MOL Group has once again been part of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSWI). This places MOL Group in the top 15% of integrated oil and gas companies based on its corporate sustainability performance. MOL Group is the only company from the Central Eastern European region to be included in the index.

The evaluation was conducted by RobecoSAM, a specialist in sustainability investment. RobecoSAM invited the 68 largest publicly listed Upstream & Integrated Oil and Gas sector companies, finally only admitting 10. MOL Group is now ranked in the top 15% of the companies worldwide based on its sustainability performance. The company was already listed in the Dow Jones Index between 2010 and 2011 and was now again included in the index after a five-year absence.

Membership in the DJSWI is restricted to corporations judged to be best-in-class when compared to industry peers based on a range of sustainability metrics. Metrics include environmental, social performance factors and economic sustainability is also considered.

“Our goal is to fully integrate sustainability in our daily operations. We continue to have the highest regard for the safety of our people, the communities and the environment wherever we operate. The inclusion in the DJSI World Index, will further boost our commitment to continuous improvement and represents a major recognition to everyone in MOL who is working on improving our processes and performance at our sites and in our offices through their personal dedication,” said Mr. József Molnár, GCEO of MOL Group.

The robust management system overseen by the Board of Directors, the launch of our SD Plan 2020, which kick-started several actions, considered to be essential for the successful management of long-term economic, social and environmental challenges, and our strong culture of integrated reporting all contributed to this achievement.

Given our long-term commitment to sustainable development, we are particularly pleased to be recognized as a top sustainability performer within the industry.

Our company is deeply committed to fighting global climate change. As a service provider, Allianz can undoubtedly do less for the cause than product manufacturers. However, we have implemented and will continue to implement a number of measures in addition to our green headquarters to protect nature and our environment.

Opening the new, green headquarters in 2010 was a milestone even in Allianz Hungária’s long list of efforts in environmental protection. The building was designed with a number of environment-friendly considerations in mind, including the type of construction materials (recycled materials were used in lots of sections) and also the lifetime carbon footprint of the structure.

1. A powerful insulation system including, among others, glass fibre sheets, aluminium foil backed rock wool panels and thermal insulation plaster significantly lowers the building’s energy consumption.
2. Hot water is partially supplied by the 12 solar panels mounted on the roof of the building in an area covering 24 m².
3. Rainwater (also called grey water) is used to flush toilets. With the heavy rains in the rainy season, it equals 13 m³ or approx. 52 bathtubs of water a day (instead of clean tap water) that the Municipality does not have to treat, another considerable amount of energy saved.
4. The combination of central printers, the introduction of double-sided printing and new non-paper based processes as well as the digital office solution has drastically reduced paper use. Now only one-fifth of the paper quantity of 2009 is used, i.e. the company has consumed the same amount of paper over the past five years as in the year 2009.
5. Amounting to close to 6000 kg in 2015 alone, documents and papers generated in office work and sorted to be destroyed are stored in metal containers and destroyed by an outside business partner in a closed system and then recycled. Consequently, approx. 70 full-grown trees are saved every year. (Recycling is regulated in a contract to ensure that our partner processes materials in an environmental-friendly manner.)
6. Used paper towels at our headquarters are collected and disposed of via the Budapest Municipal Public Services Inc. (FKF Zrt.), which in 2015 alone amounted to a total of 57 m³ of selectively collected paper waste.
7. With selective waste collection being the norm, we also separately collect hazardous waste such as the oil used in the restaurant kitchen of the building. Depleted batteries are collected in another container that normally fills up in a year. There was even another container for dead light bulbs during the 2015 Earth Hour campaign which was filled by company employees and walk-in contributors. In addition, dead light bulbs (400 pcs) and electronic devices (100 pcs) are also selectively collected and disposed of on a regular basis.
8. Our colleagues drink purified water to limit the number of PET bottles used and to reduce the material needs for producing mineral water. Calculating with an average 2 litre water consumption per day per person and with 1000 colleagues, we save 4000 half-litre PET bottles every day.
9. The glass surfaces of the building provide lots of natural light; in all other premises motion detector controlled or energy saving (compact fluorescent lamps and LED) light sources are employed. Savings on electricity is further enhanced by a motion detector controlled, dynamic light switching system in the underground garage.
10. We use natural gas heating because it produces the least amount of combustion products. The hot exhaust air is used to preheat the fresh air supply via a condensation boiler. In addition, blown, filtered and fresh air is pre-cooled and pre-heated using huge heat recovery drums to reduce the amount of electricity and natural gas consumed for heating and cooling.
11. As a result of our energy saving efforts, 250 trees are saved in our forests and a quantity equalling 24,000 bathtubs filled with water remain clean in our rivers. A single 11 W compact fluorescent lamp now operates for 960 fewer hours (120 workdays) per year, resulting in over 3 tons of limestone and over 1 ton of coal left untouched in the mountains.
12. Access to the building is also an important factor for a green office. The Allianz HQ is accessible via various means of public transportation and there is even a bicycle track nearby. To encourage cycling, the building houses bicycle storage, locker room and shower facilities.

