Global cement conglomerate Holcim has just released its pioneering group-wide 2014 Integrated Profit & Loss (IPL) statement, produced using global KPMG’s True Value methodology. The IPL measures the triple bottom line by quantifying Holcim’s socio-economic and environmental impacts in financial terms. You can read Holcim’s complete report here.
The Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH) has decided to join the international Live Earth movement following a call from the President of Hungary, János Áder, and the WBCSD. The initiative encourages the active participation of member companies for getting the most people to join up.
“Live Earth: Road to Paris” will allow people to have their voices heard and let world leaders know that their citizens expect them to act this year on climate change – said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon . The specific goal is to get one billion signatures from concerned citizens before the UN climate change conference convenes in Paris in December 2015.
According to the Business Council it is extremely important that the Paris Climate Summit is successful. Accordingly, it seeks to support the campaign actively. The initiative was launched in January this year by former US vice-president Al Gore, and has been personally promoted by János Áder in Hungary.
Last year more than 100 scientific and civil experts and CEOs actively contributed to defining the goals for Hungary to be met by 2020, including those relating to climate change. The next step is to specify exactly what the contribution of business will be in order to facilitate the meeting of these goals (http://action2020.hu/climate-change/).
A Hungarian website www.elobolygonk.hu, established by the President of Hungary, will be the platform for collecting these ‘climate-votes’ and ensuring that your personal support will be counted in the international campaign.
The BCSDH believes that if its member companies join the initiative, actively use their own assets and motivate their stakeholders to dynamically participate in collecting domestic ‘climate votes’, it will make a significant contribution to meet the global ‘a billion signatures’ target. Our mother organisation, WBCSD, is a global partner of the initiative.
Let’s join our voices in demanding environmental accountability from world leaders!
Our member, the Deloitte Hungary will be carrying out a survey aimed at assessing the current state of CSR and sustainable development in Hungary and 10 other Central European countries.
BCSDH helps to spread the questionnaire and make possible to the member companies to participate in the survey.
Click here to access the questionnaire.
Regina Kuzmina has been appointed to the position of Managing Director Unilever Hungary & Adria, effective 1st August 2015. She will become the member of Leadership Team managing the Central Eastern Europe region.
Kuzmina brings extensive experience to the Hungarian business. She joined Unilever in Russia in 1997 and grew through the ranks in the organisation holding different roles in Marketing and media communications including the post of Brand Building Vice President Home and Personal Care. Over the last 4 years she was leading the Customer Development Department in Russia/Ukraine/Belarus.
Kuzmina will assume responsibility to manage a region which consists of 4 countries: Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. „It is an honour for me to join and lead highly professional team here. The business results over the last years are speaking of themselves: great expertise, clear focus, determination, resilience, agility and entrepreneurship – this is what makes my new team a winning team. I would be delighted to add value by bringing fresh look, new perspectives, bolder ideas, to further challenging the team and business to the new heights. I do not come to fix the business; I come to make it shine even brighter… ” – the new Managing Director said.
Regina Kuzmina studied at the Chemical-Pharmaceutical University of Saint Petersburg and earned MBA at KU Leuven. She is married with two children. Kuzmina and her family will move to Budapest in August.
Earth Overshoot Day 2015 lands on August 13.
Earth Overshoot Day is the annual marker of when we begin living beyond our means in a given year. While only a rough estimate of time and resource trends, Earth Overshoot Day is as close as science can be to measuring the gap between our demand for ecological resources and services, and how much the planet can provide.
The Cost of Ecological Overspending
Throughout most of history, humanity has used nature’s resources to build cities and roads, to provide food and create products, and to absorb our carbon dioxide at a rate that was well within Earth’s budget. But in the mid-1970s, we crossed a critical threshold: Human consumption began outstripping what the planet could reproduce.
According to Global Footprint Network’s calculations, our demand for renewable ecological resources and the services they provide is now equivalent to that of more than 1.5 Earths. The data shows us on track to require the resources of two planets well before mid-century.
The fact that we are using, or “spending,” our natural capital faster than it can replenish is similar to having expenditures that continuously exceed income. In planetary terms, the costs of our ecological overspending are becoming more evident by the day. Climate change—a result of greenhouse gases being emitted faster than they can be absorbed by forests and oceans—is the most obvious and arguably pressing result. But there are others—shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse, higher commodity prices and civil unrest, to name a few. The environmental and economic crises we are experiencing are symptoms of looming catastrophe. Humanity is simply using more than what the planet can provide.
Source: Global Footprint Network
US President Barack Obama has unveiled what he called “the biggest, most important step we have ever taken” in tackling climate change.
