From waste to resource – The Dutch Way

9:00 am, May 26, 2016, Larus Event Centre

The Netherlands is a pioneer in the world of circular economy. The country even intends to become a circular hotspot in the whole European region. In cooperation with four partner organisations, the Royal Netherlands Embassy organises a one day conference about circular economy. The aim of this one day event is to present innovative Dutch ways for developing a circular approach in waste management, product development, production, consumption, and regional cooperation for Hungarian companies, local governments and decision-makers.

The official language of the conference is Hungarian, with simultaneous English translation. The detailed programme will follow soon.

Are you interested? Please, save the date in your calendar and register at the following link http://date.dutcham.hu/event/circular-economy-26-may-2016. The participation fee is HUF 12.000, while for members of partner organisations is only HUF 6.000.

‘Effective handling of climate change is an enormous responsibility and a business opportunity at the same time.’ – explained Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, climatologist, in her presentation at BCSDH’s business breakfast, adding that ‘companies which may not be able or are not willing to seize this opportunity can easily fall behind.’

Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, vice-president of the Nobel peace prize awarded III. Workgroup investigating the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions (WGIII) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) held a sensational presentation at the business breakfast organised for BCSDH company leaders on March 22, 2016. BCSDH – with more than 70 company members, accounting for a total 30% of GDP – invited the well-known climatologist to the annual event to give the opening presentation for the Action 2020 Hungary program, which has climate change as its focus.

The presentation described the costs of the Paris climate agreement (accepted by 196 member states) and its potential impact on the economy.

‘Change of a similar nature to that which happened during the industrial revolution is needed, covering all fields of the economy. We must re-interpret consumption and growth-based paradigms.’ – explained Diana Ürge-Vorsatz. The climatologist described the Paris Climate agreement as a “miracle” that came true and an expression of the agreement and determination of the presidents of 196 countries to put the brakes on climate change. An agreement was established that the bottom-up approach and the top-down will.

Diana Ürge-Vorsatz raised attention to the need for the personal engagement and responsibility of company leaders too: ‘The key to change lies in personal charisma’. Further to switching from fossil fuels to a low carbon-energy economy, new business models that take into account damage to natural resources and that break with traditional ways of doing business need to be established. A share-based and even circular economy may be one such solution. Reaching the goal means reducing both use of energy and resources, as well as overall consumption. The dissemination of information technologies and other new technologies, as well as their application in new fields, may support this goal. New consumption habits, where quality replaces quantity, may become increasingly popular. Such initiatives have business potential for companies which can react to demand in a time of change.

‘The Paris summit did not solve the problem of climate change, of course, but it constituted a significance advance. When, following the new approach, commitments start to be met, the business sector will play a key role. BCSDH supports the business sector in reaching the goals that relate to Hungary, and intends that the sector should be the motor of national sustainability, mainly throughout its Action 2020 Hungary program.’ – explained Attila Chikán Jr., the newly elected president of the BCSDH. 

The Action 2020 Hungary program, established with the involvement of over 100 civilian, scientific and business experts, has taken up the task of identifying and inspiring business solutions that go beyond business-as-usual and that can be disseminated and upscaled as good practice to other economic players. Over 50 companies have joined the program already.

The presentation can be downloaded here.

Further information about the Action 2020 program may be obtained from here.

Attila Chikán Jr. was elected to new president by the general assembly of Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary. The new president follows István Salgó CEO of ING Bank in the position, who, according to the assembly’s unanimous decision, will assist BCSDH as an Honorary President. Under Mr. Salgó’s leadership the organization became a significant player in the recognition of sustainability’s importance in business in Hungary. The number of member companies increased to 72, which altogether are producing close to 30 percent of Hungarian GDP. The goals of Attila Chikán Jr. are ensuring the continuity of the ongoing, successful programs; making BCSDH’s activities more tangible and visible for the public and political decision makers; and improving the international relations of the organization.

The newly elected president’s work will be supported by a four-member board. Its reelected member is Zsolt Jamniczky, vice-presidend of E.ON Hungaria. The three new members are Dr. Ágnes Fábián, excecutive director of HENKEL Hungary; Zoltán Gazsi, executive director of eisberg Hungary; and Dr. Thomas Nareshubert, executive director of BASF Hungaria, elected by the assembly. The mandate of President and the Executive board is for three years.