In support of our environment-friendly efforts, our Company is planning to introduce additional energy efficient methods by implementing the ISO 50001 standard.

We are proud that the building has been pre-qualified as “BREEAM very good” and its “greenness” has been recognised with the Construction Industry Excellence Award (“Építőipari Nívódíj”). And we have not even mentioned the colour of the building…

In an historic move, 195 countries met in Paris in December 2015 and committed to limit global warming to „well below” 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to keep it to 1,5°C. The Paris Agreement, which officially comes into force in 2020, sends a clear and unequivocal signal to the private sector: a global political intention to shift to a low carbon, and ultimately zero carbon, future. If the goal agreed in Paris is to be achieved it will require a transformation of global energy systems, transport and industrial processes over the next few decades. Businesses face both risks and opportunities in this transition since they must deliver the bulk of the necessary emissions reductions and investment.

But what will this mean for business? KPMG predicts that overall the global economy will evolve to a low carbon model, by increasing investment in clean technology and by the emergence of an international carbon market. We predict that investors will look more closely at climate-related risk and opportunity, as pressure will grow for businesses to set 2°C targets. For more details and about what businesses should focus on a post COP21 world, please read KPMG’s Briefing on the outcome of COP21.

The environmentally conscious corporate reward V. Greenovation GP’s this years announcement of results was held on the 12th of April by the supervisor Publishing Hungary magazine publisher. The Legrand Zrt.’s application with the title of Following our ancestors in behalf of our successor in the category waste management was rewarded by praiseful degree by the supervisors and was taken by Lajos Dudás EHS and infrastructure leader.

The head of the jury Mihály Hartay waste management expert praised the variety of the applications and the variegation of the introduced processes. The applicants sent their works from different areas of the economic life, among them there were local government, healthcare institute, large company and micro enterprise. Mihály Hartay said that the supervisors hope that the works of the applicants will show a good example of the other players of the economic life and they help the building in of the innovation into the hungarian big businesses.

In the application of the Legrand Zrt. as the part of the corporate responsibility introduced it’s diverse environmental protection programme and it’s main events. It granted insight into the waste managemnet regulations, wastecollector- and parkmaker events, and explained in detail the actions after the suspension of the galvanisation. The VOC polluting is clearly the effect of the degreasing technology of the 80’s which, at that time, fitted the environmental protection rules, however since than rule strictenings have happened. The Legrand Zrt. makes the restoring work as part of its coherent and responsible project.

Another charging station is added to the domestic network: the unit was installed in the car park in front of Terminal 2 of Ferenc Liszt International Airport. The installation was implemented with the cooperation of ELMŰ and its partner, ABB. With the state-of-the-art fast charger, vehicles fitted in line with both the Japanese and the European standard can be “filled up” in a short time while you wait for someone in the arrivals hall. Budapest Airport does not charge a separate fee for the use of the station.

The latest development project of the airport car park is a so-called fast charger installed in the Terminal car park in front of Terminal 2. The most modern charger currently available in the market can be used for charging two vehicles at the same time with direct or alternate current; the unit is from the Hungarian production facility of ABB of Switzerland, and the infrastructure required for the installation was put in place by ELMŰ which also assumes the role of operator of the station. The charging progress is easy to follow on the 8-inch display screen of the charging column even in strong sunshine, and no expertise or registration is necessary for using the unit. All you need to do is connect up the vehicle and charging starts automatically.

