The 20th session of the Conference of the Parties and the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol took place from 1 to 14 December in Lima, Peru.

The whistle has blown on the road to Paris as the COP 20 opened in Lima on December 1. A new pledge from Spain means there is now 9.7 billion USD equivalent promised to capitalise the Green Climate Fund for developing countries.  These unprecedented funding pledges added to other recent announcements, including the momentum generated at the UN Climate Summit, the EU 2030 targets and the US/China deal, should provide a positive backdrop to the complex negotiations in Lima. Business needs a text with the elements of a new agreement, a format for countries to provide their national contributions and a fair, defined and robust process to allow tracking against a 2 degree scenario and to encourage further ambition.

WBCSD was very active in Lima ensuring that the voice of progressive business increases the confidence of negotiators. They were partnering with others on a number of key events including the first ‘Energy day’ at a COP, the Caring for Climate business forum,  two forward thinking events on carbon pricing and the launch of the new technology roundtables initiative with SDSN and IDDRI.

Download the program of WBCSD collaborative events at COP 20

Source: http://unfccc.int/meetings/lima_dec_2014/meeting/8141.php

http://www.wbcsd.org/roadtoparis.aspx

According to 96% of Hungarian companies, a more stable and predictable external environment is a pre-requisite for them to improve their sustainability, and, what is more, nearly all of them agree that the business sector will have a significant influence on the future evolution of sustainability. This data is derived from the annual, statistically-non-representative survey conducted by the Business Council of Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH). The survey provides information about the opinions, experiences and expectations of respondents about the current situation of and trends in sustainable development in Hungary, and gives details about respondents’ performance and targets.

The survey was based on the ’Recommendations for Business leaders: The Complex Interpretation of

Corporate Sustainability’. To continue the tradition (the survey was conducted for the first time in 2013), this is the second year that the BCSDH has examined the Signatories’ experience and performance. This year, beyond collecting information about general trends and accomplishments, the survey had a special focus on the strategic integration of sustainability.

At an event for publicising the findings of the survey, a further 26 companies and business organizations joined the initiative, which already has 102 Signatories.

The most important conclusion that can be drawn from the findings of the survey was that “Sustainable development is clearly occurring, but at the same time the number and difficulty of the challenges that are arising is increasing, and overcoming some of the barriers seems to be more difficult than expected.”- summarised István Salgó, President of the BCSDH.

According to the survey, both globally and locally advances in sustainable development have occurred, but the tendency seems to be for Hungary to be lagging behind. Last year most Respondents articulated a pessimistic view about Hungarian trends, while this year they seem to agree on the fact that positive local trends are similar to global ones, only they are behind schedule and are affecting Hungary more slowly than expected, mostly because of the internal and external barriers to sustainability that exist.

The majority of respondents think that political decision makers, governmental regulation and incentives will have the biggest influence on the future evolution of sustainability. The results may be surprising, but the challenging obstacles that exist might explain these attitudes – we have already seen that the unpredictable and intransparent economic and regulatory environment in Hungary forces companies to engage in short term decision making.

After stressing the role of the government, respondents emphasize the importance of their own (and in general, the influence of the power of all) multinational companies in Hungary. Survey respondents clearly recognize their own role, responsibility and opportunities for hastening the evolution of sustainability, which may of course may be further influenced by shareholders, investors and parent companies.

According to the survey, 81% of the local business sector find executive commitment to be the most important driver of their achievements that are related to taking a strategic approach, followed by shareholder expectations (at 65%). To summarise the survey respondents’ plans for the next 1-3 years, partnerships (92%), responsible management (90%) and taking a strategic approach (85%) are the fields in which respondents believe that they need to improve the most.

“More flexible companies and new business models are indisputably needed. These will be better able to deal with the radical, ongoing changes. But the transformation is a difficult and complex process and CEO commitment, support from shareholders and successful dialogue and partnerships with stakeholders are of key importance.” – emphasized István Salgó.

Can business be a positive force to solve global environmental and social issues? We say: “YES”! – said István Salgó, President of our organization, on the event where BCSDH (Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary) launched the Action 2020 Hungary.

