Development has its cost

Cseng Fang
economist
FAO

According to a recent UN survey, the number of undernourished people grew by almost 60 million in the last 5 years. FAO economist (commodity and trade) Cheng Fang told: in Europe and Central Asia there are still 18 countries where too many children aren’t eating well, and the trend in these countries is negative. What is more, the proportion of overweight adults is above the world average in this region. It is social and economic imbalances that slow down the elimination of poverty and undernourishment – and together with these the achieving of the UN’s sustainable development goals by 2030. Cheng Fang stressed: there are several solutions available in agricultural production which protect our natural resources, e.g. organic farming, integrated crop protection, agro-ecology and climate-friendly agriculture. In his view, policymakers have great responsibility in establishing the conditions for the participation of small farmers.

We need to change our thinking

Árpád Rab
futurist
Corvinus University
Budapest

Futurist Árpád Rab is optimistic about sustainability and climate change. The associate professor of Corvinus University of Budapest said: in the last 150 years humanity produced great success stories, for instance in a growing proportion of planet Earth the quality of living is so high that we couldn’t have imagined in 99 percent of our history. Mr Rab added that the great results come at a cost, as we have exploited our natural resources, but the main objective of digitalisation is that great numbers of people who don’t even know each other can cooperate effectively. The social problem of climate change is that it seems distant and impossible to influence at the level of the individual, but this isn’t true and the coronavirus pandemic has taught us a lot in this respect. All of the tools, business models and technologies are now available to develop sustainably. What we need is a change in how top-level managers and individuals are thinking.

It shouldn’t be about the profit only

András Báldi
scientific consultant
Centre for Ecological
Research

András Báldi, scientific consultant and former director general of the Centre for Ecological Research opines: we can only improve the current environmental and social crisis situation if we change the way we live and the socio-economic system that maintains our financial well-being. The problem is that as long as the majority of people don’t want to make these changes, politicians won’t start the transformation even if they can see the crisis and its dangers clearly. Because of these reasons Mr Báldi is rather pessimistic about the present situation. Various EU strategies and programmes (Green Deal, Biodiversity Strategy, From Farm to Fork) have set ambitious sustainability goals for agriculture, which made farmers scared, because they think that sustainable business operations will reduce their competitiveness and profit. The scientific consultant thinks this is a mistake: the agri-food sector should also make it a priority to preserve the natural landscape and the country lifestyle.

Long live the plastic?

Miklós Nagy
secretary-general
CSAOSZ

Miklós Nagy, secretary-general of the Hungarian Association of Packaging and Materials Handling (CSAOSZ) informed our magazine that the packaging industry did a very good job during the pandemic, as food supply was uninterrupted. Meanwhile, the government announced plans for a new single-use plastic regulation that is much stricter than the EU’s, e.g. banning bakery item and fruit-vegetable plastic bags in shops. CSAOSZ’s viewpoint in this respect is that these bags only represent 1-2 percent of packaging material use, but the food waste generated by stopping to use them – the alternative packaging solutions can protect these goods less – will put a much bigger burden on the environment. Plastic packaging looks bad in nature if thrown away, but if consumers make sure to collect it selectively and to recycle it, this problem can be considered solved, too. //

Prinzhorn Group’s sustainable business operations

Prinzhorn Group is Europe’s third biggest company in the domain of recycling, paper and packaging material production. Continuous development, sustainability and environmental operations are what characterise our Hungarian presence too: Hamburger Recycling Hungary Kft. collects waste, in its Dunaújváros factory Hamburger Hungária Kft. recycles this waste and manufactures high-quality corrugated board, and Dunapack Kft. and Mosonpack Kft. produce first-class, tailor-made packaging material from this. //

Visa for a sustainable future: Cards made of recycled plastic and renewable energy use

Ede Kiss
Country Manager
Visa Hungary

Visa is proud of the fact that from 2020 100 percent of the energy used in our buildings comes from renewable sources. Sustainable material use is also a priority for the company, so we are making the Earthwise™ High Content Card available to global financial institutions – this bank card is made of recycled materials in 98 percent. Visa is dedicated to working for a more sustainable future, so we have also launched a global campaign for supporting micro- and small businesses after pandemic. //