rapidly changing world and focuses on citizens' individual behaviour and the actions they are taking to combat climate change.

According to the survey, the majority of Croatians (73%) would buy either a hybrid or electric vehicle when next buying a car, with the share of those preferring an electric vehicle (37%) being almost the same as the share of those who prefer a hybrid vehicle (36%).

The survey also shows that as citizens' age increases so does their preference for an electric or hybrid vehicle, with 52% of those older than 65 preferring electric or hybrid cars compared with 34% of those aged between 30 and 64, and 30% of those younger than 30.

Younger Croatians are more likely to purchase a petrol or diesel car (41%).

A hybrid vehicle would be the first choice for 40% of Croatians aged between 30 to 64, which is 10 percentage points higher than for citizens aged over 65 (30%) and 11 percentage points more than for those younger than 30 (29%).

At the same time, only 11% said they don't own a vehicle and do not intend to buy one. This is 2 percentage points lower than the EU average.

Regarding their preference for hybrid or electric vehicles, Croats rank close to Hungarians (72%), Slovenians (71%) and are more likely to do so than Austrians (51%) and Czechs (48%), EIB reported on its website.

Croats aren't that much in favour of petrol or diesel cars, with only 27% saying that would be their next car. That is 22 percentage points less than the share of Austrians planning to buy such a car (49%) and 25 percentage below the share of Czechs (52%). Once again, similarly to Croatians, 28% of Hungarians would opt for a petrol or diesel car, as would 29% of Slovenians.

Most Europeans favour hybrid vehicles

Generally, when thinking about their next car, most Europeans (39%) would opt for a hybrid car, followed by petrol and diesel vehicles (33%) and electric cars (28%).

EIB notes that 86% of Croatians feel they are doing all they can to fight climate change in their daily lives, but the majority believe that their compatriots are not doing the same.

Furthermore, 62% say they consider climate change when choosing a holiday destination, 43% young Croatians consider climate change when looking for a job while 40% of young Croatians say they already buy second-hand clothes instead of new ones.

November the 9th, 2021 - Croatian oil and gas exploration isn't of particular interest to Petrol from neighbouring Slovenia following the postponement of the conclusion of an exploration contract.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, before the Slovenian Petrol completed their acquisition of Crodux Derivati Dva (2), the company informed the Croatian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development this summer that it was giving up on its exploration mission on two onshore fields, namely S11 and S12, for which it received a concession back in the August of 2019.

According to the official explanation as to why Croatian oil and gas exploration was being put back on the shelf, Crodux first asked for a postponement of the conclusion of the exploration contract and the division of hydrocarbon exploitation, and then reported that they were giving up on the exploration entirely. The exploration period for the above-mentioned fields was set to last five years, and in the event that gas or oil did end up being found, a 25-year period of its subsequent exploitation would have followed.

The Croatian Government's explicit permission for this was a precondition for opening a contract negotiation procedure, followed by the signing of the said contract, but Crodux first cited various difficulties due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and asked for a postponement of the conclusion of the contract, before giving up on it entirely.

The aforementioned ministry received the notification back on June the 7th, and Ivan Cermak withdrew from the position of President of the Management Board of Crodux, which was in the process of taking over from Petrol slightly earlier on, more precisely on June the 1st, meaning that it can be concluded that the new owner of Crodux has no interest in continuing Croatian oil and gas exploration, at least at the moment.

After the withdrawal, a bank guarantee was activated, which pumped a massive 3.75 million kuna into the Croatian state budget.

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