Editorial note

DK-i-MD-Contact-2025

By Dorota Kierbiedź and Michael Dembinski

This issue of Contact Magazine Online – as has been the case in each of the past five years – follows on from the UN’s annual climate change conference, with COP30 in Belém having being held from 10 to 21 November.

Marcin-Cichy-Piotr-Kubalka-1

By Marcin Cichy, BPCC managing director

As we approach the end of 2025, it’s time to look back on a year that has redefined the ambition and scale of the British-Polish partnership. For the BPCC, this has been a year of exceptional bilateral engagement.

Interviews

Katarzyna Groszek from Pernod Ricard discusses the firm’s strategy, based on sustainable agriculture, social responsibility, openness in the workplace and the circular economy.

Interviews

Artur Czepczyński, founder of the Czepczyński Family Foundation, and Damian Kupczyk, its president, talk about the importance of teaching empathy and resilience.

Green transformation

We design buildings to last 60–100 years or more. But, asks Michał Wójcik from Cundall, are we considering what the climate will be like in just 10 or 20 years’ time? Are we taking into account how those buildings might be affected as a result? Would they still be comfortable inside during heatwaves? Could they withstand extreme weather events? How much energy would they use?

Green transformation

How can we measure that which does not exist? Energy savings – the energy that would have been consumed, but wasn’t – cannot be seen or touched. Bartosz Marcol, from Globalworth Poland considers the energy-savings paradox and offers methodologies for measurement.

Green transformation

Piotr Jakóbczak, from Tremco CPG Poland, notes that energy escapes through six surfaces of our buildings: the floor, roof and four walls, and that the right choice of construction materials makes a huge difference in terms of energy savings over a building’s lifetime.

Green transformation

Iwona Hutyra from Skanska Central Europe sets out how the construction firm aims to achieve net zero in all its buildings by 2045, through a focus on efficient design, material management and energy management.

Green transformation

Sustainability, ESG and the green transformation have had a massive impact on the way we build offices, factories, warehouses and shops. Andrzej Kozak and Ewa Niemyjska from Gleeds Polska look at the key trends in the construction sector driven by the need for better energy performance.

Green transformation

Monika Rajska-Wolińska, CEO of Colliers in CEE, explains how a sustainable building should be one in which it feels good to work, and how reducing the carbon footprint of the fit-out helps with that.

Green transformation

Stanisław Zysek from SEGRO looks at how developers are redefining the standard for logistics assets as regulation, occupier and political expectations, and rising energy costs are all helping to make environmentally sustainable warehouses the market standard.

Green transformation

An article from CTP Poland sets out the two distinguishing features of logistics properties: sustainable development and environmental stewardship. Tenants today seek attractive workplaces with high-quality surroundings and user comfort.

Green transformation

ESG is working its way into contracts, turning aspirations into obligations. What happens when things go wrong?  Aleks Nowicka from IMD Corporate considers the role of arbitration in resolving ESG-centred disputes.

Green transformation

Szymon Lipiński from Crowe Poland examines the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and its unintended consequences for European SMEs.

Green transformation

Climate action has led to a complex, fast-changing regulatory landscape. CO2 targets, sustainability reporting, green finance and supply-chain rules create new challenges for business as firms struggle to comply while staying competitive. Karolina Tatomir from CMS, suggests some practical solutions.

Green transformation

Alicja Wójcik and Michał Łyczko from PwC Poland talk us through the EUDR, the new EU regulation aimed at combating global deforestation by controlling supply chains for products made from wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee or beef. The EUDR imposes new obligations on producers, importers, processors and entities in the retail sector dealing in these products.

Green transformation

Do you know your CSRD from your EUDR? Patrycja Węcławowicz from Staniek & Partners has the answer, and presents the deadlines for compliance with them, and which firms will be affected.

Green transformation

For Polish businesses, green transformation entails compliance with EU directives, national environmental regulations and emerging ESG-related legal obligations. It has become a legal requirement affecting corporate governance, risk management and reporting obligations, says Anna Cichoń at Dudkowiak & Putyra Business Lawyers.

Green transformation

Agnieszka Jarosz, head of ACCA Northern & Eastern Europe, says sustainability reporting should be understood as a key to business resilience and competitiveness, rather than just seen as an onerous obligation.

Green transformation

The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global wastewater and 6-10% of greenhouse gas emissions; its pledges to take action are often mere greenwash. The EU is taking action against the greenwashers, warns Aleksandra Chrabota from Osborne Clarke.

Green transformation

Recycling drinks containers makes perfect ecological sense. Yet the new deposit return scheme introduced in Poland foists onerous responsibilities on producers, and the tax implications are less than clear. Marek Przybylski from MDDP looks at the new challenges facing the sector.

Green transformation

Areta Kempińska, managing partner, Bireta Professional Translations, notes that international projects in the renewable energy sector rely on accurate and clear technical translations for their successful realisation; getting it wrong can stall projects. Translation errors can introduce legal ambiguities, engineering risks, or non-compliance with ESG disclosures.

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