With this sentence the business lunch started for local business leaders, where we introduced the unique Action 2020 Hungary program. The program was developed by BCSDH with the strong involvement of the CEO’s of our member companies, who contribute to a significant part of GDP in Hungary, and more than 100 Hungarian scientific and civil experts.

„The level of unemployment among young people has almost reached 20%, 1.8 million tons of food are thrown away on an annual basis, global warming (which may reach 2°C by 2050) is already impacting Hungary, only 9% of surface water is of good quality and sustainable consumers make up only 10% of the population. These are just some of the reasons that companies thinking on a long are being called to action.” – announced István Salgó, President of BCSDH.

Representing the government, Antal Nikoletti, responsible for International Economic Affairs at Ministry of National Economy of Hungary, appraised the program and underlined that priorities and goals of Action 2020 Hungary are aligned to the government’s national strategic goals. He also appraised the work of BCSDH, as the cooperation of the members – who account for more than 25% of the Hungarian GDP – and the scientific and civil sector’s experts to improve sustainable development, resulted in a really unique program.

This Action 2020 program is unique because more than 60 scientific and civil experts were involved and engaged in identifying challenges and goals. Following this step, we discussed the experts’ proposals with CEOs whose companies will have a key role to the success of the program.

The end result of the process was goal setting for the Action 2020 initiative. In the first phase with the involvement of stakeholders the most important social, environmental and economic facts, trends were identified, where the business sector will play a key role, over the next 6 years.

Based on these BCSDH will be able to continue the work by identifying, developing and disseminating business solutions which contribute to the realization of Action 2020 Hungary goals.

During the localization phase of the program and while setting the targets for Hungary we mainly considered the following factors:

• the need to align targets with pre-existing national strategic goals, and/or
• common scientific agreements that have identified problems or goals, and

•           ensuring that the contribution of business sectors to these areas will be potentially significant.

Food and Feed, Employment, Sustainable Lifestyles, Climate Change and Water are the five focal areas for Action 2020 Hungary. 

Based on a non-representative survey which was also published on this event, among the five selected priorities more than 60% of respondents identify Climate Change as the most important business risk. Most important business opportunity may be Sustainable Lifestyles according to the majority of respondents.

Critical phase of the program will just start by identifying and disseminating business solutions.

Company leaders, who played an active role during the program development within the dedicated working group participated in a roundtable discussion during the event:

Andrea Bujdosó, Shell Hungary Zrt., András Gyenes, Unilever Magyarország Kft, Ágnes Horváth, McDonald’s Magyarországi Étterem Hálózat Kft., Zsolt Jamniczky, E.ON Hungária Zrt., Michael Nixon, Nestlé Hungária Kft.

They agreed, that participating in this Action 2020 Hungary program brought not only on a personal level, but for their company interesting experiences and benefits. The participation of a CEO in such a program already illustrates the commitment of the whole company not only for the external stakeholders but also for employees. They learned a lot of things through different roles: as parents, as socially and environmentally sensitive citizens and as company leaders. They were also confronted with shocking data and trends, but this strengthened their commitment to sustainable development, which is not only inevitable but also a business opportunity.

You can find the photo gallery on the following link.

More information about the Action 2020 you can find here.

​​The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the United Nations Global Compact and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have joined forces to mobilize the private sector as a key player in achieving our world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs, to be launched by the United Nations in September 2015, seek to end poverty, ensure a life of dignity and opportunity for all, and protect our planet’s stability.

1. Guide companies on existing principles, methodologies and standards to assess and   communicate their impact across the SDGs;
2. Present an inventory of indicators that can be used by companies to assess impact against particular SDGs and their corresponding targets; and
3. Provide direction on how companies can enhance the quality of their sustainability goals, position them as commitments, and communicate them in a meaningful and credible manner.
Business is called upon to join in this momentous endeavor to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Visionary and forward-looking companies must take the lead in pushing the sustainable development agenda forward, and make the case for business everywhere to join in the effort to achieve the SDGs.