Editorial Note

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.

What do the global talks mean in the context of doing business in Poland? Above all – it’s to do with mitigating the effects of climate change, and compliance with directives and regulations aimed at cutting manmade emissions of greenhouse gases.

The BPCC dates back to 1992, a time  when one could still expect snow cover in Poland from late November through to early March, with a couple of thaws along the way. The last few winters, however, have been largely snow-free, resulting in increasing droughts which are already affecting agriculture and the built environment. At the same time, there is a greater tendency for torrential rain, which can overpower the infrastructure built to deal with downpours. Poland has experienced five deadly floods in the past 100 years, three of which occurred since 1997.

The question for business is how to do the right thing for the environment while maintaining competitiveness. This is hard given that the three biggest emitters of greenhouse-gas emissions, and three of the world’s Top Five economies, the USA, China and India, chose not to take part in COP30.

In this issue we have two interviews and 18 articles looking at different aspects of the green transformation that we need to implement to keep the world tolerable for future human generations.

The 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.

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

The articles:
Given the built environment’s contribution to greenhouse-gas emissions, we start with a series about our offices, factories, shops, warehouses and what can be done to limit those emissions…

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Corporate sustainability must be measurable. ESG targets and achievements need to be displayed in annual reporting. The next section of articles focus on law, green finance and compliance…

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sector focus with ESG to the fore…

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.

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.

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.