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.

2. 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.

3. 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

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 Hungary supports several organisations and causes relating to healthcare, social benefit, education, culture, sport, and animal welfare every year. They also support Hungarian small businesses by putting their products on the shelves of SPAR stores.

The company organises and sponsors charitable initiatives throughout the whole year.  Márk Maczelka, head of communications at SPAR Hungary explained: “Our company spent more than 224 million forints on supporting worthy causes last year. We are proud of all our initiatives and our customers as well who always take these opportunities and support our charity campaigns.” The retail chain has been working together closely with the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta for 26 years. Their shared mindsets, ideas, and initiatives resulted in several returning charity campaigns, and thanks to new initiatives, the list of beneficiaries continuously grows. The charity organisation received almost 47.4 million forints worth of financial support and donations with the help of SPAR Hungary and their customers in 2022. Donation cards purchased by customers made up 24.7 million forints of this total. As a result of the joint charity collection campaigns, they distributed 143 tonnes of food and more than 58 000 items of school supplies to those in need.

Twelve tonnes of dry pet food for animals in need

SPAR Hungary and the Országos Állatvédőrség Alapítvány (National Animal Rights Foundation) arranged a two-day national pet food donation campaign called “Mancs a bajban!”  (Paw in trouble!) in May 2022 for the second year. The activists of the animal protection organisation collected more than 10 000 kg of dry food for dogs, 3500 cans, more than 1700 kg of dry food for cats, 2700 cans, 4400 pouches and 1400 kg of cat litter at selected INTERSPAR stores. The company involved customers with the “Paw in trouble!” pet food donation campaign to help four-legged friends in trouble, whilst trying to raise awareness for the importance of responsible pet ownership and animal protection, as well as providing people with a deeper insight to the invaluable work of NGOs. On top of this SPAR Hungary has been supporting the work of local animal shelters, zoos, and wildlife parks for more than ten years by donating their surplus and not for sale animal products to them.

SPAR employees’ children enjoyed happy camping adventures

As one of Hungary’s biggest employers, SPAR Hungary gives their employees’ children the opportunity to go summer camping. Every single year over the last decade – except for 2020 because of the pandemic – SPAR has arranged camping for employees’ children, spending more than 200 million forints since 2013 to support the joyful holidays of 4000 kids in different camps, all of which are a minimum 5-days long. As well as being a great adventure for these children, the camping opportunity means a great deal of help in planning the summer holiday period for the employees of the SPAR Group.

School supplies for disadvantaged children

With the ‘Joy to Give!’ (Adni Öröm!) school supply donation campaign during summer, customers get a chance to support disadvantaged children at the start of the school year by purchasing donation cards at INTERSPAR stores as well as buying notebooks, stationary items, pencil cases, school bags, PE bags, and other useful supplies and hand them over to the volunteers of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta in the stores. The charity organisation distributes the donated supplies, and the equipment they purchased with the money raised at the beginning of September to the families in need. The initiative was launched by SPAR in 2021 in partnership with the charity organisation and became a tradition returning in 2022. Customers donated more than 58 000 items of school supplies and more than 2 million forints worth of donation cards to support the campaign this year. SPAR Hungary topped up the donations with an additional one million forints. The Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta helped about 1,500 children to have new school supplies, PE accessories, and other necessary school equipment with the support of SPAR’s customers in 2022.

Equal Opportunities Run and donation campaign at the SPAR Budapest Maraton® Festival

Last year in October there were thousands of participants from 800 Hungarian locations and 83 different countries at the 37th Spar Budapest Maraton® Festival.  A special feature of the event was the 10th FODISZ Equal Opportunities Run. This event invited people living with disabilities, reduced mobility and young people who want to express their solidarity with them to run a symbolic 500m race. The aim of the programme is to give children living with disabilities, who don’t necessarily do such activities on a daily basis, the chance to experience the joy and excitement of the competition. During the 2-day program aimed at promoting sports, there are also several charity campaigns organised.

