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Without nature, there is no business – Diane Holdorf at the BCSDH Business Breakfast

We are gradually depleting and losing our natural resources. The net-zero goals of governments and businesses, which cover 70% of the global economy, are unattainable without ending deforestation this decade and protecting the marine environment, which currently absorbs 30% of global carbon dioxide emissions, as pointed out by Diane Holdorf, Executive Vice President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), at the BCSDH Business Breakfast and Forum on March 28, which focused on the interaction between businesses and nature. The participants were greeted by Dr. Csaba Kandrács, Vice President of the Hungarian National Bank, the host for the day.

The world’s most pressing challenges include the climate emergency, rapid biodiversity loss, dramatically growing social inequality, and the focus on assessing corporate performance from an economic perspective only. We are running out of time, and these four areas require immediate measures, action, and systemic change, alongside commitment at the highest level.

“We cannot achieve net zero without business action to halt and reverse nature loss. Nature represents a third of the climate solution, and biodiversity loss is accelerating. Every business depends on nature, with opportunities to invest in nature-based solutions which drive the transformational change that we need”, – stated Diane Holdorf, Executive Vice President of WBCSD, who represented the business world at the UN-initiated COP15 on biodiversity, where an important international agreement was reached for the preservation of biodiversity.

Katalin Sipos, Country Manager of WWF Hungary, summarized the domestic situation and discussed possible solutions.

“Due to the incredible technological development of humanity, we have become accustomed to seeking technical solutions for almost everything. However, hi-tech is not always the wisest choice – for the sustainability transition, we need cultural and value changes, as well as low-emission, low-tech solutions. And for some environmental problems, the simplest and most ancient solution is the best: nature itself as the solution”, – said Katalin Sipos in her presentation, emphasizing that climate commitments cannot be made at the expense of nature, but rather the change must be genuinely systemic, and built upon nature.

Nature is essential for creating a healthy humanity, a healthy business life, and a healthy planet. Climate, biodiversity, and water are all part of the same system, are closely interconnected, and no element can be separated from the others, as they are in constant interaction.

“More than half of the world’s GDP depends on nature and its services. That means it affects all of us, whether we know it or not, so everyone must act. That is why we have placed this topic in the focus of our professional program for 2023. We need systemic changes instead of isolated measures, which require deep and comprehensive cooperation among the business community, scientific experts, political decision-makers, investors, developers, and consumers. We believe that the business sector must take a leading role in achieving this desired rapid change”, – said Attila Chikán Jr., President of BCSDH, in his opening speech.

Following the presentations, company executives and corporate, scientific and civil experts discussed the current state and challenges of biodiversity, water and climate adaptation and revealed many business best practices and solutions at a closed-door forum.

 

KPMG programme recognised at CSR Doing Good Awards

This year, for the third time, PPH Media announced its CSR Doing Good Award competition with the aim of raising awareness about the importance of corporate social responsibility.

KPMG’s entry “Ticket to Pride” won the Special Mention Award. Organised by the KPMG Global Services Hungary team, it showcases KPMG’s diversity, inclusive and team-centred work community.

IMAGE: Zsuzsa Illés, Gabriella Liptay and Gabriel Mérő-Santucci receiving the Special Mention Award at PPH Média’s CSR Doing Good Awards

Our Impact Plan, which sets out KPMG’s global ESG objectives and also serves as a guideline for KPMG in Hungary, is built on four pillars: Planet, People, Prosperity and Governance.

A key element of the People pillar is to foster the development of an inclusive and diverse corporate culture built on trust, where everyone feels safe and can thrive and be successful. In line with these goals, the Ticket to Pride programme series, linked to Pride Month 2022, raised awareness among colleagues about the importance of LMBTQ+ acceptance and an open corporate culture, through various activities.

One of the highlights was the “Come as You Are” art exhibition at KPMG’s head office in Budapest, which was not only open to employees, but, from time to time, to the public too. The programmes concluded with taking part in the Budapest Pride procession. The management’s ongoing support demonstrated real commitment towards the topic, and has been an example to colleagues.

In addition to the CSR Doing Good Awards, the programme running under the umbrella name of Ticket to Pride, with the “Come as You are” contemporary art exhibition at its focus, won several awards, such as the Art is Business Award, and the Marketing Diamond Awards.

