March 2020 - BCSDH

MOL switches plant to sanitizer production

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has switched its lubricants unit MOL Lub in Almásfüzitő (64 km northwest of Budapest) to sanitizer production to support the fight against coronavirus,

MOL switched over a production line, which earlier made windshield cleaner fluid, to hand and surface sanitizer production in just two weeks, they said.

The plant is making around 50,000 liters of sanitizer a day in three shifts.

MOL Lub has already delivered the first volumes to hospitals, waste managers, public utilities and municipalities and is working to launch retail sales of the product as soon as possible.

MOL will also start making sanitizer products at its plants in Slovakia and Croatia, they added.

27.03.2020

Unilever – Helping to protect lives and livelihoods from the Covid-19 pandemic

Member News

Unilever contributes more than €100m to continue helping people affected around the world

London/Rotterdam. Unilever, the consumer goods manufacturer of brands including Dove, Knorr, Omo and Lifebuoy, today announced a wide-ranging set of measures to support global and national efforts to tackle the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The company’s actions are designed to help protect the lives and livelihoods of its multiple stakeholders – including its consumers and communities, its customers and suppliers, and its workforce.

Consumers and communities

Unilever will contribute €100m to help the fight against the pandemic through donations of soap, sanitiser, bleach and food. This includes:

A product donation of soaps and sanitiser of at least €50m to the COVID Action Platform of the World Economic Forum, which is supporting global health organisations and agencies with their response to the emergency. In addition to the supply of soap, Unilever will adapt its current manufacturing lines to produce sanitiser for use in hospitals, schools and other institutional settings.
Product donations, partnerships and handwashing education programmes, delivered through national health authorities and NGOs, to support local communities most at need.
Customers and suppliers

Unilever will offer €500m of cash flow relief to support livelihoods across its extended value chain, through:

Early payment for our most vulnerable small and medium sized suppliers, to help them with financial liquidity.
Extending credit to selected small-scale retail customers whose business relies on Unilever, to help them manage and protect jobs.
Workforce

Unilever will protect its workforce from sudden drops in pay, as a result of market disruption or being unable to perform their role, for up to three months. We will cover our employees, contractors and others who we manage or who work on our sites, on a full or part-time basis. This will apply to workers not already covered by government plans or by their direct employer.

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Alan Jope, CEO Unilever said: “We are deeply saddened by the terrible impact that coronavirus is wreaking on lives and livelihoods everywhere. The world is facing its greatest trial in decades. We have seen the most incredible response from the Unilever team so far, especially those on the front line of our operations in factories, distribution centres and stores.

“We hope that our donation of €100m of soap, sanitiser, bleach and food will make a significant contribution towards protecting people’s lives, and that by helping to safeguard our workers’ incomes and jobs, we are giving some peace of mind during these uncertain times. Our strong cash flow and balance sheet mean that we can, and should, give this additional support.”

Notes to editors
Unilever’s €100m donation of soap, sanitiser, food and bleach is based on the equivalent retail sales value.

27.03.2020

Shell takes its first steps in ev charging in Central and Eastern Europe

Member News

Shell is making its foray into electric vehicle (EV) charging in Central and Eastern Europe by opening its first high-powered charging station in Hungary, in partnership with charging network operator IONITY, also launching its first Shell Recharge point, Shell’s electric vehicle charging global brand. Both charging points enable drivers to charge their cars on the go at Shell service stations.

“I am pleased, that we’re starting a new chapter in the history of Shell Retail in Central and Eastern Europe today. The region has in the past driven innovations in traditional fuels by launching our premium Shell V-Power fuels and now we enter new era on our journey to offer low-emission transport fuels to our customers”, said István Kapitány, Executive Vice President of Shell Retail.

With opening its first high-powered charging station together with IONITY, on M7 highway next to Lake Balaton in Hungary, Shell will help electric vehicle drivers to make longer-distance journeys easier. Each of four charge points offers the potential of up to 350 kW charging power. The high-powered chargers take up to 10-15 minutes to charge next-generation electric vehicles, making them up to three times faster than current chargers available to drivers.

