Shell* has agreed to acquire 100% of sonnen, a leader in smart energy storage systems and innovative energy services for households. This follows an investment by Shell in May 2018 and means that post regulatory approval and completion sonnen will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell.

“sonnen is one of the global leaders in smart, distributed energy storage systems and has a track record of customer-focused innovation. Full ownership of sonnen will allow us to offer more choice to customers seeking reliable, affordable and cleaner energy,” Brian Davis, Vice President Energy Solutions at Shell, said. “Together, we can accelerate the building of a customer-focused energy system in support of Shell’s strategy to offer more and cleaner energy solutions to customers.”

Christoph Ostermann, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of sonnen, said: “Shell New Energies is the perfect partner for helping us grow in a market that is expanding rapidly. With this investment we’re excited to help more households to become energy independent and benefit from new opportunities in the energy market. Shell will help drive the growth of sonnen to a new level and help speed up the transformation of the energy system.”

sonnen offers smart energy storage to customers and offers digital energy services via its sonnenCommunity platform. For example, during the day the sonnenBatterie optimises the use of solar power in a household and supplies energy at night using stored solar power generated in daytime. sonnen has been a pioneer in the energy market by combining its technology with new business models for a decentralised energy system. Recently, sonnen put Germany’s biggest virtual battery into operation. It is based on a network of home electricity storage systems across the country to help balance power supply and demand on the power grid.

The agreement will accelerate the ability of the two companies to offer innovative integrated energy services and electric vehicle charging solutions, and the provision of grid services that are based on sonnen’s virtual battery pool.

*Shell Overseas Investment B.V.

Shell believes in the need for society as a whole to address the climate challenge. A growing global population and a rise in living standards are likely to continue to drive energy demand, including oil and gas, for years to come. At the same time, technological changes and the need to tackle climate change means there is a transition under way to a lower-carbon, multi-source energy system with increasing customer choice.

Shell seek for opportunities to join the public and expert debates focused on energy challenge and transition. That’s why Shell in Hungary decided to join as key partner Budapest Energy Summit  this year, largest energy conference in the Central & Eastern Europe region welcoming more than 300 participants from the energy industry, governments and top executives from the worlds of technology and finance. Wouter Koopman from Shell International Exploration and Production will join the expert panel focused on the role of gas in the clear energy world. Andrea Bujdoso, Country Chair and Sales Manager of Shell Hungary Zrt., will attend as key speaker The Women in Energy Conference, which is part of the Summit featuring leading women from the global energy sector.

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Shell Hungary gives also opportunity to students from Széchenyi István University in Győr to showcase at the conference their ultra- energy-efficient vehicle they developed for Shell Eco-marathon competition, which aim to challenge students of technology to design, build and test their vehicles, which can compete to go the farthest on the least amount of fuel.

Every company is focusing on employee motivation and retention in Hungary. One of the biggest company realized based on analyse from last year that the most efficient PR activity was to take part on Family-friendly Company award. In 2018 the call was submitted by 200 companies, of which 17 were awarded the “Family Friendly Company”.

The mission of the Three Princes, Three Princesses movement is to help the birth of more children in Hungary by supporting the reconciliation of careers and families activities. Since 2013 the association has been a “Family-friendly Company” award for companies that contribute to a family-friendly approach by supporting work and private life balance. At the Friday evening event in Budapest, Grundfos Manufacturing Hungary Ltd. won the main prize “Family-Friendly Company of the Year 2018” by acknowledging our family-friendly activities and aspirations.

At the event, Deputy Prime Minister Mihaly Varga emphasized that the remunerated solutions are exemplary, which need to be collected and share in order to create as many family-friendly jobs as possible, benefiting companies, people, families and the country too.

“The Family Friendly Company of the Year 2018” award was take over to 1 company per categories, evaluating small, medium and large companies. In the large company category were “competitors” such as Budapest Bank Zrt. (GE Group), IBM Hungary ISSC, MOL Nyrt., NI Hungary Ltd., Szerencsejáték Zrt. Grundfos got the nationally acclaimed award for flexible working forms, organizing summer camps, coordination of male and female roles and work-life integration.

An international conference on “Cooperation for Sustainable Agriculture” organized by BASF, one of the largest chemical companies in the world was held on 19 November 2018 in the building of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The event, whose theme was the future of agriculture, created an excellent forum for dialogue between the global leaders of BASF Plant Protection Division and the experts of the Hungarian state administration.

Farming has become more complex than ever before. The unpredictability of weather, the difficulties in pest and weed control, market price fluctuations, scarcity of natural resources, and over-population of the Earth are a major challenge for agriculture. These challenges encourage BASF to continue its committed work to develop innovative solutions and to help farmers meet the world’s growing demand for food.

Christoph Hofmann, head of Agricultural Solutions division at BASF Hungária Kft. emphasized at the beginning of the event that the conference wanted to become a platform where different stakeholders (the government, producers, industry) could discuss the questions of the future of agriculture. The holistic approach to sustainability is indispensable when we talk about agriculture. Agriculture can only become sustainable if environmental, social and economic aspects are equally incorporated into the decision-making process.

In his opening speech, the chief patron of the event, Dr. Zsolt Feldman, Minister of State for Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture emphasized that one of the keys to achieving an economically viable, efficient agricultural production managing its resources sustainably can be precision farming and digitalization.

This year, Robert Zsigo, Minister of State for Food Chain Supervision also attended the conference, presenting the main elements and current issues of the Food Chain Safety Strategy. He expressed his positive thoughts on the fact, that sustainability is not just important to the states, but industrial operators have also recognized its importance.

Dr Thomas Narbeshuber, managing director of BASF Hungária Kft. and BASF’s Central and Eastern European leader stated: innovation has made BASF a leading chemical company and today BASF has unique resources and opportunities in the chemical industry. In addition to the topic of innovation and digitalization, BASF’s new strategy and the importance of Visegrad cooperation was also addressed:

In 13th of September 2018 the results of the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (‘DJSI’) review have been announced.

Launched in 1999, the DJSI recognize the leading companies in each industry sector for responsible economic, environmental, and social performance. Randstad is proud to be included as a member in the Professional Services industry of the DJSI World and DJSI Europe indices. We were assessed as best in class by RobecoSAM on many criteria like Risk & Crisis Management.

CEO Jacques van den Broek comments: “The inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index shows that we’re on the right track to contribute to a better society. We know from our heritage that it is our empathy, our intuition, and our passion for people that make us successful. We believe that it is the human side of our business that makes the difference. Our ultimate goal – touching the work lives of 500 million people by 2030 worldwide – therefore forces us to develop client and candidate experiences that combines technology with our human strength, so we can truly touch people’s work lives.”