The market is not the primary driver of green corporate decisions in Hungary

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 06. 27. 11:52

The sustainability strategies and investments of domestic companies will be most strongly influenced not by market considerations, but by official regulations and the hope of reducing environmental risks in 2025. The most widespread environmental management tool is the measurement of carbon emissions, and the most important driving forces for environmental protection, in addition to improving the image, are increasing the durability of products and reducing environmental impact – this year’s rapid report by Corvinus University of Budapest on the competitiveness of Hungarian companies states.

The factors affecting green strategy and green investments, management tools serving sustainability and the most typical corporate environmental activities are also revealed by the competitiveness research conducted for 30 years by the Competitiveness Research Center of Corvinus University of Budapest, the most recent data survey of which, conducted by surveying more than 330 companies, was published a few weeks ago.

According to the results, the factor “reducing environmental risks in order to reduce business risks” jumped to first place this year among the elements most influencing corporate sustainability strategies. This was only in fourth place in 2019, but now Hungarian companies can no longer ignore the increasingly strict EU rules (ESG regulatory wave) and their domestic implementations, although the legal expectations are probably becoming increasingly opaque to them.

The most determining factor for environmental developments for Hungarian companies is also EU regulatory regulations. Their investments are secondarily influenced by the goal of reducing environmental impacts, followed only by market considerations (return on investment, customer expectations, image and reducing business risks).

The human side needs more attention

Among the tools used for sustainability management, the most widespread is the measurement of carbon emissions, which is used by almost two-thirds of companies (65.4%). This rate is double the 2019 figure, presumably largely due to regulatory expectations. Environmentally focused management systems have also become similarly popular (63.9%), as environmental expectations for suppliers may have been increasing.

“Companies have not yet sufficiently integrated the human side of sustainability. On the one hand, there is still room for improvement in health and safety management, and on the other hand, it is not sufficiently reflected in corporate strategy, as less than a third of companies use environmental aspects when evaluating employees, making it the least widespread green management tool,”

says Gábor Harangozó, a professor at Corvinus University of Budapest and one of the authors of the competitiveness report.