The aim of the revised Clean Power Plan is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from US power stations by nearly a third within 15 years. The measures will place significant emphasis on wind and solar power and other renewable energy sources.
However, opponents in the energy industry have vowed to fight the plan. “I’m convinced no challenge provides a greater threat to the future of the planet,” Mr Obama said. “There is such a thing as being too late.”
Those opponents say Mr Obama has declared “a war on coal”. Power plants fired by coal provide more than a third of the US electricity supply. The revised plan will aim to cut carbon emissions from the power sector by 32% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.
“We are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change, and the last generation to be able to do something about it,” Mr Obama said. He likened the plan to taking 166 million cars off the road in terms of environmental impact. He called taking a stand against climate change a “moral obligation”.
Mr Obama brushed off the notion that the plan is a “War on Coal” that will kill jobs and said he is reinvesting in areas of the US known as “coal country”.
“Scaremonging” tactics will not work to stop the proposal, he said.
“If we don’t do it nobody will. America leads the way forward… that’s what this plan is about. This is our moment to get something right and get something right for our kids,” he said.
The deal at a glance
What does it do to combat climate change in the US?
The Clean Power Plan sets standards to reduce CO2 emissions by 32% from 2005 levels by 2030, which is 9% more than the proposed rules previously set forth by the Obama administration.
How?
It sets carbon pollution reduction goals for power plants and requires states to implement plans to meet goals. States have until September 2016 to submit plans, but must comply by 2022.
Why are some US states opposed?
Coal mining states such as Wyoming, West Virginia and Kentucky fear their economies would suffer and people would be laid off.
Is President Obama trying to set an example?
The Administration believes the plan will boost a major climate summit in Paris in December and encourage other countries to submit their own plans.
Source: www.bbc.com
More information:
The first fully electrically powered vehicle in Budapest Airport’s fleet, a Smart Electric Drive, has entered service. More modern, cleaner cars are appearing at the airport one after the other, as Budapest Airport aims to continuously reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. It will be possible to see the little electric Smart not only at the airport, but in Budapest as well.
The new Smart ED, or Electric Drive, has been bustling around on Budapest Airport’s internal road network for the past few days with a quiet murmur, following its commissioning. The little, fully electrically powered two-seater is the product of Budapest Airport’s efforts to continuously, gradually reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. According to current plans, there could be as many as 100 electric vehicles in operation at the airport by 2020, including not just passenger cars, but also special handling vehicles and heavy-duty machinery performing airport-specific tasks.
Based on the calculations of Budapest Airport’s environmental experts, the airport is an ideal environment for the operation of electric cars, as vehicles are required to move relatively short distances, which makes the operation of vehicles with internal combustion engines less efficient. Although electric vehicles do not emit any carbon dioxide, they are powered by electricity produced by power plants in Hungary. This means that an estimated 7.2 kg of CO2 is generated for every 100 kilometers of use, but this is still considerably less than the emissions of a modern diesel engine, of around 18.7 kg CO2 / 100 km.
“We are continuously collecting experiences of operating electric vehicles, to be able to determine the precise extent of the benefits in terms of maintenance, compared to traditional vehicles. The new Smart certainly became an overnight sensation at the airport, turning the heads of many passengers and staff as it moves along. We hope that within a few years, the sight of electric vehicles will be customary at Budapest Airport,” said Péter Huszka, chief operating officer for Budapest Airport.
Budapest Airport has launched a program in order to coordinate and encourage environmental developments amongst the nearly 200 partner companies operating at the airport, with the dissemination of electric mobility as one of its important elements. International experience shows that airports are well suited to the operation of electric vehicles, both in airside areas, during the ground handling of flights, as well as in public car parks, where charging stations and related services can be provided. More than 1000 vehicles are used for the handling of flights, the towing of hold baggage trolleys and by authority staff members, all within a circle with a radius of less than 10 km, in the airside areas, closed to public traffic. As a result of the program, partner companies operating at the airport have started indicating the need for charging stations for their newly purchased electric vehicles, and are testing the various special solutions offered by manufacturers.
Photos of Budapest Airport’s new Smart ED are available here: https://goo.gl/sPRxLX
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) envisions a world where the long-term environmental and social performance of a business is reflected in its success alongside financial indicators. Businesses depend on people as employees, customers, suppliers, retailers, governors and neighbors, and are inextricably connected to the societies within which they operate. Their interactions with society can have significant consequences and must be taken into consideration when measuring and valuing a company’s overall performance.
Despite the significant number of tools available for social impact measurement, businesses are struggling to identify fit-for-purpose approaches that will enable the use of social information to inform strategy and decision-making.
