Ahead of the formal adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the UN’s Sustainable Development Summit in New York, the President’s Office is already focusing on identifying the most important goals for Hungary – announced H.E. Csaba Körösi, Head of the Directorate for Environmental Sustainability at the President’s Office at the BCSDH’s CEO business breakfast.

6th of October, Budapest, – H.E. Csaba Körösi, Head of the Directorate for Environmental Sustainability at the President’s Office, held a very impactful presentation for CEOs at the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH)’s business breakfast.

Irén Márta, the new managing director of the organization, stressed the actuality of the topic in her opening speech, since after the closure of the UN summit in New York the whole world is now watching out for the upcoming World Climate Summit in Paris in December, which may represent a crucial turning point for the planet.

In 1945 – said Csaba Kőrösi – a new chapter of history based on a new vision was formulated. Values, principles and to a certain extent, the objectives of international cooperation were reformulated, and a network of supporting institutions were created in the following years. In 2015 we must – and we are capable of – making a similar paradigm change in order to create a sustainable world in which to live.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were recently (in September) published at the UN’s Sustainable Development Summit in New York, are unique tools of their kind. The final 17 goals as agreed on by all 193 member states of the UN cover a 15-year timeframe – to 2030 – and include 169 targets. Businessmen, scientists and civil organizations from 193 countries have been working for two years to create an ambitious but feasible set of sustainability goals.

For companies an SDG Compass was jointly developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the GRI and the UN Global Compact. This document supports companies to take a strategic approach to the SDGs and to enhance their contribution to sustainable development through their core business activities.

 SDGs are long-term objectives which frame a global vision. The key to their success is in the implementation: in the way that countries transform this global vision into action according to their own situations.

According to Csaba Kőrösi, who co-chaired the international negotiations for the Sustainable Development Goals, the most important criterion for success is that each country has to identify its own sustainability priorities.

Among this set of global goals, the sustainability priorities of Hungary are the following: climate protection, sustainable water-source management, food-security, clean energy and energy security, health care, sustainable cities and communities – as well as the technology development and education needed to support these goals.

The question is not whether there are changes ahead, but whether we will be able to influence their direction, and whether we can lead them.