Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary
1118 Budapest, Ménesi street 9/a.
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World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) National Partner
A Hungarian MA/MSC student will have a chance to win free participation to our ‘Future Leaders’ Talent Program 2016. We are kindly ask our member companies to assist in the dissemination of the program among universities in order to attract more high quality applications until 30th of October.
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Irén Márta will take over the position of Managing Director of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary from 15th October.
The new leader will take over this task from Ida Petrik, with whom BCSDH has been through significant development.
During Ida’s tenure as Managing Director the number of member companies rose to 70, and moreover, the organisation became an important player in the field of sustainable business solutions in Hungary. Ida Petrik is carrying her third child and would like to spend the next two years with her family.
Irén Márta is an economist and communications expert who has supported the Business Council’s work as an Executive Board Member for more than six years. She has played a major role in several of the Council’s programs, including the elaboration of the Leaders’ Recommendations (concerning the principles of sustainable leadership) and the launch of the International Vision 2050 program in Hungary.
Her professional work in disseminating the principles of sustainable construction in Hungary was recognised with two prominent, international awards in 2011: the Sabre Award and the European Excellence Award.
The primary objective of the new leader is to further promote our successul, pre-existing programs (namely, Action 2020 and the Future Leader program) with the involvement of members, and further develop the organization itself.
Another of her important objectives, beside promoting the ’good practices’ of the parent organization of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Hungary, is to involve members in the programs of the central body.
She considers the deeper engagement of the organisation in the sustainable development-supporting regulatory environment to be extremely important.
This full-day course in Budapest will focus on key concepts of green building design and how to define green workspace.
What is a green workspace and why should company owners, interior designers and facility managers deal with this concept? This course explains key concepts of green building design and how to define green workspace. It shows through practical examples the benefits of greener workspaces for all stakeholders and how to green an existing workspace. The course aims to give an understanding of the role of the green work space in the big picture of green building, climate change and the shift to a green economy. This course will be in English.
DATE: TUESDAY October 6th 2015
TIME: 8:30 – 17:00
VENUE: SIEMENS Conference Center
ADDRESS 51-57. Gizella út 1143 Budapest
WHY ATTEND?
- Understand the characteristics and benefits of green workspaces
- Explore ways of greening office spaces and find out how it improves wellbeing and productivity
- Learn about ways of saving costs through operating a sustainable work environment
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
- Understand the key concepts of green building design
- Define the green workspace
- Understand the benefits of greener workspaces for all stakeholders
- Identify key concepts in designing a green workspace
- Identify key concepts in greening your existing workspace
- Understanding the role of the green work space in the big picture of green building, climate change and the shift to a green economy
COURSE SCHEDULE
- Welcome & Registration
- Introductions
- Why green building
- The green workspace – what is it?
- Break
- The benefits of a green workspace
- Lunch & Siemens green roof tour
- Making the case for green workspaces
- Characteristics of a green workspace
- Review
- Designing a green workspace
- Greening your existing workspace
- Review
- The green office inside
- What’s next
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: The course will be led by US green building construction professional and certified instructor, Joseph Marfi, LEED AP and Director of Sustainable Design & Construction for Turner Construction. Mr. Marfi is a native Hungarian, trained as an Architect, and has decades of field experience as a general contractor and construction manager in 3 continents.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
- GREEN BUILDING PROFESSIONALS
- FACILITY MANAGERS
- FINANCIERS AND UPPER MANAGEMENT
COST OF COURSE
HuGBC & RICS members – 15.000 HUF + VAT
Industry Professionals – 20.000 HUF + VAT
DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY
Seating is limited to 30 people.
Please CLICK HERE to RSVP and register for this course.
The level of unemployment among young people has almost reached 20%, 1.8 million tons of food are wasted an annual basis, global warming (which may reach 2°C by 2050) is already impacting Hungary, only 9% of surface water is of good quality and sustainable consumers make up only 10% of the population. These are just some of the reasons that companies who operate over the long term and who are responsible are being called to action.
The Action 2020 Hungary program inspires companies to take action. It’s a platform for action, a platform for business to contribute solutions to environmental and social challenges as well as business challenges facing our country. You can find attached the Action 2020 Hungary brochure.
Be next to join 
The program of Action 2020 Hungary defines the domestic goals until 2020, the implementation of which the business sector can make a significant contribution to.
If You also agree with these goals and that business sector can make a major contribution to solving the sustainability challenges facing Hungary, please join the program. By joining, your company will undertake to implement a minimum of two business solutions until 2020, by means of which it will contribute to the achievement of two the goals chosen. The impacts of the solution shall be measured and shared with us.
Implement and share your business solutions 
If your company has a ready-made solution contributive to the goals set by Action 2020 Hungary
program, share it with us so that others can draw ideas from you. Our program aims to collect and spread business solutions contributive to solving sustainability challenges that go beyond ”business as usual”.
We are seeking change leaders 
The business sector and the whole economic and social system have to find effective and long-term solutions to an increasing number of sustainability challenges. Change is brought about by real solutions, the initiators and implementors of which are important change leaders. Be one of them. Inspire others with your ideas, practices, share your experience, challenges, difficulties and multiply your individual impact by showing an example. We are convinced that enterprises which are successful in the long term also play a key-role in promoting sustainability.
More information and how to join: Mandy Fertetics, mandy.fertetics@bcsdh.hu
Business solution template can be downloaded from here: Action_2020_Hungary_Application_form
The Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH) has decided to join the international Live Earth movement following a call from the President of Hungary, János Áder, and the WBCSD. The initiative encourages the active participation of member companies for getting the most people to join up.