Nestlé Purina’s major investment to boost production capacity in Bük facility

Following the announcement of the HUF 50 billion investment two years ago and the launch of the HUF 35 billion project last year, Nestlé Hungary begins another large-scale development in its Bük pet food production facility. The company is spending  almost HUF 140 billion to build  a new automated warehouse and a new wet pet food plant. This plant means to create new 250  job.

Nestlé Purina Hungary is expanding the capacities of its Bük facility with more than 35,000 m2 new production area and a cutting edge, automated warehouse. Nestlé, one of the largest employers in the region is investing  HUF 140 billion for a new wet pet food plant and a new ASRS storage and retrieval system. This is an important additional amount even in the light of the previous HUF 50 and 35 billion invested in 2020 and 2021. Nestlé Purina Bük, is one of the largest pet food factories in Europe, with about 1,400  employees. Previous investments resulted in the creation of  250 new jobs in the region, so together with the investment just announced, more than 500 new jobs are created in the factory in the last five years.

“This new investment does not only create jobs, but also drives demand as it further increases the share of agricultural raw materials sourced from Hungarian suppliers”, said Péter Noszek, managing director of Nestlé Hungary, who also reinforced the series of development projects acknowledging that the demand for pet food may continue to grow in Hungary as it is likely to in  50  destination markets who also receive pet food products from Bük. He also added that the 100,000 tonnes per year new production capacity will ultimately benefit  the whole region through the favourable impact of new jobs creation.

Similarly to the previous two development phases, innovation and environmentally friendly solutions will also be a priority in this development. In the new factory unitsy, the electric supply will be provided exclusively by green electric boilers, which will further improve the CO2 emission values of the factory.

In line with the global ambitions of the company, Nestlé Purina Bük facility has used renewable electricity for six years, and industrial waste is either recycled or utilised for heat generation.

Shell: We change to make a difference

Shell has a long-standing commitment to contribute to sustainable development. Sustainability is essential to the way we do the business in every country where Shell operates. Sustainability at Shell means providing more and cleaner energy solutions in a responsible way – in a way that balances short- and long-term interests, and that integrates economic, environmental and social considerations.

Our approach to sustainability starts with running a safe, efficient, responsible and profitable business. Our ambition is an integral part of our Powering Progress strategy to accelerate the transition of our business to net-zero emissions, in step with society, purposefully and profitably by 2050. It is designed to create value for our shareholders, our customers and wider society.

Becoming a net-zero emissions energy business means, that we are reducing emissions not only from the fuels and other energy products we sell, but from our operations as well. We are taking a number of measures to operate Shell’s filling stations in Hungary in a sustainable and responsible way and to reduce our carbon footprints.

We strive to reduce waste at our service stations, so we don’t use single-use plastic and we package our Shell own-branded sandwiches in recyclable materials. In addition, we have designated cooking oil collection points for our customers in various parts of the country.

Many of our charging stations are powered by electricity from renewable energy sources. To reduce our environmental footprint, we have increased the efficiency of our cooling and heating systems, replaced our indoor conventional light bulbs with LED lights, switched to lower-consumption, sealable refrigerators, and use recycled water for car washing at certain stations.

In addition to the measures at our stations, we are working hard to achieve the energy transition across Shell’s other businesses. You can find out more about our Powering Progress strategy at shell.hu.

Comitted to going green

At the Open House of November last year, Mazak supported the planting of a sapling at the MyForest Community Forest Foundation after all our guests and our next March event, we will continue to support the Foundation. We need to protect our environment that is why we launched our global Go Green program.

A continuous improvement strategy focuses on improving the sustainability of Mazak machine tools four times by 2030 compared to 2010.

Mazak’s manufacturing premises in Japan and the UK operate to comprehensive energy and sustainability policies. They maintain the registration of ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management and ISO 50001 Energy Management. While Japan and Singapore utilise roof space for over 3.5 MW of solar energy production. Local initiatives are supported across Europe with clear objectives to promote sustainability and environmental awareness right through to our customers.

https://www.mazakeu.com/machines-technology/technology/go-green/

 

KPMG research: Consumers are increasingly conscious about their environmental and social responsibility

Today, companies need to prove that their commitments are credible, and this requires an integrated customer and ESG approach. KPMG’s Me, my life, my wallet research focused specifically on sustainability issues, and its segmentation model provides guidance for companies on how to target specific consumer groups.

According to KPMG’s research it is clear that the number of value-centred consumers is on the rise. 87 percent of the survey participants believe that companies have a responsibility to produce sustainable products. 86 percent of the respondents are concerned about the environment, and 64 percent want to know the environmental impact of a product or service that they buy.

