Anita Boros

As the relevant European Union directives require in-depth sustainability reporting from large institutions, banks are among the concerned with disclosure obligations. Several institutions prepare self-structured recommendations by which companies are indirectly fostered to make their operation more sustainable through reporting and to help compliance with the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) regulations. However, in the preparation period, differences can be found in the actual sustainability disclosure practices across Europe (primarily by a western–eastern European relation). To examine this issue, this study aimed to investigate if there was any variation in the reporting compliance with aspects (key performance indicators—KPIs) of three reporting guidelines (Global Reporting Initiative—G4, Financial Services Sector Disclosures—GRI; Alliance for Corporate Transparency—ACT; ISO 26000:2010—ISO) between top European and Hungarian banks according to their 2021 sustainability/ESG reports, using content analysis-based disclosure scoring. The results revealed no significant differences among the general (aspect-pooled) scores for different guidelines, while the differences were significant for each guideline between the two bank groups. In the aspect-level evaluation, the European banks had higher scores in most cases, with the Hungarian banks receiving higher scores in 4 of 49 GRI, 1 of 16 ACT, and 2 of 37 ISO aspects. Significant correlations were indicated in disclosure score values between the two bank groups, which suggested similar preferences for the aspects demonstrated; however, elaboration levels differed. These findings showed that the European and Hungarian banks could be differentiated by their sustainability disclosure patterns. The results suggest a better CSRD-level preparedness of the top European banks than of the Hungarian ones, with the latter being introduced as a model group of the region. This reflects the need for more efficient adoption of best practices by financial institutions in the eastern parts of Europe.

The emergence of plant-based building materials is supported by several factors, such as shortages, adverse effects, and quality deficits of conventional resources, strict legislative frameworks targeting the realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and growing environmental awareness on the individual and stakeholder levels. To support these findings, this paper aimed to assess the relevance of these green materials in the construction industry and highlight the most widespread and thoroughly studied plant-based compounds in the literature, using bibliometric analysis. By evaluating 977 publications from 453 sources, the results show that the total number of relevant papers has increased yearly, while most belonged to the engineering discipline. Most articles were dedicated to one or more of the SDGs, which was confirmed by the more comprehensive representation and elaboration of “green”, “environmental”, and “sustainability” aspects regarding the topics of “materials” and “building” as the most frequent terms. Additionally, a wide range of plant-based building materials are thoroughly evaluated in the literature; these are primarily used to improve conventional materials’ mechanical properties, while many are also tested as substitutes for conventional ones. In conclusion, the green transition in the construction industry is aided by the scientific community by proposing plant-based supplements and alternatives to well-known materials and practices; however, further in-depth studies are needed to verify the applicability of such novelties to gain uniform acceptance and foster the expansion of sustainability initiatives in the sector.