“Live Earth: Road to Paris” will allow people to have their voices heard and let world leaders know that their citizens expect them to act this year on climate change – said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon . The specific goal is to get one billion signatures from concerned citizens before the UN climate change conference convenes in Paris in December 2015.
According to the Business Council it is extremely important that the Paris Climate Summit is successful. Accordingly, it seeks to support the campaign actively. The initiative was launched in January this year by former US vice-president Al Gore, and has been personally promoted by János Áder in Hungary.
Last year more than 100 scientific and civil experts and CEOs actively contributed to defining the goals for Hungary to be met by 2020, including those relating to climate change. The next step is to specify exactly what the contribution of business will be in order to facilitate the meeting of these goals (http://action2020.hu/climate-change/).
A Hungarian website www.elobolygonk.hu, established by the President of Hungary, will be the platform for collecting these ‘climate-votes’ and ensuring that your personal support will be counted in the international campaign.
The BCSDH believes that if its member companies join the initiative, actively use their own assets and motivate their stakeholders to dynamically participate in collecting domestic ‘climate votes’, it will make a significant contribution to meet the global ‘a billion signatures’ target. Our mother organisation, WBCSD, is a global partner of the initiative.
Let’s join our voices in demanding environmental accountability from world leaders!
Our member, the Deloitte Hungary will be carrying out a survey aimed at assessing the current state of CSR and sustainable development in Hungary and 10 other Central European countries.
BCSDH helps to spread the questionnaire and make possible to the member companies to participate in the survey.
Click here to access the questionnaire.
Earth Overshoot Day 2015 lands on August 13.
Earth Overshoot Day is the annual marker of when we begin living beyond our means in a given year. While only a rough estimate of time and resource trends, Earth Overshoot Day is as close as science can be to measuring the gap between our demand for ecological resources and services, and how much the planet can provide.
The Cost of Ecological Overspending
Throughout most of history, humanity has used nature’s resources to build cities and roads, to provide food and create products, and to absorb our carbon dioxide at a rate that was well within Earth’s budget. But in the mid-1970s, we crossed a critical threshold: Human consumption began outstripping what the planet could reproduce.
According to Global Footprint Network’s calculations, our demand for renewable ecological resources and the services they provide is now equivalent to that of more than 1.5 Earths. The data shows us on track to require the resources of two planets well before mid-century.
The fact that we are using, or “spending,” our natural capital faster than it can replenish is similar to having expenditures that continuously exceed income. In planetary terms, the costs of our ecological overspending are becoming more evident by the day. Climate change—a result of greenhouse gases being emitted faster than they can be absorbed by forests and oceans—is the most obvious and arguably pressing result. But there are others—shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse, higher commodity prices and civil unrest, to name a few. The environmental and economic crises we are experiencing are symptoms of looming catastrophe. Humanity is simply using more than what the planet can provide.
Source: Global Footprint Network
US President Barack Obama has unveiled what he called “the biggest, most important step we have ever taken” in tackling climate change.
The aim of the revised Clean Power Plan is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from US power stations by nearly a third within 15 years. The measures will place significant emphasis on wind and solar power and other renewable energy sources.
However, opponents in the energy industry have vowed to fight the plan. “I’m convinced no challenge provides a greater threat to the future of the planet,” Mr Obama said. “There is such a thing as being too late.”
Those opponents say Mr Obama has declared “a war on coal”. Power plants fired by coal provide more than a third of the US electricity supply. The revised plan will aim to cut carbon emissions from the power sector by 32% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.
“We are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change, and the last generation to be able to do something about it,” Mr Obama said. He likened the plan to taking 166 million cars off the road in terms of environmental impact. He called taking a stand against climate change a “moral obligation”.
Mr Obama brushed off the notion that the plan is a “War on Coal” that will kill jobs and said he is reinvesting in areas of the US known as “coal country”.
“Scaremonging” tactics will not work to stop the proposal, he said.
“If we don’t do it nobody will. America leads the way forward… that’s what this plan is about. This is our moment to get something right and get something right for our kids,” he said.
The deal at a glance
What does it do to combat climate change in the US?
The Clean Power Plan sets standards to reduce CO2 emissions by 32% from 2005 levels by 2030, which is 9% more than the proposed rules previously set forth by the Obama administration.
How?
It sets carbon pollution reduction goals for power plants and requires states to implement plans to meet goals. States have until September 2016 to submit plans, but must comply by 2022.
Why are some US states opposed?
Coal mining states such as Wyoming, West Virginia and Kentucky fear their economies would suffer and people would be laid off.
Is President Obama trying to set an example?
The Administration believes the plan will boost a major climate summit in Paris in December and encourage other countries to submit their own plans.
Source: www.bbc.com
More information:
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) envisions a world where the long-term environmental and social performance of a business is reflected in its success alongside financial indicators. Businesses depend on people as employees, customers, suppliers, retailers, governors and neighbors, and are inextricably connected to the societies within which they operate. Their interactions with society can have significant consequences and must be taken into consideration when measuring and valuing a company’s overall performance.
Despite the significant number of tools available for social impact measurement, businesses are struggling to identify fit-for-purpose approaches that will enable the use of social information to inform strategy and decision-making.
As part of the WBCSD’s Redefining Value program, the development of a Social Capital Protocol aims to bring together and align current expertise in measurement and valuation. Therefore, we are providing a platform to kick-start collaboration.
With this paper, we are calling upon organizations, experts and practitioners, across all sectors and disciplines, to join us in consolidating these efforts. This must be a collaborative initiative to build the critical mass necessary to ensure a legitimate and broadly accepted result for companies, shareholders and stakeholders.
For more information: