Projects and services
Internet Portal on Sustainable Consumption: Our internet portal www.TudatosVasarlo.hu or Conscious Consumer – is a reference online magazine for consumers, researchers, NGOs and other stakeholders of issues around responsible consumption. The first of its kind in Hungary, it has been in operation since 2004. Its purpose is to promote a new, more sustainable lifestyle, consumer culture and identity. It takes advantage of cutting-edge web technology to create a dynamic and interactive platform with readers, delivering critical messages in an accessible manner.
Corporate critic database - Cégmérce: This sustainable consumption and corporate critic database supplies environmental and social information and rating of companies and brands present in Hungary. The database rates companies' social and environmental performance in four main dimensions: Environment (e.g. pollution, reporting), Animals (e.g. animal experiments, animal welfare), People&Society (e.g. workers' rights, unethical advertising) and Other (e.g. boycotts, gene modification). The ratings will be based on information from public sources such as the media, public authorities, NGO's reports etc. In Hungarian, it’s Cégmérce (Company meter).
The main objective of the database is to supply consumers with information in order to enable them to make more environmentally sound and ethical shopping decisions. Using Cégmérce the consumer is able to compare companies' environmental and ethical performance in given product groups. Since not only the rating is published but also the information it is based on, the database also demonstrates the direct and indirect consequences of a shopping act. By choosing a product the consumer also supports the potentially beneficial or harmful operation of its producer. Thus indirectly Cégmérce fosters the environmentally and socially conscious behaviour of companies.
Print Publishing
Independent of the internet portal, ACC also publishes a quarterly, thematic print magazine Tudatos Vásárló on sustainable lifestyles. The magazine offers its readers a range of new information on the environmental and social impact of production and consumption, encourages a critical public attitude towards media and advertisement, offers theoretical knowledge as well as practical tips, so that the consumers are educated about their rights and responsibilities and are given the tools for action.
ACC (in partnership with AMF Ltd) is publisher of the Hungarian edition of the book No Logo, by Naomi Klein. The world-famous book is well known as a landmark publication that empowered the movement to curb corporate irresponsibility and lack of accountability.
Another publication, Good Stuff? is a behind-the-counter information and guide to everyday products. Publishing the book in Hungary was result of a partnership between ACC and the Worldwatch Institute – publisher of the State of the World series. The book gives practical advice for shopping and describes the ecological and social background of everyday products from like CDs, T-shirts. Numerous ideas, tips and pieces of advice help a more informed shopper to find products that reduce harm to our health and the environment.
ACC regularly releases an on-going Poster Series, as part of a training package on consumer education. The posters are distributed to secondary schools through teachers during trainings, volunteers, activists and NGOs involved in the ecological consumer education for teenagers. Sample poster topics are: 12 Principles of Sustainable Consumption; Fruits vs. Chips; Water vs. Soft Drinks; Organic vs. 'Chemical'; Cosmetics, etc.
