2016 - Page 3 of 5

Updated guide on climate change for private equity investors

KPMG launched an updated guide on climate change for private equity investors, prepared for the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The guide covers current and emerging practice in the developing area of assessing climate change impacts on private equity investments, in two sections. Section 1 summarises the rationale for incorporating climate change concerns in private equity investments. Section 2 presents a framework that Limited Partners (LPs) and General Partners (GPs) can use in due diligence and when engaging with their fund and portfolio company investments. The guide is available at IIGCC’s website.

20.09.2016

Allianz Hungária – also serving to protect nature and our environment

Member News

Our company is deeply committed to fighting global climate change. As a service provider, Allianz can undoubtedly do less for the cause than product manufacturers. However, we have implemented and will continue to implement a number of measures in addition to our green headquarters to protect nature and our environment.

Opening the new, green headquarters in 2010 was a milestone even in Allianz Hungária’s long list of efforts in environmental protection. The building was designed with a number of environment-friendly considerations in mind, including the type of construction materials (recycled materials were used in lots of sections) and also the lifetime carbon footprint of the structure.

A powerful insulation system including, among others, glass fibre sheets, aluminium foil backed rock wool panels and thermal insulation plaster significantly lowers the building’s energy consumption.
Hot water is partially supplied by the 12 solar panels mounted on the roof of the building in an area covering 24 m².
Rainwater (also called grey water) is used to flush toilets. With the heavy rains in the rainy season, it equals 13 m³ or approx. 52 bathtubs of water a day (instead of clean tap water) that the Municipality does not have to treat, another considerable amount of energy saved.
The combination of central printers, the introduction of double-sided printing and new non-paper based processes as well as the digital office solution has drastically reduced paper use. Now only one-fifth of the paper quantity of 2009 is used, i.e. the company has consumed the same amount of paper over the past five years as in the year 2009.
Amounting to close to 6000 kg in 2015 alone, documents and papers generated in office work and sorted to be destroyed are stored in metal containers and destroyed by an outside business partner in a closed system and then recycled. Consequently, approx. 70 full-grown trees are saved every year. (Recycling is regulated in a contract to ensure that our partner processes materials in an environmental-friendly manner.)
Used paper towels at our headquarters are collected and disposed of via the Budapest Municipal Public Services Inc. (FKF Zrt.), which in 2015 alone amounted to a total of 57 m³ of selectively collected paper waste.
With selective waste collection being the norm, we also separately collect hazardous waste such as the oil used in the restaurant kitchen of the building. Depleted batteries are collected in another container that normally fills up in a year. There was even another container for dead light bulbs during the 2015 Earth Hour campaign which was filled by company employees and walk-in contributors. In addition, dead light bulbs (400 pcs) and electronic devices (100 pcs) are also selectively collected and disposed of on a regular basis.
Our colleagues drink purified water to limit the number of PET bottles used and to reduce the material needs for producing mineral water. Calculating with an average 2 litre water consumption per day per person and with 1000 colleagues, we save 4000 half-litre PET bottles every day.
The glass surfaces of the building provide lots of natural light; in all other premises motion detector controlled or energy saving (compact fluorescent lamps and LED) light sources are employed. Savings on electricity is further enhanced by a motion detector controlled, dynamic light switching system in the underground garage.
We use natural gas heating because it produces the least amount of combustion products. The hot exhaust air is used to preheat the fresh air supply via a condensation boiler. In addition, blown, filtered and fresh air is pre-cooled and pre-heated using huge heat recovery drums to reduce the amount of electricity and natural gas consumed for heating and cooling.
As a result of our energy saving efforts, 250 trees are saved in our forests and a quantity equalling 24,000 bathtubs filled with water remain clean in our rivers. A single 11 W compact fluorescent lamp now operates for 960 fewer hours (120 workdays) per year, resulting in over 3 tons of limestone and over 1 ton of coal left untouched in the mountains.
Access to the building is also an important factor for a green office. The Allianz HQ is accessible via various means of public transportation and there is even a bicycle track nearby. To encourage cycling, the building houses bicycle storage, locker room and shower facilities.

In support of our environment-friendly efforts, our Company is planning to introduce additional energy efficient methods by implementing the ISO 50001 standard.