Joy to Give! returns before the Christmas holidays

The joint charity campaign between the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and SPAR, ‘Joy to Give!’ Christmas charity campaign helped disadvantaged people in need to be able to share the joy of Christmas for the 26th consecutive year. The volunteers of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta were present in the selected SPAR and INTERSPAR stores before Christmas to collect non-perishable food donations. Continuing the tradition, donation cards were available for purchase from the 1st of December in stores and the SPAR online shop. During the festive season many people want to show their solidarity and empathy; according to a survey conducted at the request of SPAR Hungary, 43% of the respondents said that they can almost see the faces of those they are helping when they donate, and most people prefer to do more personal donations. To help SPAR’s customers to express these feelings, the store chain provided the option to send messages on big greeting cards or online to the people receiving their donations which made the whole experience even more personal. ‘Joy to Give!’, the joint campaign between the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and SPAR Hungary, contributed to the creation of gift bags made from 143 tonnes worth of food donations in 2022. This amount helped making the Christmas period brighter and merrier for 19 500 families.  The customers of SPAR’s online shop raised more than 7.3 million forints in donations to contribute to the campaign and help build these gift bags.

The cost of 200 000 aluminium cans donated to children’s holiday camps

SPAR Hungary customers help significantly reduce environmental pressure and simultaneously support the holidays of children in need if they return used aluminium cans to the purpose-built machines. The process is very simple; when customers return their used aluminium cans to the selected collection machines by SPAR and INTERSPAR stores they need to press the donation button at the end to be able to donate the value of the returned cans to charity. Thanks to the initiative there were 200 000 cans collected in 2022, which is equal to more than three tonnes of recyclable aluminium. The amount that was raised is close to one million forints and will be used by the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta to fund the holidaying of disadvantaged children.

More and more Hungarian products for shoppers

SPAR Hungary is committed to supporting Hungarian farmers, family enterprises, domestic agriculture and processing industry – promoting Hungarian producers, products and innovations is a cornerstone of its business philosophy. They are supported by the Hungaricool product competition, which started in 2019, for exciting high-quality products made in Hungary, which are newly developed or, if they already exist, are not yet widely available in retail chains. For customers this provides the opportunity to have access to more and more good quality, locally sourced products every year. The Hungaricool product competition was organised for the fourth time in 2022, and as well as SPAR, the original creator, K&H Bank played an even more active role last year. They offered personal financial advice and financial support for the winners who were also supported with marketing aid and training courses by the SPAR Supplier Academy. The main goal of this is to equip Hungarian small businesses with the knowledge on how to build a brand which promotes further product developments and customers can benefit from this as well. Following the past three Hungaricool rounds so far, 26 winning suppliers are present on the shelves of the retail chain with a total of more than a hundred products. SPAR also supports local small-scale producers with their Regional Treasures program which provides them with a spot on their shelves. When customers buy products with the red apple logo on them, they support the small-scale producers of the different Hungarian regions.

SPAR Helping Hands Programme

SPAR Hungary is happy to support organisations that promote causes of significant social importance and their action campaigns whenever they can. Therefore, the store chain launched a tender system years ago which provides a transparent way and equal opportunity to support different initiatives. In 2022 there were 80 NGOs who received financial support worth of 8.5 million forints through the SPAR Helping Hands tender.

SPAR Hungary’s sustainability initiatives are updated and available using the following link: www.sparafenntarthatojovoert.hu

Runaway energy prices have created unexpected difficulties for civil society actors. For example, the Szimbiózis Foundation, which helps adults with disabilities and severe disabilities to live as independently as possible, has incurred over HUF 74 million in extra costs due to the surge in overheads and fuel prices.

The unsustainability of the situation is illustrated by the fact that several organisations operating residential homes in Miskolc, among others, have been forced to switch to wood-burning. To do this, they produced part of the firewood they needed from the Baráthegyi Majorság, which they also run, and were able to make up for this with Alteo’s financial support, which enabled them to buy an additional 100 cubic metres of firewood.

“As a responsible, ESG-certified company, ALTEO feels obliged to help alleviate the symptoms where it is difficult to eliminate the problem in the short term, in addition to long-term energy efficiency projects,” said Anita Simon, Deputy CEO for Sustainability and Circular Economy of the company, which is listed in the premium category of the Budapest Stock Exchange.

“The humanity, acceptance and community spirit at the foundation is exemplary,” said Anita Simon. She added that it was particularly gratifying to be able to help in this difficult situation, as energy poverty has serious consequences, from health risks to social isolation and environmental damage.

To find out more about the work of the Szimbiózis Foundation, visit https://szimbiozis.net/, where you can also find information on how to support the organisation.

Every 100th new customer who opens an account under the Bank’s Nyiss és nyerj! promotion between Jan 1st- 30th of June, 2023 wins an electric scooter and every 1000th customer wins an electric bike.

By opening an account, the bank also aims to promote green, emission-free modes of transportation, as the Community Bank considers the preservation of the environment and living space to be one of its high importance missions.

More information:

https://www.magnetbank.hu/en/open-an-account-win-an-e-scooter