KPMG provided professional support for Tesco’s 2012-2013 CR-report, which has recently been published.
You can reach the CR-report here (Hungarian)
The European Parliament adopted the long-awaited directive on the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large companies.
“This vote is a victory for transparency and this is a great day for the future of sustainability reporting,” said Teresa Fogelberg, Deputy Chief Executive, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This agreement demonstrates the EU’s strong commitment to corporate transparency and sustainability – supporting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and paving the way for a sustainable global economy.”
| • | Required to report on environmental, social and employee-related, human rights, anti-corruption and bribery matters |
| • | Required to describe their business model, outcomes and risks of the policies on the above topics, and the diversity policy applied for management and supervisory bodies |
| • | Encouraged to rely on recognized frameworks such as GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, the UNGC, the UNGP on Business and Human Rights, OECD Guidelines, ISO 26000 and the ILO Tripartite Declaration* |
The second Syngenta Photography Award invites photographers from all over the world to explore the tensions and relationships between scarcity and waste through compelling imagery. Photographers can submit their images in two categories ;
Through compelling imagery, the Syngenta Photography Award aims to draw attention and stimulate dialogue around key global challenges. The award offers photographers an international platform for their work and also provides the opportunity to explore issues of global significance. This year photographers are invited to explore the theme Scarcity and Waste.
Deadline: 15 September 2014
Read more information here.
Zoltán Linczmayer, new Managing Director of Skanska Property Hungary, will lead Skanska’s commercial property development business in Hungary and oversee all aspects of operations.
In his previous position as Project Manager in Skanska Property Hungary, he was responsible for finalizing the award winning Green House project in Budapest where he proved to be successful in managing complex relations and achieving challenging goals. He has over 15 years of experience in the real-estate industry including construction, project management, property management and business development. Zoltán holds an MSc degree in Architecture and an MBA in Economics. He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
“Zoltán will be the first Hungarian managing Skanska’s operations in Hungary and hewill continue to drive the company toward new successes on the Budapest office market” said Nicklas Lindberg, Business Unit President of Skanska Commercial Development Europe.
The outcomes of the WBCSD Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII) suggest that all cities seeking to realize their sustainability objectives can benefit from engaging with business early in the planning and strategy development process. Early engagement leverages the capability of business to identify innovative and cost-effective solutions to complex, cross-cutting urban sustainability challenges.
Cities are at the leading edge of the global sustainability agenda. By 2050, 70 % of the world’s population will live in cities and they are rising to this challenge by pursuing ambitious objectives that will make them more competitive, resource-efficient, resilient and inclusive.
Realizing these visions in practice is a complex challenge for city leaders. In particular, they will typically necessitate major transformations in the design, construction and operation of a city’s infrastructure systems – including buildings, energy, mobility, telecommunications, water, sanitation and waste management services – and optimizing the inter-linkages between these systems.
Businesses that are committed to sustainability and experienced in delivering effective solutions can help cities navigate these challenges and turn a high-level vision into practical and implementable action plans. Business can play a vital role not only in providing specific infrastructure, technology, services and financing solutions, but also in contributing to the strategy that will support the overall optimization of urban systems to drive sustainability.
While there are already excellent examples of cities and business working together at the strategic level, this is the exception rather than the rule.
The WBCSD established the UII to advance the urban sustainability agenda by showcasing the critical role that business can play as solutions providers and by providing a platform for collaborative strategic engagement between cities and business. The UII brings together 14 leading member companies – Cemex (Co-Chair), GDF SUEZ (Co-Chair) Siemens (Co-Chair), ACCIONA, AECOM, AGC, EDF, Honda, Nissan, Philips, Schneider Electric, TNT Express, Toyota and United Technologies – with an array of knowledge and skills to help unlock opportunities for urban authorities to create cities that are more sustainable, efficient and livable.
This multi-sector, multi-company group worked with the following leading cities: Turku (Finland); Tilburg (The Netherlands); Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara in Gujarat State (India) ; Yixing (China) ; Kobe (Japan) ; Guadalajara (Mexico) ; and Philadelphia (USA). In each city, the UII mobilized a multi-disciplinary team of company experts to work collaboratively with senior city officials. These teams took an integrated, cross-sector approach to analyzing the city’s major sustainability challenges and to developing an innovative “solutions landscape” (i.e., a portfolio of practical solutions) to address these challenges.
This final report summarizes the work done in these cities and highlights the lessons learned and potential applications where the early collaborative engagement with business should be considered by cities. It makes a number of recommendations for cities, businesses and other key stakeholders to take this critical agenda forward. The WBCSD believes that the example of the UII and these recommendations can provide clarity and guidance on how cities and business can make early collaborative dialogue happen in practice to produce real benefits.