59 percent of the people asked are also taking steps towards sustainability. However, the extent to which people internalise these values varies; it depends to a great extent on their emotional orientation, personal convictions, goals and other circumstances, such as financial means.

KPMG categorised consumers into six groups based on how much they care about sustainability values, and how this is reflected in their behaviour. These groups are: the moderates (26%), the pragmatists (21%), the realists (17%), the price-sensitive (9%), the activists (17%) and the collectivists (11%).

The characteristics of each segment are described in detail in the KPMG study, and it also explains how the model helps design marketing programmes targeting the various segments to reach their customers more effectively.

More on the topic in Hungarian: Hogyan szolgáljuk ki a fenntarthatóság iránt elkötelezett fogyasztót? – KPMG Blog (How to serve sustainability-conscious customers? – KPMG Blog)

The research shows that the biggest obstacles to engaging consumers in sustainability programmes are costs and a lack of understanding or knowledge – individuals are not aware of how to achieve change.

“Conclusion: consumers clearly expect businesses not just to participate but to play a leading role in the transformation. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations must be incorporated into operations, but traditional marketing tools can also be used to ensure these are properly reflected in all phases of the customer experience” – explains Erika Halász, director at KPMG. “This requires an assessment of the current status, creating a framework for measuring sustainability, rethinking product lifecycle and customer paths in an ESG-centric way, understanding the needs of the different customer segments, then involving and educating consumers to achieve the goals. The process is unlikely to be a fast one, and may even require redefining the organisation, but in the long run it is destined to generate value.”

OPTEN extended ESG services: new ESG Report was introduced

Less than a year after OPTEN, as an early adopter introduced its ESG index firstly on the Hungarian market, in January 2023 the company extended its ESG service portfolio. The ESG Report, compiled according to GRI standards, is an automated, online alternative to the more common manual consulting and reporting.

Although in previous years ESG efforts were only published as recommendations, from 2022 it is mandatory to report on large or multinational companies’ non-financial performance, i.g. their ESG results.

 

ESG: How to assess company results at the field of ESG?

  1. ESG Index

Company information provider OPTEN launched the first Hungarian ESG index in January 2022. Since then, the index rates ESG activities of Hungarian businesses based on over 75 factors. The index provides separate scores for environmental, social and governance metrics to give as detailed picture as possible of the current status of each company.

  1. ESG questionnaire and documentation

OPTEN has also created a free-to-use platform that companies can use to audit their own ESG operations. By filling the form, they can record their ESG activities and performance, and use the results to improve their ESG index.

  1. ESG Report, an alternative solution to manual consulting

The platform is now live, and as of this January, there is also an option to purchase an ESG Report, which provides an automated online alternative to the legacy reporting service, based on manual consulting.

 

A simple process, without the need of consultancy

Instead of several weeks of consultation, an ESG Report can be prepared cost-effectively on the OPTEN platform in about 90-120 minutes, in line with GRI standards.

In compiling the product, OPTEN has taken into account regulatory requirements that are in force or will enter into force in the near future, such as the CSRD, SFRD, ESRS regulations, taxonomy regulations or the latest German supply chain regulations, which also affects a significant proportion of Hungarian suppliers.

To complete the report, companies must fill in the ESG questionnaire, which includes at least 44 mandatory questions. The results of the OPTEN ESG Report will highlight the most important emission and consumption data and companies can gain insight into ESG guidelines and get feedback on what they need to improve.

Then, you can request a 4-page report in Hungarian and English, which includes the OPTEN ESG index – already widely used by the banking sector -, with industry benchmark data and a detailed presentation of the ESG pillars for the company in question.


Who is affected by ESG regulations?

Sustainability is a shared interest, but ESG factors have a tangible impact on financing, profitability and growth. The Hungarian SME sector can also benefit from a number of advantages in the areas of financing, HR, Sales and Marketing. Thanks to recent regulations and increasingly conscious consumers and employees, all investments in sustainability can give businesses a significant competitive advantage, so it is worthwhile to integrate ESG factors into everyday operations, even if a company starts with small steps.

Large companies have to publish their accounts in a very transparent and regular manner and as the number of companies affected by the regulation is expected to grow, it is also worthwhile for Hungarian companies without a foreign parent company to consider ESG reporting.

 

The relationship between ESG and company information

As a company information provider, the development of scaling models and indices such as the ESG Index is not a new area for OPTEN.