As part of the WBCSD’s Redefining Value program, the development of a Social Capital Protocol aims to bring together and align current expertise in measurement and valuation. Therefore, we are providing a platform to kick-start collaboration.
With this paper, we are calling upon organizations, experts and practitioners, across all sectors and disciplines, to join us in consolidating these efforts. This must be a collaborative initiative to build the critical mass necessary to ensure a legitimate and broadly accepted result for companies, shareholders and stakeholders.
For more information:
Due to its state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge developments and services, HungaroControl Hungarian Air Navigation Services Pte. Ltd. Co. is one of the most accurate, most efficient and most reliable service providers in international aviation, and an active regional initiator and co-operating partner of the European Union’s integration efforts under the Single European Sky.
According to EUROCONTROL’s statistical data and forecasts, the number of flights in Europe is 10 million per annum, and in the next 20 years this figure may even double. During the past few years HungaroControl has launched several significant projects to improve its air navigation services, guarantee the safe management of the increasing air traffic, and promote the imminent success of the integration undertaken by the European Union.
Due to its continuous innovation and the application of the results of its research and development, HungaroControl has an outstanding role in Europe in flight safety improvements, capacity increases, reduction of airline costs and increased environmental protection. As a result of combined efforts and on commission from NATO, since 3 April 2014, HungaroControl has been managing civilian air traffic overflights in the upper airspace over Kosovo. In February 2015 HungaroControl was the first to adopt Free Route Airspace use without any limitations in Hugnary’s entire airspace, well before the deadline set by the European Commission.
In addition to improving its traditional air navigation services and technical and technological background, one of HungaroControl’s strategic objectives is the establishment of a Central European air navigation knowledge centre in joint effort with its partners. The 2013 implementation of its new, state-of-the-art air navigation centre enabled HungaroControl to relocate its businesses engaged in innovation in a single place, in the building of a former ANS. The establishment of a knowledge centre is justified by increasing international market demand for research and development, simulation and training to support air navigation, which is partly generated by European integration and the objectives related to the functional airspace blocks. On the initiative of HungaroControl Zrt, the regional air navigation knowledge centre will be set up with the involvement of the Hungarian universities and institutions engaged in aviation sector innovation.
The purpose of HungaroControl’s capital investment projects is to enable the Central European Functional Airspace Block (FAB CE), a regional co-operation of seven Central European countries, to provide competitive services and operate at the highest technical and technological standard.
HungaroControl’s corporate social responsibility is an approach integral to the Company’s organisational culture, pervading all corporate activities with a focus on ensuring sustainable development.
As HungaroControlproactively contributes to solving local and global problems; it is also in constant dialogue with the people living in its surroundings as well as neighbouring local councils.
The Company’s Support Policy focuses on improving the natural and operating environment, recognising sports achievements that are outstanding on an international level, supporting extraordinary events that require national solidarity, initiatives that are conducive to popularising aviation and air transport, research, development and innovation projects, and promoting equal opportunities for children.
Henkel Magyarország Kft. – with its legal predecessor – is operating in Hungary since 1987. The company is the subsidiary of the Vienna-based Henkel Central Eastern Europe.
Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three business units: Laundry & Home Care, Beauty Care and Adhesive Technologies, with well known brands such as Persil, Tomi, Schwarzkopf, Fa, Loctite and Teroson.
Henkel Magyarország Kft. pursues production activity currently in two plants.
In the Körösladány plant, Henkel manufactures detergents and household cleaning products, the factory is one of the most important supply center for Henkel in the Central Eastern European region.
Built in 2012 with greenfield investment in the Komárom-Esztergom county’s Környe, the new Henkel adhesive factory is currently manufacturing water-based and electronic adhesives.
The Hungarian headquarter of Henkel is located in Budapest.
Henkel’s commitment to leadership in sustainability is deeply embedded in their values.
To maintain this lead in the future, they have developed a long-term sustainability strategy and set a straightforward yet ambitious goal to triple the efficiency of all Henkel products and processes by 2030.
They want to create better results – for their customers and consumers, for the communities they operate in, and for their company – with smaller environmental footprint. Achieving more with less – this is the idea at the heart of the sustainability strategy, which guides all of their business processes and activities.
‘It belongs to the core values of Henkel that the company would like to continue to have a leading position in sustainability. As part of that, we are looking for new, ground-breaking solutions to ensure sustainable development, while forming our operations responsibly and becoming more successful economically. The partnership with BCSDH is help to achieve our sustainability goals, this is why we wish to join’– said Dr. Ágnes Fábián, managing director of Henkel Magyarország while joining the BCSDH.
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