We are proud that the building has been pre-qualified as “BREEAM very good” and its “greenness” has been recognised with the Construction Industry Excellence Award (“Építőipari Nívódíj”). And we have not even mentioned the colour of the building…

20.09.2016

Budapest Energy Summit, 5-6 December 2016

News

Budapest Energy Summit will be organized on the 5-6^th of December 2016 at Budapest, Hungary.

The Main Patron of the conference is Mr. János Áder, President of Hungary.

The conference is a newly launched, biennial exclusive forum of the top energy leaders and EU leaders, representing businesses, authorities, and international organizations from 18 countries. The aim of the summit is to share insights and perspectives of the sector and to discuss the key energy issues of the broadly defined region.

They will surely be there:

Some further speakers of the Summit are:

Marie-Theres Thiell (RWE); Alexander Alting von Geusau (ING); Kirill Komarov (Rosatom); Gergely Szabó (MET); Dan Byles (SmarterUK); Jan Springl (EP Energy); Andrew Walker (Cheniere).

All speakers are available on the continually updated website of the conference: www.budapestenergysummit.hu

Book your seat now!

The World Energy Outlook 2016 will be presented on the conference by the Chief Economist of IEA, László Varró.

Awards have been established to honor the outstanding achievements of energy executives and projects. You can nominate for „Energy Executive of the Year”, „Young Energy Executive of the Year”, „Woman Energy Executive of the Year”, „Energy Innovation Project of the Year” and „ Energy CSR project of the Year”. The winners will be selected by a professional, international jury. The awarding ceremony will be held on the gala dinner on the 5th of December (first day of the conference).

Details of the summit:

Date: 5-6th of December 2016

Venue: Hungary, Budapest, Hotel Marriott

Early bird tickets with 20% discount are available until September for 960 EUR!

Please note that the number of seats available are limited.

For further information, please contact Henrietta Benkő at henrietta.benko@budapestenergysummit.hu.

The Main Sponsor of the event:

09.09.2016

Which is the greenest, happiest country in the world?

News

Is life on this planet getting better? When it comes to the progress of nations, how do you measure what matters most? There’s wealth, there’s health, there’s basic human freedoms. These criteria, and others, make regular appearances in a variety of international rankings, from the Better Life Index to the Sustainable Economic Development Assessment and the World Happiness Report.

But a new study takes a different approach. The Happy Planet Index, which has just published its 2016 edition, measures health and happiness not in isolation but against a crucial new gold standard for success: sustainability.

The formula goes something like this: take the well-being and longevity of a population, measure how equally both are distributed, then set the result against each country’s ecological footprint.

In this calculation, the most successful countries are those where people live long and happy lives at little cost to the environment.

So which countries are they?

They’re not the wealthy Western countries you’d expect to see, or even the progressive Nordic ones that normally bag the lifestyle laurels. Instead, a list of the top 10 (the index ranks 140 countries overall) shows that when it comes to people’s ability to live good lives within sustainable limits, Latin American and Asia Pacific countries are ahead of the crowd.

Green and pleasant land

There’s one country that stands out: Costa Rica, which tops the ranking for the third time. It is the happiest and most sustainable country on Earth, according to the Happy Planet Index.

So, what is it doing right?

A recent Gallup poll found the Central American nation to have the highest level of well-being in the world. It also has some of the longest-lived people: life expectancy there is 78.5 years – older than in the US. But what places the country time and again at the top of the index is that it delivers all this health and happiness while using a mere quarter of the resources that are typically used in the Western world.

How does it do that? Chiefly through a strong commitment to the environment: 99% of the country’s electricity supply is said to come from renewable sources, and the government has pledged to make the country carbon neutral by 2021. Other factors include robust investing in social programmes such as health and education, with public money that has been all the more plentiful since the abolition of the national army in 1949.

Wealthier Western countries tend to score highly when it comes to life expectancy and well-being, but the high environmental cost of their way of life sees their ratings plummet. The US, for instance, has one of the largest ecological footprints in the world. Of the Scandinavian nations, meanwhile, only Norway appears in the index’s top 20.

Source: www.weforum.org

17.08.2016

GRI certified Sustainability reporting – GRI G4 training

News

Sustainability reporting helps organizations to become more responsible, accountable and contribute effectively to sustainable development; to engage with stakeholders and build corporate reputation. To prepare and publish a report needs more than data, wording and editing.

