Sustainability: Commitments vs. reality

Guest writer:
Balázs Bozsik
senior manager
ESG Business Services
PwC

In Poland PwC’s ESG team published the results of a survey in mid-July, which can help to understand the Hungarian retail and consumer industry too. Half of Polish firms are of the opinion that transforming their ESG strategies is rooted in the lack of clear regulations. 30% of companies say ESG projects generate low return, and 24% are afraid that their competitiveness will suffer if they invest in ESG. It is foreign-owned businesses that believe ESG-compliance creates strategic advantages.

Consumers are important motivation when developing

It became clear from the survey that the main reason for investing in ESG projects is the requirements of the parent company; EU or national rules were only listed in the 5th place with a 13% proportion. The study also revealed that promising commitments are usually followed by not doing much in practice. For instance 60% of companies have a code of conduct for business partners, but only 4% ask for carbon footprint data from suppliers. //