In the opening CEO debate, Vladimír, together with Zbyněk Bolck from Grant Thornton, Jiří, Svoboda from the Railway Administration and Pavel Tomek from SUAS Group, were very much in agreement on how to approach the implementation of ESG and non-financial reporting. These areas were unanimously and unequivocally identified as the key topic in the area of compliance in the coming years. So what were the main conclusions of the CEOs debate?
Let’s not do anything “just for show”
ESG is an opportunity to innovate, to think differently, to think about risks and to move the business forward. The Czech Republic is reaping the sour fruits of the previous passive approach “evil Europe told us to do it”, we could have gone further with some measures. “Honestly, how many companies and authorities have found out how easy it is to reduce energy consumption, but it was the price of energy that forced us to do it, not the concern for the environment,” the panelists shared their experience.
Let’s follow common sense
Perhaps the most common phrase in the debate was “common sense”. Energy experts urged that we should also approach the pursuit of greater sustainability with a knowledge of the physics, in line with both the technical possibilities and the knowledge of the economic returns of the measures. “Physics and market rules work, subsidies can distort them but they cannot overcome them. Screwing up something that is primarily driven by subsidies without a plan for a 70-year old energy and distribution network in two years can be dangerous for the stability of the system,” Vladimír Hlavinka warned in one of his speeches. “In this regard, we should be better prepared, among other things, for community energy, we need a law on it, which is still going through the Chamber of Deputies,” he added.
Let’s count and count again
The new energy structure has to make economic sense, i.e. it has to be functional both in terms of technical stability and energy prices. All new technologies and models need to be piloted, measured and evaluated before they are rolled out widely. “Let’s assess technical solutions such as electromobility or hydrogen propulsion by calculating them into money and checking where and how their involvement is sensible and profitable,” Hlavinka urged.
Banks need to be judicious with ESG’s powerful weapon
As the debating CEOs agreed, with ESG and non-financial reporting in their hands, banks have a powerful weapon and should use it wisely. They should not outright refuse to finance all projects that involve, for example, conventional fossil fuel sources in the energy sector for reasons of stability. It must assess the realistic options of companies and entire sectors and their comprehensive approach to improving business sustainability, as this must be the best possible compromise between environmental and economic sustainability. Maintaining employment, supporting public budgets or the development of the regions in which companies operate ultimately has a positive impact on social issues, which is one of the areas of ESG.
Let’s not reinvent the wheel
As has also been said many times in the discussion, we should not invent what already works somewhere. Let us learn from Western Europe, which we are catching up with in this respect – from the real experience of individual countries, from the practice of issues that have already been addressed, and let us not embark on blind alleys that have already been trodden for us.
At the end of the debate, Vladimír Hlavinka expressed his wish that we should not just prepare for past wars. “Not only the Czech Republic but also the whole of Europe should better anticipate likely events and developments and prepare in order to maintain economic competitiveness in the global economy. An example is the security of energy raw materials. America, Russia and China are securing with sufficient foresight raw materials that will be crucial in ten years’ time, such as lithium, cobalt and graphite. We need to be more active in European structures where similar issues are addressed and contribute to the democratic world having critical resources under control and being self-sufficient,” Hlavinka concluded his speech. Hlavinka concluded his speech.