The time for solutions has come – the world stands at the beginning of a new era.
Budapest, 27 February 2024: The Business Council for Sustainable Development Hungary (BCSDH), representing over 140 leading executives of responsible companies, is ready to take the lead in promoting systemic change during challenging times. At the BCSDH General Assembly, held in Hungary’s Railway History Park, Csaba Kőrösi, until recently president of the UN General Assembly, spoke about the beginning of a new era that involves creating solutions to pressing challenges.
“We have entered an era of wars as we strive to make the turn towards sustainable development. But there is hope because science can provide much more accurate diagnoses than ever before, communities’ demand for security and balanced development is growing stronger, and an increasing number of economic players see that sustainable development, material and energy efficiency, a reduced environmental footprint, and social responsibility have become competitive factors. The time for solutions has come,” – said Csaba Kőrösi.
“EU and domestic ESG regulations impose data collection and measurement requirements on companies, which – if we go beyond mere compliance – can reveal significant areas for development. Used as a well-formulated management tool, companies have the opportunity to move to a higher level and fully capitalize on the possibilities of sustainable development. This could be a very good basis for a paradigm shift whereby the evaluation of companies is based not only on economic indicators but also on their sustainability performance,“ – added Irén Márta, the organization’s executive director, following the acceptance of the 2023 annual report.
BCSDH has set its goals for 2024 as supporting member companies and the business sector in achieving climate-neutral operations, promoting biodiversity restoration targets, fostering an inclusive, equality-supporting, diverse corporate culture and operations, and ensuring the highest level of transparency while fully respecting business human rights.
“We are living in an era of polycrisis, yet our community, consisting of more than 140 member companies, believes that we are capable of fundamentally transforming our current systems and that business plays a crucial role in this. The goal of BCSDH is to facilitate immediate paradigm shifts and foster business solutions in Hungary that have a real impact on both domestic and global challenges: not only addressing climate change and biodiversity loss but also tackling issues such as growing social inequalities. These challenges, alongside their social and political implications, directly influence the effectiveness of companies and can undermine our collective ability to achieve sustainable development. Solutions must be found; now is the time for action,” – stated Attila Chikán Jr., President of BCSDH.
The BCSDH’s long-term and annual professional work supports this, where in the year 2024, the focus is humans value. The Time to Transform 2030 framework program, which defines the decade, was designed to accelerate system-level transformations, including the Race to Zero initiative that will assist Hungary to achieve climate neutrality by 2050; the Circular Economy Platform, created to expedite the transition to a circular economic model; and the ESG Working Group, which is preparing member companies for anticipated stricter regulations through knowledge-sharing. The Future Leaders’ Talent Program continues to be an essential initiative by supporting a wider audience and more corporate leaders to understand our “Sustainable Corporate Governance Guidelines” and integrate them into everyday corporate operations.