In total, IONITY aims to build 21 charging stations at Shell sites across Central and Eastern Europe covering Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia by the end of 2021. At the same time Hungary will become the 5th market for Shell in Europe (and 9th for Shell worldwide), where Shell Recharge is being introduced. Its own electric vehicle charging service offering 50kW rapid charging capacity typically provide from 0% to 80% charge in approximately 30 minutes. The service has launched on two sites, on the M7 highway offering EV charging to drivers travelling from Budapest in the direction to Slovenia and Croatia and on the M3 highway. Both will serve for Shell as pilot testing EV service points in the region. The launch price of 1 925 HUF per session[1], to be applied after the initial test period, refers to the year when Shell was founded in Hungary.

Shell is committed to supporting people’s vehicle charging needs – whether they are at home, at work or on the road. This is because Shell believes more people will choose to drive electric vehicles if they can access quick and reliable facilities. “Hungary is currently the most developed electric vehicle market in Central and Eastern Europe and that’s why we have started to develop and test our solutions here. Our ambition is to provide EV charging capabilities at 100 Shell retail sites by the end of 2021 across the region through our own investment or via our partners” comments Sasha Koliakin, General Manager for Shell Retail in Central and Eastern Europe.

Electric vehicle charging solutions is just one of the ways that Shell is aiming to deliver more and cleaner energy around the world. Shell is also working to enhance the efficiency of traditional fuels and support the development of low-emission transport fuels such as hydrogen, biofuels and natural gas following regional opportunities.

[1] There are no subscription or connection fees associated with Shell Recharge.

06.03.2020

Sustainable dining

Member News

Several restaurants and cafes were set up by Graphisoft Park within its premises in order to serve its numerous tenants. Our express goal was to reduce take-out food orders while motivating diners for short open air walks in the Park and to provide a wide variety of freshly prepares meals. At the same time significant reduction of waste is achieved, way less plastic and paper are wasted and less leftovers are generated.

The operation of our restaurants are in tune with the basic values of Graphisoft Park, to be in perfect harmony with nature, while preserving it. Local suppliers and produce are most welcome at our restaurants where the operators provide a variety of healthy foods. Self-service system was introduced in our restaurants on serving-weight based payment, resulting in significant reduction of food waste, since patrons only buy as much as they need. Graphisoft Park secured agreements with restaurant operators for ensuring the everyday presence of healthy meal choices on their menu. Some of our restaurants even indicate the meat-to-vegetable or carbohydrate ratio in their served dishes. We have also launched a place specializing in sustainable food, that is becoming ever more popular among our environmentally conscious diners.

In recent years, Graphisoft Park was regularly inviting primary growers to directly sell their quality produce, so that tenants can buy fresh food bypassing the retail outlets. The most popular is the sale of strawberries in May – June. From March this year, a vegetable and fruit stand will also set up at the Park on a daily basis.

06.03.2020

Nestlé creates market for food-grade recycled plastics, launches fund to boost packaging innovation

Member News

In January Nestlé announced that it will invest up to CHF 2 billion to lead the shift from virgin plastics to food-grade recycled plastics and to accelerate the development of innovative sustainable packaging solutions.

Building on its 2018 commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, Nestlé will reduce its use of virgin plastics by one third in the same period whilst working with others to advance the circular economy and endeavor to clean up plastic waste from oceans, lakes and rivers.

Food quality and safety are paramount, and packaging plays a major role in assuring this. Most plastics are difficult to recycle for food packaging, leading to a limited supply of food-grade recycled plastics. To create a market, Nestlé is therefore committed to sourcing up to 2 million metric tons of food-grade recycled plastics and allocating more than CHF 1.5 billion to pay a premium for these materials between now and 2025. Nestlé will seek operational efficiencies to keep this initiative earnings neutral.

