As part of the course, we reviewed the basics of what ESG (environmental, social, governance) means. We learned that it all started in 2015 at the climate conference. We have not forgotten current and upcoming legislation, ESG reporting, the impact of ESG on finance and green loans, and more.
"Public contracts are a small but significant part of ESG," Jan Pospíchal reminded us. The key challenges for public procurement lie in the method of public procurement, qualification documentation, procurement conditions, evaluation criteria and the contract. Once again, the thesis of the course was confirmed that it is best to look at theory through the eyes of practitioners, and the examples from Jan Pospíchal about ESG sounded simple and inspiring. After all, the railway itself has had a Sustainability Strategy document for several years.
It is also good to remember what responsible public procurement means (unusually this time in points):
✔ maximizing value for money
✔ creating benefits for society and the economy
✔ minimizing waste on the environment
The final point belonged to Lukáš Gábor (ACTUM Digital) and the presentation of four solutions that can really help us with ESG - FLOWBOX (energy management software), Semantic Visions (analytical company in the field of risk detection), SAP with ESG reporting and Green0meter Studio (Czech start-up). The conclusion of the module was incredibly interesting.