Several of its scoring models have already become industry standards in the market; its creditworthiness index or even its risk rating are preferred by Finance and Banking industry. And its stability and crisis resilience index has quickly become a benchmark during the pandemic.

“With almost three decades of experience, we have a very detailed database of Hungarian companies, so we can accurately assess domestic companies and guide them towards more detailed, concrete tasks to take steps on the ESG path.” – said Gergely Ferenczi, Director of OPTEN’s Company Information Division.

Sustainability is not just about the financial situation of the company. Company’s processes and its relationship with the environment, and social responsibilities are also influence how viable a company is in the long term, how well it can progress, develop, and meet constantly changing expectations. If a company fails to address these issues, it will be left behind in the modern competitive environment. OPTEN offers a wide range of ESG services to help domestic businesses to develop and increase their competitiveness.

 

OPTEN ESG Report – available from January 2023

  • Set of questions based on GRI standards
  • CSRD, SFRD, ESRS regulations, taxonomy regulations – taken into account when compiling the questionnaire
  • Includes the company’s OPTEN ESG Index; with main and sub-indices
  • Online, automated alternative to traditional consulting
  • Quick and cost-effective solution
  • Compulsory and optional questions
  • Available in English and Hungarian
  • Can be integrated into corporate communications (Finance, HR, Sales & Marketing)

Further information: esg.opten.hu

 

National Mobile Payment Plc. enables sustainability with data-based urban decision-support solutions

How can a digital, data-driven decision support solution contribute to optimizing a city’s operations? Can public transport be greener? How can the emissions of a fleet of vehicles be reduced? How can the energy consumption of public institutions be rationalized?

The latest initiative of the National Mobile Payment Plc., currently in its pilot phase, offers the City of Szolnok County Municipality answers to these questions.

It can be concluded that the city management processes, the development of new services, and the continuous optimization of existing services can only be effectively implemented if the data generated in the relevant areas are collected, processed and transformed into the information needed to support decisions.

The innovation cooperation between the City of Szolnok and the National Mobile Payment Plc. seeks to find answers to how we can ensure the sustainability of our cities. The results of the project so far demonstrate that making data-driven decisions that improve the city’s competitiveness can be an important pillar of creating a liveable future. We need to develop processes and models to support city management and sustainability, based on the data generated in the city.

1 customer = 1 tree – MagNet Bank’s tree planting campaign runs for the fourth year

In 2023, 11,200 trees will be planted thanks to an increase in the customer base following the acquisition of Sopron Bank Burgenland last year.

In 2019, the financial institution has committed to planting a tree equal to the number of its customers, with the help of Erdőmentők Foundation, and to plant a sapling on behalf of each new customer who opens an account. By extending its tree planting programme year after year, the MagNet Oak Forests now have altogether 50,000 trees in the Duna-Ipoly National Park and the forests surrounding Esztergom, plus more than 11,000 saplings have been committed by the end of 2023.

More information:

https://www.magnetbank.hu/en/magnet-oaks

SPAR cuts plastic film use by more than 59 tonnes annually

SPAR saves a significant amount of plastic film each year by using reusable rolling racket plastic blankets in its logistics processes to cover some its deliveries to the stores.

By the end of December 2022, SPAR has started to use more than 35 000 pieces of roll blankets. In the logistics chain, products are transported from the warehouses to the stores, first placed on rolling racks and trolleys and then secured onto these. The latter process used to be done with foil, but from now roll blankets are used wherever possible. From the warehouse, the blanket-covered trolleys are transported to the stores on lorries, and the empty trolleys and collected blankets are returned to the warehouse to be used again for the next delivery.

“One of the cornerstones of our business philosophy is to operate in an environmentally responsible way, which is why we pay particular attention to minimising negative environmental impacts. The use of roll blankets also supports the corporate group’s objectives to significantly reduce waste generation by 2030 through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.  In terms of the separation of secondary raw materials – paper, plastics – generated and sold in our stores, the recycling rate has increased from the initial 46 percent to more than 70 percent in our shops. Of course, the best packaging waste is the one never produced in the first place. In the case of the roll blankets that is exactly what we are doing: we are replacing a significant amount of plastic film with an environmentally-friendly solution,” explained Márk Maczelka, head of communications at SPAR Hungary.

SPAR calculates that it will save at least 59 tonnes of plastic packaging material per year, reducing its environmental impact.

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