Businesses and local governments as well as NGOs and educational and student organizations involving young people are invited to submit their sustainability and energy efficiency projects until the middle of December for the highest ranking prize in the energy world, the Energy Globe Hungary Award. The projects found to be the best will win the first Hungarian Energy Globe Award and represent our country in international competitions.

The Energy Globe Award was established in 1999 at the initiative of an Austrian engineer and has become one of the most prestigious international events in sustainability and energy efficiency. The competition, which Hungary joined in 2016 with the support of the E.ON Group, is now organized in 177 countries every year. In addition to the enterprises and local governments category, this year there is a category for young people and civil and educational organizations addressing them to submit their proposals until December 11. The jury consisting of independent and renowned experts will select three proposals in each category.

“As the history of mankind has been about the discovery and use of energy sources, the 21st century will certainly be all about energy innovation. There are tremendous changes taking place in both technological solutions and in energy use,” – said Zsolt Jamniczky, member of E.ON Hungária’s Board and member of the Energy Globe Hungary Award jury.

Another jury member, Attila Chikán Jr., President of the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSDH) and CEO of the ALTEO Group emphasized the business advantages of international relations: “Although the basic criterion for energy efficiency in the industry is the use of solutions tailored to the given companies, the international best practices and certification standards often provide a model for customers or investors. Thanks to the growing number of global energy efficiency initiatives we have a wealth of models to be followed that are already available and any business can choose from them the energy efficiency model that best suits their geographical and economic environment. This is the essence of smart energy management. The greatest return in this competition for the companies is that they can learn about the good models and, of course, can also win valuable prizes.”

The participants will be competing for HUF three million in the enterprises and the next generation categories, while local governments can win a thematic playground in the area of sustainability for their community. The organizers are also inviting the public to help select the winners in each category, and the people who participate will have the opportunity to win several smart, sustainable gifts, such as an electric bicycle and smart mobile phones in a draw.

István Salgó, CEO of ING Bank’s Hungarian branch office, honorary president of the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSDH), and also a member of the jury, highlighted equal opportunity as a value: “In the spirit of the competition any initiative by a company, local government, school or social organization is welcome, irrespective of the value of the investment in question, since the jury is primarily interested in seeing what the impact of the project was in its own area and to what extent it can be regarded as an international model to be followed.”

“We are inclined to look at sustainability as an outsider, thinking that it is the business of international organizations and perhaps multinational companies,” climate research expert Diána Ürge-Vorsatz, head of the Center for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy, said. “I was happy to join the jury because the Energy Globe Hungary Award strengthens and demonstrates the message that wherever we are, we can all do something – businesses, local governments and young people – for a more livable, smarter and environmentally conscious future.”

“I can see that energy and energy management have become a major topic in just a few years. At the same time, I am sure that there are more success stories and initiatives in Hungary than those that get into the media. As members of the jury, we can make a huge difference in this respect,” TV host and public figure Gabriella Jakupcsek added.

Dr Péter Grabner, deputy chairman of the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority, another jury member, believes: “Many people think the energy sector is overregulated with extremely stringent rules and changes that are hard to follow on a human scale. I am sure that this competition will demonstrate to everybody that it is a bustling and diverse sector in which dreaming, in the best sense of the word, and idealism and creativity have a place in addition to realism, strict criteria of returns and compliance.”

The applicants are not expected to submit a complete feasibility study but only case studies and a few data for identification and authentication that are necessary for assessing their projects. The evaluation and assessment criteria can be found on the website along with the project descriptions of a few former applicants of the international competition.

The proposals can be submitted to www.energy-globe.hu until December 11. The submitted projects will be evaluated in December, and the announcement of the results and public voting will probably take place in early 2017.

Three more categories will be added in 2017: next year projects in the categories of the construction industry, DIY and ideas (projects that are still just an idea) can be submitted by those who are interested in sustainability and energy efficiency.

Unilever has been named leader of the Household and Personal Products Industry Group in the 2016 Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). It is one of only 24 companies to be awarded Industry Group Leader status. The company achieved an overall score of 92 out of a possible 100. Unilever led the industry in 14 out of the 22 Personal Products criteria, including: Corporate Governance; Brand Management; Materiality; Supply Chain Management; Packaging; Labour Practices Indicators & Human Rights; and Corporate Citizenship & Philanthropy. 2016 is the first year Unilever has been included in Household and Personal Products as this is where Unilever now sits in MSCI and S&P’s Global Industry Classification Standard. Previously Unilever was in the Food Products sector within the Food, Beverage & Tobacco Industry Group, which the company led for 15 years.

‘Accelerating Think Forward’ is the theme of the strategy update that CEO Ralph Hamers and other executives presented on 3rd of October 2016  at the ING Group Investor Day in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. To accelerate the Think Forward strategy, ING will introduce a number of initiatives to further improve the customer experience, further grow primary customers and lending, and increase efficiency.

“Since launching Think Forward in 2014, we have made excellent progress on many fronts,” said Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING. “We attracted over three million new customers, supported the economy by growing lending by around EUR 56 billion and strengthened our capital. We did that by focusing on being clear and easy, anytime, anywhere, and empowering customers to stay a step ahead in life and in business. We also promised to keep getting better and that is exactly what today’s steps are aimed at. Our recent successes allow us to do so from a position of strength.”