Packaging innovation, including new materials, refill systems and recycling solutions, is another key challenge on the path towards a waste-free future. In addition to its significant inhouse research through the Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences, the company will launch a CHF 250 million sustainable packaging venture fund to invest in start-up companies that focus on these areas.

These two initiatives come in addition to Nestlé’s major ongoing efforts in research, sourcing and manufacturing to make its packaging recyclable or reusable and contribute to its goal to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. As part of the company’s packaging commitment and to increase transparency, Nestlé will continue to outline further initiatives and provide regular progress updates.

“No plastic should end up in landfill or as litter,” said Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé. “Making recycled plastics safe for food is an enormous challenge for our industry. That is why in addition to minimizing plastics use and collecting waste, we want to close the loop and make more plastics infinitely recyclable. We are taking bold steps to create a wider market for food-grade recycled plastics and boost innovation in the packaging industry. We welcome others to join us on this journey.”

“We are pleased to see Nestlé commit a CHF 2 billion investment toward creating a circular economy for plastics, alongside a reduction of its use of virgin plastic in packaging by one third by 2025. By eliminating the plastics we don’t need, innovating in areas like reuse models and new materials, and circulating the plastics we do need — also in more challenging food grade applications — we can create an economy where plastic never becomes waste. Achieving the commitments announced today will significantly contribute towards realizing this vision,” said Andrew Morlet, CEO, Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Please find the official press release on nestle.com

06.03.2020

Aluminium cans become lighter, a vision forming campaign is launched on the caps of plastic bottles

Member News

Coca-Cola Hungary reduced the weight of aluminium cans by thirteen percent. From 2020, for the packaging of canned soft drinks produced in Hungary and distributed in 19 countries, the company uses almost 170 tons less aluminium a year, significantly reducing the environmental load during production and delivery, as well as the total ecological footprint of the company. It also launches a campaign for the greatest possible recollection of soft drink packaging, as it believes that the cycle guranteed by the collection and recycling of packaging is the most efficient way to handle packaging waste.

The weight decrease of aluminium cans and the decrease in the use of pallet foil started last year means that the yearly weight of the amount delivered is reduced by more than 210 tons. As this makes the packaging much lighter, delivery requires less resources and energy.

The company improved the packaging of soft drinks several times in recent years. Taking environmental aspects into consideration, Coca-Cola Hungary is probably going to replace the plastic packaging of four- and six-pack cans with innovative cardboard packaging in 2021.

One of the aims of Coca-Cola’s global Zero Waste World strategy is to collect as many plastic bottles and aluminium cans by 2030 as the amount sold. To advocate selective garbage collection, the company launches a national vision forming campaign in the framework of which it is going to replace the cap of all soft drinks: the logo of the given brand will be replaced by a drawing encouraging the recycling of the bottle.

The plastic bottles distributed by Coca-Cola are already 100 percent recyclable; the proportion of recycled plastic used in bottles is an average 24 percent which the company undertakes to increase to 50 percent by 2030. The amount of plastic used in Hungarian production decreased by 15 percent in the last years, and this year, as a result of a 100 million forint technological development, the amount of plastic used for carbonated soft drink bottles will be further reduced by 4 percent. This single step in itself means that the company uses 600 tons less plastic a year, equivalent to the weight of 24 million PET bottles. PET bottles constitute only 3% of the total packaging waste in Hungary.

05.03.2020

Action on sustainability: Daikin takes the lead

Member News

Mid-February saw over 500 delegates gather in Copenhagen for the Daikin VRV Summit, where the company outlined the major advances put in place to lower the environmental impact of climate control systems, in support of its goal to achieve CO2 neutrality by 2050. Daikin’s business partners were also introduced to a range of new products and initiatives including the high efficiency, low GWP Daikin mini VRV 5 and the pioneering L∞P by Daikin scheme which reuses refrigerant for new VRV systems.