Date: 29-30. September 2016 + on-line exercise

Location: Hungary, Budapest (1133 Budapest, Váci út 92. Kinnarps House)

Language: English

Participation fee: 750 EURO + VAT (27%), which includes printed training material, coffee breaks, lunch, exam fee, licence fee, but does not include travelling, parking or accommodation fee.

Discounts:

550 EURO + VAT (27%) For NGOs, teachers, students, SMEs (<50 employees) and for companies that delegate more participants than 1 person
10% Early bird discount if registering until 5th September
10% for companies who are members of our partner organizations e.g. BCSDH member (full partner list available on sd-reporting-training.webnode.hu)

Capturing key topics and developments, the 16-hour training provides a holistic overview of sustainability reporting, from G4 requirements and developments to practical information and conclusions.

The training provides a general overview on the reporting process and areas:

starting with basic definitions (what is sustainability),
the reporting process (what is reporting, how to measure sustainability, GRI principles and indicators), also
concrete reporting dilemmas (printed or online, which target group, how to communicate it effectively, how to prioritize issues etc.).

Former training participants evaluated the training as practical, professional, creative and open minded event, which gave them every day help although to prepare their first report or develop already existing reporting practices.

Sustainability reporting is a continually evolving practice that interacts with local and global developments. Thousands of organizations worldwide produce sustainability reports, and more and more develop their reporting process to gain benefits. Assurance and integrated reports are among key challenges on a global level, stakeholder engagement, materiality and successful publishing and dissemination on national levels.

Reporting is an internal learning process contributing the sustainable and organizational development, and a communication tool to build and strengthen reputation and stakeholder relationships. The relationship between data, an organization’s sustainability, performance and its ability to communicate material information to stakeholders is among key challenges – and this training will give useful insights and day to day recommendations to tackle them.

More information you can find here: http://sd-reporting-training.webnode.hu/

The registration sheet you can find here: Registration_G4_September2016

21.07.2016

Every business depends on nature for success

News

Under the banner of the Natural Capital Coalition, around 240 cross sectoral leaders gathered in London to launch the Natural Capital Protocol – the first ever standardized framework for business to measure and value its impacts and dependencies on natural capital. This is a huge leap forward.

All businesses now have access to cutting edge information that will improve decision-making with respect to nature, and allow evidence-based conversations about sustainability.

WBCSD is proud to have led development of the Protocol on behalf of the Natural Capital Coalition, through a consortium of nearly 30 businesses, service providers, NGOs, academics and individual experts to work towards this key sustainability milestone.

As business navigates an economy increasingly defined by the boundaries of our planet, it’s critical for us to begin seriously considering natural capital in every-day business decision-making, so that we truly can do more with less. The companies who do this will be better positioned to succeed as regulations change and natural resources diminish.

A smart business person will make efforts to live off the interest earned by corporate capital reserves, rather than devouring foundational capital – the time has come to do the same for nature. The Natural Capital Protocol does just that: it opens the pathway for us to treat our relationship with nature with the same careful consideration that we treat our finances.

Business leaders at the highest level now have the opportunity to truly improve their relationship with nature in a way that’s useful, reliable and accessible. Read more here.

19.07.2016

World Water Week in Stockholm, 28 August – 2 September, 2016

News

World Water Week in Stockholm is the annual focal point for the globe’s water issues. It is organized by SIWI. This year, the theme is Water for Sustainable Growth. It is also the 20th jubilee of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize. In 2015, over 3,000 individuals and close to 300 convening organizations from 130 countries participated in the Week.

Experts, practitioners, decision-makers, business innovators and young professionals from a range of sectors and countries come to Stockholm to network, exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions to the most pressing water-related challenges of today. We believe water is key to our future prosperity, and that together, we can achieve a water wise world.

20.06.2016

LIFE Climate Programme

News

Let us draw your attention to the 2016 Call for Proposal of the European Union’s LIFE Programme published recently on the European Commission’s LIFE website (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/).

LIFE is the EU’s financial instrument supporting environmental, nature conservation and climate action projects. The Programme contributes approximately €63,6 million to the Climate Action Subprogramme in 2016 in all EU member states.

