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Annual event

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“One year together in a common vision setting goals and producing results”

QualityNet Foundation organized on Thursday 28 May 2015 the Annual Meeting of the Sustainable Greece 2020 Initiative in Megaron Mela Building at the National Bank of Greece with Mrs. Louka Katseli, President of the Hellenic Bank Association and President of the National Bank as its keynote speaker. 

The annual meeting had the goal to present to stakeholders and participants the completion of the deliverables of the first year of the Initiative namely the progress that has been made for the development of the Sustainability Observatory, the Bravo Sustainability Awards and the Greek Sustainability Code. A wide range of distinguished stakeholders from the business community, the government, and local authorities, the academia and the civil society took part in the event with the view to be informed about all recent developments of the Initiative, its main goals and next steps.
In her speech, Ms. Louka Katseli highlighted that: The Sustainable Greece 2020 Initiative is increasingly important within the context of economic and social crisis is our country. It is important to mention that recently the European Report on Development 2015 has been published in which I, personally, participated as Head of the research team from the University of Athens, together with four other institutions from abroad. This year, the European Report on Development focuses on the financing of sustainable development at the global level and its interconnection with public policies."

Ms. Chrysoula Exarchou, Vice-President of QualityNet Foundation, noted that: "One of the main goals of the Initiative is to support Organizations through a structured dialogue and the creation of targeted methodologies to implement Sustainable Development. In parallel, the Initiative is aiming to assist the Greek authorities and the Greek government to incorporate sustainability into its public policies and, finally, to promote the image of Greece abroad with regards to Sustainable Development issues”.

One year after its official launch, the Initiative is supported by a strong network of 149 stakeholders, representing an important number of Bodies and Organizations of the Greek society. More in detail, in the Initiative take part: 33 Business Associations, 120 Greek Companies- 49 of them being the Sustainability Ambassadors of the Initiative, 17 Local Authorities (Districts/Municipalities), 43 Civil Society Organizations/NGO’s, Social partners and Universities.

The main results of the first year of the Initiative are:

1. Sustainability Observatory
The Sustainability Observatory constitutes a monitoring mechanism of all the practices and the actions that are developed by companies and organizations with regards to issues of sustainable development, responsible entrepreneurship and social responsibility. The Sustainability Observatory has the goal:
  • to point out where Greece stands as a member state on these issues.
  • to operate as a platform of exchange of knowledge and know how on sustainability amongst organizations and companies that they have already developed sustainability practices and actions or they have already started to do so.
This particular mechanism responds to the recent need expressed by the EU institutions for the creation of monitoring tools for sustainable development at member states level as well as to the need for the creation of a national systematic monitoring scheme of sustainability and social responsibility.

2. The Greek Sustainability Code
The Sustainability Code constitutes a practical tool of transparency and self commitment for companies and organizations across the country with regards to issues of sustainable development. Those organizations are invited to be connected to those issues through 20 Indicators that are based upon international standards. 
The Greek Sustainability receives know how from the European Sustainability Code  and links participating organizations to a platform of sustainability at the EU and national level. The basis for the development of the Greek Sustainability Code has already been set, taking into account the requirements of the Greek market. The Greek Sustainability Code responds to the recent EU Directive for the publication of non-financial data.

Sustainable Greece 2020 Initiative invites all businesses and organizations that wish to be connected to Sustainable Development, Responsible Entrepreneurship and Social Responsibility issues, to take part in the dialogue platform (dialog.sustainablegreece2020.com) submitting both their good practices and views/opinions contributing to the effort to create the new image of our country with regards to the Sustainable Development issues.

Key speakers of the Annual Meeting were, also, Mr. Nikos Sarantis, Mayor of the Agioi Anargyroi-Kamatero Municipality, Mr. Eythymios Vidalis, President of the SEV Council for Sustainable Development and Mr. Antonios Papaderakis, Secretary General of Trade and Consumer Protection. (Their speeches available only in Greek).