Eurofins is the winner in a major category

We won the ESG trophy at the Greengage competition with our project titled In search of the everlasting materials

Our project "In search of everlasting materials" was a category winner in the competition for companies committed to and willing to act for the environment and sustainability. Greengage is one of the most important "green" awards in Hungary and winning it is a great honor for the entire Hungarian corporate group.

„With the award, we want to show the business value of sustainability itself and the value of an award-winning project. It is important for companies to see that ESG as a business direction will stay with us, and competitiveness depends on it, and this must stay with us primarily at the senior management level - said Julianna Nagy, chair of the professional jury and senior manager of ESG and sustainability services at KPMG consultancy.

The aim of our project "In search of everlasting materials", which was carried out in the summer of 2023, was to raise awareness of a serious but little known environmental problem that affects the Hungarian and European economy, nature and human health. The staff of the Environmental Testing Laboratory of Eurofins took water samples from the River Tisza during the PET Cup, one of the most important environmental campaigns in Hungary, and during the tests they found one of the most notorious everlasting materials. Led by the marketing department, the results were reported in a breakthrough communication campaign.

The term ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) does not primarily refer to the financial performance of companies, but to their environmental, social and governance activities.

Our laboratory is intimately familiar with the dangers posed by these everlasting materials: PFAS compounds are used in a very wide range of applications (clothing, tableware, packaging, cosmetics, fire extinguishing foam, etc. ), but they have recently been found to be dangerous for humans (they can raise cholesterol and liver enzyme levels, can cause thyroid disorders and are carcinogenic) and for nature, as they almost never degrade, posing a serious threat to the ecosystem.

Eurofins' research in the context of its ESG programme and its social and environmental responsibility and its communication campaign:

• has proven that the notorious everlasting materials can be found in the River Tisza
• has raised public awareness of the problem, explaining the legal regulations, the laboratory methods and disseminating the test results themselves
• carried out the investigation with a sense of corporate social responsibility, thus contributing to the protection of the environment
• supported one of Hungary's most forward-looking environmental initiatives, the PET Cup.

Gábor Szunyogh, Marketing Manager of Eurofins, accepted the award at a ceremony in the Duna Event Hall, but winning the prize was a real team effort. A special thanks goes to Zoltán Palotai, Head of the Environmental Business Unit of Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft., who supported and professionally coordinated the "In Search of Everlasting Materials" project from the very beginning, and to the many colleagues from sampling to laboratory testing, without whose expertise and commitment this campaign would not have been possible.

The PET Cup played a big role in getting the message out to more than a million people, as did many leading media outlets that took up the cause and reported on it.