Project conditions:

– Priority areas: Climate Change Mitigation, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Governance and Information;

– Amount of LIFE contribution available: the average grant for project varies between EUR 500,000 and 3,500,000; the maximum rate of LIFE contribution is 60% of the total budget of the project;

– In kind contribution: minimum 40%;

– Submission and evaluation of LIFE proposals are independent from the Hungarian Government, however at the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of Agriculture there are appointed government officials supporting LIFE project generation (contacts available in the files attached);

– Mode of submission: to the European Commission (EASME) via e-Proposal;

– Deadline for submission: 7 September 2016.

Teh description can be downloaded from here.

14.06.2016

Successful BCSDH Alumni start

News

After months-long preparations, the professional program for graduates from the first and second year of Business Council Hungary (BCSDH) Future Leaders Talent Program was hosted by Dreher Breweries Ltd. on the 25th May 2016.

The company’s Managing Director, Robert Cooper opened the day with his short welcome speech, then he answered participants’ questions about the achievements of Dreher Breweries Ltd. in the realm of sustainability and the expected climate change impacts on the company.

During factory visit, participants could experience personally, how the company manages its waste responsibly; which results in 97% by-product and waste recycling.

Following this, Irén Márta, Managing Director of BCSDH talked about the most important global events on sustainability, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) announced in Autumn 2015, and the prospective economic impacts of the Paris Climate Change Conference (COP21).

In relation to the Alumni, Judit László, Business Development Manager at Coface, introduced her preliminary research founding followed by discussions on the Alumni’s prospective operational framework. Professional discussions were continued during beer-tasting, while one of the most inspiring questions was raised by Dr. Krisztina Szegedi, Chairperson of the Ethics Council at MOL Group: „What effect can this training have on the successful operation of some firms?”

BCSDH has initiated the establishment of the Alumni in order to form and provide a professional platform for leaders with knowledge on sustainability and its wide-range impacts on businesses. To put this Alumni forum into effect, an organisers team was form from previous Future Leaders Talent Program participants, including: Krisztina Elischer, Business Manager at Nestlé Hungária; Judit László Business Development Manager at Coface Hungary Credit Management Services; Judit Jakab, PR coordinator at Coca-Cola HBC Hungary Ltd. and Dr. Nóra Szauder, Legal Counsel at Coca-Cola HBC Hungary Ltd.. Furthermore, Zita Szederkényi, Senior Corporate Affairs Specialist at Dreher Breweries Ltd. took an important role in organising the first Alumni event, and Enikő Fábiánfy, Office Manager at BCSDH was in charge of coordinating the event.

Last but not least, it is important to acknowledge and highlight that ING Bank was the first sponsor of the Alumni.

The next professional program will be taken place at the beginning of October and the host will be HVG.

More photos can be viewed in the gallery.

Sponsors of Alumni:

27.05.2016

Legrand amongst the best factories

Member News

On May 13, the awards were handed out to the winners of the Factory of the Year competition for the first time. Legrand Zrt. became the winner of the Best management processes category, and also earned the jury’s special award for Corporate social responsibility. At the awards ceremony, general manager László Károlyi accepted the two certificates and the award plaque on behalf of the company.

During the contest, announced by the publisher Professional Publishing Hungary in two rounds, the professional jury judged the work of 51 candidates, grouped in 3 sizes and 7 categories. The submitted works were evaluated by Process Solution’s team, in which 75% were based on objective data, and 25% based on personal impressions. They were not in an easy situation, since in the frame of the competition they had to compare the whole of the domestic manufacturing industries, regardless of their sector. The decisions were made by the 13 member panel of experts, after the personal auditing of the shortlisted companies.

Legrand Zrt. has made the shortlist in 3 categories (best management processes, production and employee satisfaction), based on the company’s submitted material, which is quite an outstanding achievement. At the award ceremony, the company was praised for its innovative ideas and processes, and for the results it has achieved so far. The victory in the Best management processes category proves to us, that we progress towards the fulfillment of our goals in a good direction, in addition to the supporting and innovative management approach.

Corporate social responsibility was not included as a separate category, but based on the jury’s unanimous decision a special prize was awarded for Legrand Zrt. for its activities presented in this field.

26.05.2016