The impact of climate change on business has shifted from being a distant threat to becoming part of our everyday reality. Today, business continuity itself is at stake. Companies can no longer focus solely on mitigating climate change; they must also simultaneously adapt to it. This was the central theme of BCSDH’s business lunch held on October 7, 2025, which focused on climate adaptation.

At the event, the ‘For a Sustainable Future Award’ was presented, recognizing outstanding leaders, female leaders, and business solutions in the field of sustainability across four categories this year.

Budapest, October 7, 2025 – The physical impacts of climate change are already disrupting operations and supply chains, while increasing business costs worldwide and threatening financial performance. Since 2000, the economic costs of climate-related disasters have more than doubled.

At its Business Lunch, the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH) presented a three-point recommendation and a four-point proposed action plan to help the business community take steps in the field of climate adaptation.

At the event, the organization — which brings together 155 member companies that account for around 40% of Hungary’s GDP — presented the For a Sustainable Future Award for the ninth time, recognizing excellence in the categories of Change Leader, Female Leader, Business Solution, and Corporate Transformation.

Nagy Z.Laszlo nagyzl@nagyzl.hu

Adapting to climate change is not merely a choice but a business and strategic necessity. Companies need bespoke, future-fit solutions — which means they must lead the way in innovation. This was the key message of the presentation delivered by Georgia Rolfe, Principal Consultant for Sustainable Technologies at Cambridge Consultants, part of Capgemini.

Nagy Z.Laszlo nagyzl@nagyzl.hu

“From storms to floods to droughts, climate disruption is already reshaping our economy. The businesses that step up, not just to survive, but to adapt and innovate, will define the next decade of leadership. The path forward lies in harnessing innovation and technology to embed resilience into your core strategy,” – explained Georgia Rolfe.

The risks of climate change — from disruptions to water supplies and damage to physical assets to declining workforce productivity — are driving up business costs while reducing operational efficiency. According to BCSDH’s Towards Net Zero research, published in early 2025, while 91% of companies already feel the impacts of climate change, only 16% have an adaptation action plan in place. Companies urgently need to rethink their climate resilience and adaptation strategies to safeguard their long-term viability, as well as their business and social value.

Nagy Z.Laszlo nagyzl@nagyzl.hu

In his opening remarks, Attila Chikán Jr., President of BCSDH, emphasized:
“Adaptation is not only about avoiding risks — it is also an opportunity. Every dollar invested in climate adaptation and resilience yields more than ten dollars in return within ten years. When a company invests in adapting to climate change, it supports its employees and the communities it touches, while making its own operations more resilient. It contributes to more predictable and therefore more competitive supply chains. Investment in resilience also paves the way for technological and operational innovation, smarter and more forward-looking planning, and long-term value creation.”

BCSDH’s Time to Transform 2030 program also aims to support companies to recognize risks and opportunities and trigger action in the field of climate adaptation.

The recommendations and actions developed in relation to this topic are the outcome of comprehensive professional collaboration involving leading experts as well as executives and specialists from BCSDH member companies.

Nagy Z.Laszlo nagyzl@nagyzl.hu

What drives true, systemic change? What personal commitments motivate those inspiring leaders whose entire lives are shaped by sustainability? What makes them role models who inspire others? And where do they identify the momentum that can spark real action?

These were the guiding questions of an open conversation featuring Balázs Báthory, Deputy CEO for Innovation and Strategic Development at MARKET Építő Zrt.; Dr. Viktória Bodnár, Managing Partner at IFUA Horváth & Partners Ltd.; Zoltán Gazsi, who stepped down this year after nearly 20 years as CEO of Eisberg, and is now Founder and Leader of the Blue Zone Community; and Tibor Hodik, Managing Partner of the Progressive advertising agency and Founder and Leader of the natu group.

The main supporter of this year’s Time to Transform 2030 program is Nestlé.
The supporter of BCSDH’s carbon-conscious events is Ayvens.

What is the digital carbon footprint of our communication? What tools are available to reduce it? How can communication contribute to sustainability? To what extent is sustainability a matter of self-awareness?

The working group meeting, held on September 23, 2025, began with measuring the carbon footprint of the participants’ social media consumption. The event was hosted by Virág Váraljai, Head of Marketing and Communications at MET Hungary, who welcomed the attendees. Ákos Jakab, Head of Technology and Innovation at MET Green Division, presented the sustainability achievements of the group.

György Huszics, Co-Founder and Managing Director of CARBON.CRANE, provided insights into the possibilities for reducing the digital carbon footprint. In a panel discussion moderated by Irén Márta, Tibor Hodik, Managing Partner of Progressive Advertising Agency, György Huszics, Co-Founder and Director of CARBON.CRANE, and Szabolcs Pécsi, Managing Director of HighVibes, explored the role of communication in achieving sustainability goals, along with the personal and broader challenges it entails.

The digital carbon footprint of corporate communication can be significantly reduced through conscious decision-making. The footprint of a single webpage largely depends on the size and format of the images used, the number of visitors, and also on how carbon-consciously the data is stored. Education plays a key role in this process.

The roundtable discussion highlighted the importance of ensuring that communication about sustainability remains within the realm of inspiring action. It must not be overshadowed by ecological guilt or fatigue that could paralyze meaningful steps forward.

BCSDH has joined as a collaborating partner in Digital Awareness Week (DT7), which will be held between September 22 and 28, 2025, and is being organized in partnership with our member company, Carbone.Crane. This unique initiative is an awareness-raising program that provides a comprehensive overview of sustainability, cybersecurity, and reliable information in the digital world.

The organizers are dedicating a specific period of time—one day—to each topic, during which experts will summarize the most important information with the help of articles, interviews, and podcasts. In order to ensure that concrete steps are taken, challenges related to the topics will also be published, which participants will be able to join.

The aim of the program is to make the environmental, energy, and social impacts of digital technology visible to users and, as a result of the series of events, to articulate the need for #digital awareness and to develop conscious use based on this.

Read more: https://digitalistudatossaghete.hu/

How can we ensure the growing population’s need for high-quality protein in a circular manner? This topic was at the center of this year’s exciting BCSDH weekend program for executives and their partners.

The professional program began on Friday at AGROLOOP’s Üllő plant, which was handed over last December, where host Rajmond Percze, founder and managing director, welcomed the participants. He presented the history of the company’s founding and the basics of its operations, which are based on a specifically sustainable strategy. His personal commitment was greatly influenced by the BCSDH “Future Leaders” program, after which he decided to found a company operating on sustainable principles. Sustainable food, agriculture and animal husbandry are major challenges for the world. A company that produces high-nutritional-value animal protein and fat suitable for animal feed from fly larvae offers a solution to this problem in a fully circular process. This low-carbon and low-water-footprint solution was created to help make animal husbandry sustainable so that we will not have to live on insects in the future. The factory tour followed the process from the arrival of the eggs to the “harvesting” of the 12-day-old larvae.

The next day, Master Good hosted the team in Kisvárda, and after a video message from Péter Bárány, managing director, Csaba Farkas, director of innovation and sustainability, welcomed the participants and presented the tremendous progress made by the Bárány family in the field of poultry breeding and processing. Master Good’s pioneering sustainability measures, which are based on emission and carbon footprint data that are unique and detailed in the industry, place the company at the forefront internationally. During the factory tour, which ended in the beautiful Japanese garden, participants were able to see the almost completely circular process, from feed production to 100% utilization of waste and by-products.

We would like to thank the leaders and staff of Agroloop and Master Good for their hospitality and for organizing such an informative program.

A selection of photos from the event is available here.