Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that the country of 10.7 million people will need 675 billion crowns (26.5 billion euros, $29.3 billion) to achieve carbon neutrality.

While western EU members expect to cut carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2050, Czechs aim to reach 80 percent of the goal by then.

"The costs of (the switch to) carbon neutrality will be astronomic," Babis tweeted.

"We want the EU to take this into account in the next budgeting period," he said, urging Brussels to accept nuclear energy as an emission-free source.

Babis's remarks come as the EU launched its new "Green Deal" on Wednesday proposing a law requiring member states to build a carbon neutral economy by 2050.

The measure still needs the go-ahead from parliament and EU leaders.

Poorer eastern members like Poland and the Czech Republic that rely heavily on fossil fuels, mainly coal, have baulked at the costs of plan.

Fossil fuels made up 57 percent of the Czech energy mix last year, with nuclear energy accounting for 37 percent and renewable resources six percent, according to the OTE state-owned energy market operator.

Last month Prague unveiled a plan to build a new multi-billion-euro nuclear unit at the southern Dukovany plant by 2036.

"Nuclear power is clean, it has no emissions," Babis said at the time, adding that Prague was seeking a 40-percent share of nuclear energy by 2040, up from 30 percent in 2016.

It also aims to reach a 22-percent share of renewable resources by 2030.

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OTE GROUP - HELLENIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANIZATION