We report from Romania ESG Forum 2023, an international business conference organized by Green Forum & Property Forum in Bucharest earlier this month.
The Sustainability Academy was launched, the first social and educational platform dedicated to SMEs in Romania, with free access. The Sustainability Academy is a Sustainable Futures brand project initiated by Social Innovation Solutions together with the Coca-Cola Foundation, founding partner, and BCR, main partner. The Sustainability Academy aims to help SMEs willing to adopt sustainability strategies and aims to increase the number of sustainable businesses in Romania.
BCR gas entered the international market with the first issue of green Eurobonds, worth €700 million. The funds will be directed toward renewable energy projects, green mortgages, and green buildings.
The Bosch Power Tools division is taking a big step forward with regard to its sustainability goals. Thus, starting in the autumn of 2023, 23 new and improved measuring instruments will be available, together with the related accessories and packaging, all presenting a new concept of sustainability and being produced with as much recycled material as possible.
BASF plans to invest up to €4 billion to achieve its climate protection targets by 2030. The group wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our production sites and our energy purchases by 25% by 2030, compared with the 2018 baseline. BASF set a global target to promote female leadership and aims to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions to 30% by 2030.
The banking sector has a very important role in promoting the green economy by providing green loans and sustainable support.
Orange circular economy program "Re" - Buy-Back, Recycling, Repair, Refurbishment completes 1 year since its launch in Romania. The company collected approximately 300,000 old phones, the equivalent of more than 29 tons, and repaired 60,000 phones. Customers who bring old phones to the store receive a €100 voucher that they can use to buy a 5G phone.
TeraPlast, a Romanian manufacturer of construction materials, has pipes for external sewers made of 100% recycled PVC and uses approximately 20%-30% recycled material in the production of PVC pipes, says Alexandru Stânean, CEO TeraPlast. He talked to Green Forum about the company's key sustainability objectives and investment plans in 2023.
The Civil Society Development Foundation, ProPark, and the OMV Petrom Foundation launch the "Green for the Future" program. The program is dedicated to biodiversity conservation and the responsible development of local communities in protected areas. The OMV Petrom Foundation fully finances the program in the amount of €800,000 in the 2023 edition.
Konica Minolta aims for 100% renewable electricity consumption by 2050. With two new major climate targets in its portfolio, the company aims to further reduce its impact on the environment. The company has set as its goal the reduction of greenhouse effect emissions by saving energy.
Auchan has set up collection points in the parking lots of its stores or within its premises where customers can recycle three types of packaging: PETs, aluminum cans, and glass bottles. Starting from Tuesday, April 18, customers are encouraged to bring the PET, glass, and aluminum packaging used during the Easter holidays, to the collection-recycling points equipped with automatic machines in 37 Auchan stores. Customers will be rewarded with a voucher worth RON0.5 (€0.1) granted exclusively in the form of a loyalty voucher, for each packaging recycled in its stores until May 31, 2023.
An EY survey found that experts are much more likely to take concrete action by stepping up investment in sustainability. Nine out of 10 companies (90%) said they plan to increase their investments in sustainability. The survey also identified a key link between effective board sustainability governance and company business performance.
Kaufland Romania is planting a new forest, equal to the number of employees, in Scorteni (Prahova County). The K-shaped planted forest, inspired by the company's logo, comprises 16,000 saplings of 6 different tree species and covers an area of 4 hectares. Once mature, the Kaufland Forest will also be a recreational forest, where the company and its partners will carry out cultural, social, and environmental activities, thus becoming a space open to the community.
Coca-Cola Romania is transitioning to plastic bottles with attached caps, to facilitate their collection and recycling. Starting in April, the first series of bottles with attached caps will be available for the brands in the non-carbonated soft drinks portfolio, namely Fuzetea, and Cappy. The new caps will facilitate the recycling of all packaging and aim to collect plastic bottles together with the attached caps.
Businessman Metin Doğan is investing over €60 million in the largest golf resort in Romania, the first stage of the project to be completed this year. The buildings will be equipped with solar panels. The complex will also include a country club and a 5-star residential complex, as well as exclusive facilities.
Companies that engage in sustainable practices record higher financial performance and are 2.4 times more likely to increase their financial return. According to Quartz Matrix, a Romanian technology and services company, the sure steps towards a sustainable company begin with the identification of internal processes that can be automated or made more efficient with the help of technology. Also, modern technologies help companies to cut costs and become more responsible towards the planet.
Glovo launches the Impact Fund, an initiative to support sustainability projects. The company will allocate a small amount from each order to the new fund. Glovo estimates that this year up to €5 million will be allocated from the Impact Fund to support projects that aim to support local communities, actions against climate change, digitization of small local businesses, reducing the gender disparity in the field of technology, and development of educational programs for couriers.
Over 80% of Kaufland's suppliers are from Romania, and this percentage is growing year by year, says Valer Hancaș, Director of Communication and Corporate Affairs, Kaufland Romania.
Romanian businesses perceive climate change and access to finance as threats to their businesses, an EIB investment survey shows. 69% of the surveyed Romanian companies say that climate change has a negative impact. Also, a third of Romanian companies have invested in improving energy efficiency in the last year, close to the EU average of 40%.
The paper producer Pehart is to invest €8 million in projects to reduce consumption, implicitly the carbon footprint. The company uses only certified cellulose in production and most of the raw material comes from Sweden.
A study conducted by EY among 1,325 companies shows that 76% consider ESG to be a main or important investment criterion, and 5G investments are the most likely to involve ESG as a main objective. Responding companies show that emerging technologies offer a wide range of positive contributions to their sustainability efforts, with reducing energy consumption and improving sustainability measurement at the top of the list.
Retailer Lidl has opened a logistics warehouse in Romania with 2,650 solar panels, equipped with an electric charging station.
Coca-Cola HBC, Penny Romania and GreenPoint Management launch the information campaign and separate collection of PET packaging, which brings ECOBONUS to the entire Bucharest community at the beginning of the year.
Global ESG Monitor (GEM) reveals that Romanian corporations significantly trail their global peers when it comes to the reporting of non-financial ESG data.
Lidl Romania aims to contribute to the development of sustainable local agriculture by promoting organic farming and regenerative farming practices, which contribute to soil health and biodiversity conservation.
The EU has emerged as a global leader in green finance, having issued over €65 billion in NextGenerationEU (NGEU) Green Bonds since 2020.
Roeslein & Associates, a leading engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services company, announced the opening of its new European Design Center in Krakow, Poland.
The global energy transition, projected to cost €190 trillion by 2050, could see cost reductions of nearly 25% through the use of de-risking instruments.
The Romanian Ministry of Energy launched a grant program funded by the Modernization Fund.
