CSR Summer Brunch 2018: Sustainability is our beer

19.7.2018
respact in the "Grünes Brauerei Göss"

Linz / Göss – Brau Union Austria and respACT – Austrian Business Council for Sustainable Development share a common goal: To raise awareness of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promote their implementation. For this, they used this year's CSR summer brunch in the Gösser brewery. About 40 business and lobbying representatives discussed the implementation of UN sustainability goals at the enterprise level.

Science and Practice as a Driving Force for Sustainability

Peter Giffinger – Vice President Respact, Regional Coordinator for the Province of Styria and Managing Director of the companies St. Gobain Isover Austria, Rigips Austria and Weber Terranova – opened the event. "Respact is pleased to be able to organize the well established CSR summer brunch 2018 in the 'Grünes Brauerei Göss' as a platform for exchange between science and industry, while visiting the best practices for sustainable development on site. The results of current research and the actions of leading companies, such as the Gösser Brauerei, are important drivers for respective members of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in entrepreneurial action ", said Mr. Giffinger.

Martinuzzi expert: the SDGs as a frame of reference for successful businesses

The organizers, André Martinuzzi, director of the Institute of Sustainable Management of the University of Economics and Commerce of Vienna, have been able to win as renowned scientific experts. In his keynote address, he explained how integrated management approaches to UN sustainability goals should be designed: "Managers' success will now be measured not only by profits, market shares and innovations, but also by the SDGs. . This requires a broader, longer-term and, above all, systemic perspective, as well as new management methods. We have badyzed more than 200 instruments and created a navigation tool that helps companies find the method that suits them ", explains André Martinuzzi in his presentation.

Gösser: Orientation towards sustainability as an investment in the future

Brewmaster Andreas Werner welcomed his guests to the Göss brewery. Gabriela Maria Straka, Head of Corporate Affairs & CSR at Brau Union Austria, guided the program and presented the company's strategy: "Producing beer as a natural product requires an intact environment. Therefore, the Göss brewery is dedicated to the rigorous selection of Austrian raw materials and the exclusive use of renewable energies in the brewing process. As a member of the Steering Committee of the United Nations Global Compact in Austria, Ms. Straka moderated the scientific and practical impulses of corporate and state policy and led the SDG program with all representatives. During the guided tour of the Göss Green brewery and the Gösseum, the participants were able to convince themselves of the brewery's initiatives.