The management of BCSDH will still be in the hands of Irén Márta, who was elected to director last year, and switched her board delegation to directorate.

“We initiated several successful programs during the last six years. “The Complex Interpretation of Corporate Sustainability”-titled base document provides a guideline for sustainable company operation to domestic leaders. Over a 100 organizations have joined our initiative by the signing the document. The success of our “Future Leaders Talent Program” is well-shown by the fact that we start the third class this year. In the meantime the Action 2020 Hungary called the business sector for action, to find professional solutions to the challenges come from the basic expectations of sustainable development” – highlighted the largest successes of the previous years’ István Salgó, according to whom, these results do not mean, that the new president will have an easy run, as the organization needs to be improved on numerous fields.

“Regarding the already started programs, my main task is to keep our momentum, and guarantee the continuity of the current, high-level professional work. I also consider sharing our results and making our activity more visible to the wider public and political decision makers as a crucial task. As Hungary, due to its size, cannot demonstrate major results on the field of sustainable development on its own, I would like to vitalize our regional co-operations and partnerships as well” – outlined his most important tasks Attila Chikán Jr., who, as leader of the Action 2020 workgroup and mentor of young leaders, actively participated in BCSDH’s professional work in the previous years.  

The new leadership of Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary

Attila Chikán Jr. – President
CEO
ALTEO Group

Mr. Chikán has a degree in economics and over a decade of professional and leadership experience in the field of energy. The ALTEO group, lead by him since its foundation and operating in the alternative and renewable energy sectors, as of today is already one of the most important, Hungarian-owned players in the industry. As father of two, Attila Chikán Jr. is dedicated to principles of sustainability: he writes his own blog under the name of Chikansplanet, and for the education of investors, he launched an information site named Smartivnest focusing on energy investments.

Dr. Ágnes Fábián
CEO
Henkel Magyarország Kft.
Adhesives Technologies business unit executive

Member of Henkel Magyarország Kft’s team since 1996. She became the business unit executive at the Henkel Adhesive Technologies by finding her way through the company hierarchy and spending 9 years in international environment, besides which she is also fulfilling Henkel Magyarország’s CEO position since 2011. Dr. Fábián began her career in 1990 at Biogal Gyógyszergyár Hélia’s cosmetics sales division. Later on she worked as regional sales manager at Maybeline’s and Loctite Magyarország, when Henkel aquired the company. Her aim is to make even more leaders to realize that sustainability and value creation for customers are inevitable for good performance.

Zoltán Gazsi
Managing Director
eisberg Hungary Kft.

Managing Director of eisberg since 2007. After graduating at University of Agricultural Sciences in Gödöllő, he worked for the National Institute for Agricultural Quality Control, followed by 14 years of working in a multinational environment at Syngenta: after leading the Experimental Station at Ócsa, he had various marketing- and project-coordinator jobs on increasingly large fields, including almost all continents. He believes in good examples seen at the companies have an impact on the families of the employees, on the direct and indirect environment of the company and these impacts are inevitable to start the significant changes on the level of society.

Zsolt Jamniczky
Member of the Board of Directors, E.ON Hungária Zrt.

E.ON Hungária Group’s director for central affairs since 2007 and Deputy CEO of the company since 2010. After completing his studies, Mr. Jamniczky served as an adviser in the foreign relations office of the Hungarian National Assembly. In 1996 he was appointed director for corporate affairs at the Reemtsma Hungary  Debrecen-based tobacco company. This was followed by the director for corporate affairs position at Philip Morris Hungary until 2005, then, between 2006 and 2007, Mr. Jamniczky was Philip Morris International’s director of EU government relations at the company’s Brussels office. He studied at the Budapest University of Economics and the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences. Mr. Jamniczky’s main fields of interest include corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility in the constantly changing economic and social environment and innovation in the energy sector.

Dr. Thomas Narbeshuber
Managing Director, BASF Hungária Kft.
Vice President, BASF Group

Vice president of BASF Group, leader of BASF South-East Europe, and Managing director of the BASF Hungary. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering and began his career as a researcher in 1995 at BASF’s centre in Ludwigshafen. During the last two decades Dr. Narbeshuber expanded his knowledge in numerous fields and countries via the company. He believes that by adopting the sustainability mindset, the company gains competitive edge, increases market share, and boosts shareholder value also besides the given social and environmental effect.