It is a special feature of the fast charger that a car equipped with a 24-kW battery (e.g. the most frequent Nissan Leaf) can be charged from 30% to 80% in 15 minutes, which will be enough for the next 100-120 kilometers. This time slot is just right when you take someone to the airport or wait for someone to pick up there. Apart from the parking fee, the airport charges no additional fee for the power taken. The charger supports the currently most widespread direct-current standards of CCS and CHAdeMO, but it can also charge with standard alternate current off the grid; in the latter case it is a bit slower, but it is still faster than your wall plug at home.

István Lepsényi, under-secretary of state of the Ministry of the National Economy underlined at the handover of the electric charging station that the handover of the new charging station is an organic component in the implementation of the Jedlik Ányos Plan of the government and said “In order to support the implementation of the domestic e-mobility program we are planning to handover 150 similar charging stations around the country going forward. Our goal is to ensure with this program that the whole country could be driven through in modern electric vehicles. It should be understood that everyone will win with the spreading of such vehicles, as environmental pollution, emission of pollutants, and noise pollution will be reduced. In addition, this will make it possible to implement new innovative developments supporting growth.”

“We hope our passengers will be happy to use our new environmentally friendly service which is one of the most spectacular elements of our e-mobility program commenced in the summer. We believe it is important for us to continue to enhance the level of our services, as this may significantly contribute to preserving our position of best airport in the region,” said Gábor Szarvas, environmental protection and public affairs director of Budapest Airport.

Similarly to recent years, ELMŰ-ÉMÁSZ would like to play a pioneering role in creating the conditions of sustainable transport in Hungary, continuously enhancing its nationwide network which has 41 stations now including the facility just handed over. “The infrastructure set up by us has reached a level of development where it is about time for us to work out the details of the business model that may ensure market-based financing of further extension. The airport may be the most suitable location where charging stations could be operated on commercial terms, as the distance between Ferihegy and downtown can be comfortably covered with electric cars currently in use. The quick charger just commissioned is also a reference for cooperation with ABB. Together with them we are looking forward to participating in fair competition as a result of which we may also contribute to setting up a nationwide network of quick chargers in the framework of the Jedlik Ányos Plan in addition to extending our existing city infrastructure of chargers,” noted Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Knebel, a member of the Board of ELMŰ-ÉMÁSZ responsible for networks.

“We were very happy to receive the request from Budapest Airport to install the quick charging station. ABB has significant international and domestic experience in installing and operating quick charger infrastructure including the manufacturing of charging columns as well as rolling out nationwide networks,” said Attila Balogh, an e-mobility expert of ABB. “The quick chargers of ABB can be found in more than 25 countries already, including e.g. the USA, Chile, Holland, Great Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Estonia, and Hungary. One of our largest assignments was granted by the government of Estonia where ABB installed 165 quick chargers ensuring full coverage of the Baltic state. At the beginning of 2014, ABB entered into a partnership with Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd. of China, in the framework of which ABB can supply the direct current quick chargers for the new DENZA electric car in China over the next six years.”

The innovative bus charger technology of ABB was also introduced at the climate conference in Paris last week that is capable of supplying power for the world’s first high-capacity electric bus system without overhead cables. This technology was first used on electric buses carrying 135 passengers in Geneva.

“The first quick charging station in Hungary was commissioned by our company on Istenhegyi Road in 2012, and we installed additional units since then. We hope that we can contribute to the spreading of green technologies in the country and also to the successful implementation of the environmental program of Budapest Airport,” added Mr. Balogh.

The new electric charging station is a logical element in the e-mobility development program of Budapest Airport, commenced at the beginning of the year. Via this program, the airport would like to support and motivate its partners to use environmentally friendly electric vehicles. In this framework, Budapest Airport also procured a fully electric Smart, implemented new charging stations for electric towing vehicles increasingly used in airport ground handling, and made it mandatory in its last passenger transportation tender for its contracted partner to also procure electric taxis.