在地居民与学者担忧公共健康与环境风险：工厂使用重金属与NMP等危险化学品，并大量取水与耗能。CATL最新许可显示平均日用水约523,000加仑，其中约三分之二为饮用水，其余来自处理后废水；夏季尖峰用水可能增至平时的3倍。地方监测指出细悬浮微粒有异常尖峰；一间中资隔膜厂因氮氧化物、总挥发性有机物与二氯甲烷等超标，被罚150万福林（约4,500美元）。
这些投资被视为有助减碳：分析称中国清洁能源出口在2024年使中国以外排放下降约1%，减少约2.2亿公吨气候污染；若2023–2024宣布的海外制造投资落地，年减排可再增约1.3亿公吨。但报导同时记录多国出现污染、劳权争议与对记者／倡议者的监控恐吓。匈牙利在2010年后加速审批、弱化环境治理；在EU 2035禁售燃油新车目标下扩张电池产业，且CATL称初期约三分之一员工将来自中国，政治紧张延续到预计2026年4月的全国选举。
Since 2022, Chinese firms have pledged about $200 billion for overseas clean-energy manufacturing—387 projects spanning EVs, batteries, solar, and more across every continent except Antarctica. Hungary is a major hub (behind only Indonesia and Morocco): at least 18 EV- and battery-related projects totaling roughly $17 billion. Near Debrecen, CATL is finishing what could be one of Europe’s largest EV battery plants, anchoring an industrial cluster that now includes multiple Chinese-owned component factories.
Local opposition focuses on health, water, and chemical risks. CATL’s latest permit lists average water use near 523,000 gallons per day, about two-thirds drinking water and the rest processed wastewater; summer peak demand could be about 3× higher. Residents cite hazardous substances including NMP, while activists deploy monitors and report pollution spikes. Authorities fined a Chinese-owned separator-film plant 1.5 million forints (about $4,500) for exceeding air-emission limits for NOx, total VOCs, and dichloromethane.
The climate upside is sizable but contested. One analysis says China’s 2024 clean-energy exports cut emissions outside China by about 1%—around 220 million metric tons—with a further ~130 million metric tons per year possible if 2023–2024 announced overseas projects materialize. Yet the same expansion is linked to waterway pollution, labor-rights allegations, and intimidation of journalists and activists. In Hungary, critics tie fast-tracked permits to post-2010 governance changes as the EU moves toward its 2035 phaseout of new gasoline/diesel car sales; CATL also says about one-third of early staff will come from China, with politics heading toward national elections expected in April 2026.