Creating a sustainable future together

Reflecting the Summit’s focus on sustainability theme, Copenhagen – named ‘Europe’s Green Capital’ in 2014 – was the aptly chosen venue, where delegates enjoyed the full ‘Green Experience’. This involved going completely paperless, as well as the use of local public transportation and locally sourced food. All CO₂ emissions resulting from participants’ arrivals and departures were offset by Daikin, making this a fully carbon neutral event. The donations for the offset go to a project in Rajasthan, India, to support farmers who send their harvest waste to a biomass plant for power generation. reducing CO₂ emissions and generating more jobs in the region.

Under the umbrella theme of ‘Creating a sustainable future together’, the Summit explored a wide variety of products and services that contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions and avoid the depletion of natural resources, through a series of informative lectures, workshops and displays.

New products such as the new VRV 5 with over 70% lower GWP, the adoption of a circular economy through the reuse of refrigerant and the use of intelligent controls such as the Daikin Cloud were among recent innovations profiled by Daikin.

“On the one hand, we have reduced our own CO₂ footprint and on the other we are putting on the market solutions that reduce the CO₂ footprint of our customers. The key visual representing the VRV Summit consists of three leaves, which together highlight the three most important fields of action: innovation, circular economy and smart control.” – explained Bernard Dehertogh, head of commercial DX products at Daikin Europe.

05.03.2020

LeasePlan’s survey shows a direct link between government incentives and increased number of electric vehicles

Member News

Across Europe, the number of new EV registrations increased with an average of 60% between 2018 and 2019. Improvements in EV readiness were due to a combination of the increased availability of public charging infrastructure and to the extension of a wide range of government incentives. Support for environmentally friendly driving is particularly strong in Hungary, Austria, the United Kingdom and Portugal. These are the conclusions, among others, of the latest EV Readiness Index by LeasePlan, the market leader in fleet management.

Almost all countries in the EV Readiness Index showed an improved score compared to the previous year, but the Netherlands, Norway and United Kingdom are now the best prepared countries in Europe for the electric vehicle transition. In overall, Hungary moved from last year’s 16th place in the rank to the 14th.

The number of new EV registrations increased with an average of 60% on the continent. In Hungary, 586 new electric cars were registered in one year, which is an increase of 71%.

According to LeasePlan, this development is primarily due to the increased availability of public charging infrastructure and to the extension of government incentives which are key requirements for stimulating EV uptake:

Across Europe, there was a 73% increase in public charging stations. There are over 4,000 fast charging locations across the countries surveyed. According to the research, there are 679 public charging points in Hungary, which is by 90 more than last year, and there are more than 100 fast rechargers among. It is estimated that more than 2000 charging points will be created in 2020.
The government subsidies for green number plate cars (e.g. purchase subsidies, registration and ownership tax benefits, company benefits and lower VAT rates) are the highest in Hungary, Austria, the United Kingdom and Portugal.

The following subsidies are available in Hungary

Until 24 February 2020, state subsidy was available to incite purchase of new, battery electric passenger cars and light commercial vehicles up to HUF 1.5 million. Until 31 March 2020, SMEs and corporations can still leverage this subsidy in the form of operational leasing through LeasePlan which not only handles the administration of the application, but also provides a more favorable monthly fee by integrating the amount of the subsidy into it.
Tax (motor vehicle, company car and registration tax) and fee exemption (acquisition and transcription)
Third party liability: resulting in a 15% average savings
Free parking in several parts of the country
Free access to protected areas (according to local regulations)

LeasePlan is committed to take a leadership role in the transition from internal combustion engines to alternative powertrains, therefore the company’s goal is to shift all its employee vehicles to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2021 and to achieve net zero tailpipe emissions across in its entire global fleet by 2030. As part of this ambition, the company launched its Green Bond Framework in 2019, which aims to involve financial actors to help LeasePlan finance and refinance BEVs in its fleet, thereby accelerating the transition to e-driving. In the pursuit of sustainability, the company also finds fundamental to report regularly on its activities in a transparent way and with an actual action plan. Thus for the first time this year LeasePlan has published its sustainability report, detailing the company’s aspirations and goals for a more viable future.

04.03.2020