“Customers are increasingly digital and bank with us more and more through mobile devices. Their needs and expectations are the same, all over the world, and they expect us to adopt new technology as fast as companies in other sectors. In order to continue to lead in digital banking, we need to offer a better customer experience, that’s instant, personal, frictionless and relevant. At the same time, banks are confronted with continuous regulatory burden and a prolonged period of ultra-low interest rates. These factors put pressure on the returns which are necessary to fund growth and investments, and cover our cost of capital.”

“In that context, we intend to start a path of convergence towards one digital banking platform. Countries with similar value propositions intend to harmonise their business models and develop shared operating platforms. Infrastructure, data and support functions are intended to be standardised across countries and business lines. From 2016 to 2021 we intend to invest EUR 800 million in our digital transformation, building a scalable platform to cater for continued commercial growth, an improved customer experience and a quicker delivery of new products. This would allow us to continue our success in growing our client franchise and diversify our income. Through improved efficiency, the Accelerating Think Forward programme is expected to deliver approximately EUR 900 million of annual cost savings by 2021.”

“In the Netherlands and Belgium, we intend to improve our customer experience by moving to an integrated banking platform, leveraging the combined strengths of the omnichannel capabilities of the Netherlands with the relationship model and advice capabilities of Belgium. The intended combination would leverage scale advantages of our 11 million customer base, having one value proposition, one strategy, one set of systems, one culture and one organization – but with two legal entities and two balance sheets.”

“ING Belgium intends to transform to an omnichannel banking environment. The intention is to rationalise the network by integrating ING and Record Bank branches. At the same time, in the Netherlands, we will further optimise a number of business and support functions. The intended programme would draw on the experience gained from successful similar large-scale IT projects in the Netherlands and its adoption of the agile way of working.”

“In our Challenger Markets, we will work towards a Model Bank, with one retail strategy and a harmonised retail proposition, fully focused on increasing customer interaction. Aimed at further customer and volume growth, we will deliver a scalable business platform, initially for Spain, Italy, France, Czech Republic and Austria. The platform can be extended to additional countries, products and services. An agile, central IT services centre will develop, maintain and run all needed digital requirements. In Germany we will enhance our digital banking platform, introducing an omnichannel approach and investing in scalability to provide room for business growth and improve operational efficiency.”

“In Wholesale Banking we intend to extend our Target Operating Model (TOM) programme, further driving simplification, business growth and innovation. We intend to continue to digitalise our client offering through InsideBusiness across geographies, products and devices. Process improvement initiatives would enable us to decommission legacy IT systems, while global service centres would increasingly provide services directly to clients. Our global support functions including IT, Risk, Finance and HR also intend to roll out TOM-programmes, streamlining and standardising to enable further convergence of our operations.”

“It is inevitable that the various measures and intentions announced today may have a significant impact on many of our colleagues. It means some functions will change significantly in nature. It might mean that the location of functions will change. And it might mean that positions will no longer be there in the future. All-in-all, over the coming five years, around 7,000 functions might be impacted by these effects, including 950 positions employed by external suppliers.”

“While not all plans we present today are finalized, the intended initiatives are expected to result in a reduction of ING´s workforce in Belgium by around 3,500 FTEs and by around 2,300 FTEs in the Netherlands for the years 2016-2021. These numbers include the intended move to an integrated banking platform, with the remainder of functions affected spread over intended programmes in IT, operations, Wholesale Banking and various business support functions. At the same time, we will add colleagues in parts of our business where we expect to accelerate growth given our plans to continue to attract new customers and increase lending to support the economies we are active in.”

“Regrettably, the steps and intentions announced today would mean that a significant number of colleagues would have to leave ING. Because of the work we have done in recent years, we are able to take these intended measures from a position of strength. This enables us to do our utmost to build on our track record of helping colleagues who are affected to find new job opportunities. For the intended workforce reductions, a pre-tax redundancy provision of around EUR 1.1 billion is expected to be booked, of which EUR 1.0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016.”

“In line with our strategy, we will be introducing ING Group financial targets for 2020. We will maintain our ING Group CET1 ratio above the prevailing fully-loaded requirement, currently 12.5%, with a leverage ratio above 4%. Our target for the cost/income ratio is 50-52%. In light of the continuing regulatory uncertainty, we are not updating our RoE target (currently 10-13% of ING Bank IFRS-EU equity), but we reiterate our intention to pay a progressive dividend over time.”

Further details of the various programmes will become available in the coming months. Wherever there is an impact on the workforce, all intended measures will be made in accordance with local regulations and will be discussed with the respective stakeholders.

Source: www.ing.com

KPMG launched an updated guide on climate change for private equity investors, prepared for the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The guide covers current and emerging practice in the developing area of assessing climate change impacts on private equity investments, in two sections. Section 1 summarises the rationale for incorporating climate change concerns in private equity investments. Section 2 presents a framework that Limited Partners (LPs) and General Partners (GPs) can use in due diligence and when engaging with their fund and portfolio company investments. The guide is available at IIGCC’s website.