Faced with increasing extreme weather events and changing traditional weather patterns due to climate change, the power sector has become disturbingly vulnerable, making climate risks assessment, building resilience in electricity infrastructure and the development of new business models, a priority.
To help in this regard, the World Business Council For Sustainable Development (WBCSD) electric utilities project released Building a Resilient Power Sector, a comprehensive report that analyzes climate impacts on power systems, explores how to better forecast weather and long-term climate risk, and shares companies best practices from around the world.
The WBCSD report, which includes input from some of the world’s biggest power companies, comes on the heels of the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) study that re-confirms the urgency of addressing climate change.
Some key recommendations for the industry:
Best practices of companies included in the report include:
EDF
DNV GL
Entergy
ABB
Hitachi
Eskom
CLP
Statkraft
WBCSD_Building a Resilient Power Sector-Interactive
Building a resilient power sector – Executive Summery
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released a new guide that aims to expand business understanding and use of biodiversity information to help manage their environmental impact.
IUCN and partners are developing a series of ‘knowledge products’ which are platforms of knowledge that include assessments of authoritative biodiversity information supported by standards, guidelines, data, tools and training.
Biodiversity for Business – A guide to using knowledge products delivered through IUCN is specifically targeted at companies to help them better understand and use knowledge products to assess environmental risks and opportunities in their operations. The guide aims to show how knowledge products can help assess, value, manage and report on business impact and dependency on biodiversity and to help comply with environmental standards and certification schemes.
“It is important for IUCN to demonstrate what kind of knowledge is out there and how it can be used by companies as an input to their decision-making,” said Giulia Carbone, Deputy Director, IUCN Global Business and Biodiversity Programme.
“We wanted to ensure that this knowledge is not only used by the NGO community, but also by companies, since it is critical in assessing and managing risks and opportunities.”
The guide, developed by the IUCN in close collaboration with the WBCSD and its member companies, focuses on four knowledge products:
“This guide has been developed for business and sustainability managers and environmental consultants to increase their understanding of which biodiversity knowledge products are available for use and how they can be deployed across companies to improve management of natural capital,” said Violaine Berger, Director, Ecosystems & Agriculture at WBCSD.
“It nicely complements the WBCSD’s Eco4Biz Guide, which provides a structured overview of existing ecosystem services and biodiversity tools and approaches to support business decision-making.”
After decades of working together, the WBCSD became a member of IUCN in 2013. This was a milestone in terms of enhanced collaboration and business engagement, allowing for scaled-up solutions to better achieve IUCN’s vision: a just world that values and conserves nature.
More information on IUCN’s Business and Biodiversity Programme
More information on WBCSD’s work programme on Ecosystems
Biodiversity for Business- A guide to using knowledge products delivered through IUCN
The Social Innovation Tournament established by the EIB Institute in 2012 is the flagship initiative of its Social Programme. The Tournament seeks to promote the generation of innovative ideas and identify/reward opportunities promising substantial societal benefits or demonstrating best practices with tangible, scalable outcomes. It targets the creation of social value in relation to the fight against social exclusion. It thus covers projects in a wide range of fields, from education and health care to natural or urban environment, through new technologies, new systems, and new processes.
Improvements in these fields are critical to business success, and social innovation could have a substantial social impact. With the introduction of a Special Category Prize in 2013, additional emphasis will be given to a specific field each year. In 2014, the Special Category Prize will be awarded to projects in urban and natural environment.
Find more information here.
INVITATION
Transparency International Hungary requests the pleasure of Your company at the presentation of its publication “Transparency, Disclosure Practices and Integrity of Hungarian State Owned Enterprises”.
Agenda:
8:30 -9:00 Registration
9:00-9:05 Greetings by József Péter Martin, executive director of Transparency International Hungary
9:05 -9:20 Corporate Governance Guidelines at EU level – Elemér Terták, Principal Adviser to the DG Internal Market and Services, European Commission
9:20 -9:35 Integrity at Eximbank – Steps to Creating a Transparent Operation – Roland Nátrán, CEO of Eximbank Ltd.
9:35 -10:00 Presentation of research findings and the publication “Transparency, Disclosure Practices and Integrity of Hungarian State Owned Enterprises”
10:00-10:15 Q&A
10:15-10:30 Coffee Break
The presentations will be held in Hungarian. The event is open to the press. Participation at the event is free of charge.
Date: Thursday, 24 April 2014, 8:30-10:30 am
Venue: NH Budapest City Hotel
Budapest, XIII. Vígszínház u.3.
R. S. V. P. by 21 April, 2014
Please send email to
diana.sebestyen@transparency.hu
or call +36 70 409 7277
The event is supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations, Think Tank Fund.
Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary
1118 Budapest, Ménesi street 9/a.
Policies and statements
Privacy policy
Competition Law Statement
Code of Ethics
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) National Partner