Digitalisation and sustainability: Earth Day
Sustainability can only be measured digitally – and from 27 September 2026 the EU ECGT regulation requires measured evidence for “green” claims. The talk, at the Smart Tour project's Earth Day opening event, showed how digitalization reduces Lake Balaton's environmental footprint.
Earth Day Conference in the Lake Balaton Region – opening event of the Smart Tour project (Interreg Europe); organizer: Lake Balaton Integration Public Benefit Nonprofit Ltd.
Adam Schmutz's talk at the “Earth Day Conference in the Lake Balaton Region”, the opening event of the international Smart Tour project (Interreg Europe), organized by the Lake Balaton Integration Public Benefit Nonprofit Ltd. The central thesis: digitalization and sustainability are two sides of the same work – sustainability can only be measured, communicated and optimized digitally, and digitalization is meaningful only if its business or environmental impact is measurable. It builds on fresh data (e.g. 93% of global travelers would travel more sustainably; 62.4% of bookings happen online; Hungarian SMEs' digital intensity is 57.4% vs. the EU average of 72.9%) and presents practical SME-level tools in three roles: TOOL (sensor, dashboard, automation – e.g. Shelly, tado°, Sensgreen), CHANNEL (booking email, push, nudge) and SOLUTION (custom GPT and predictive decision support). Special emphasis is on the EU “Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition” (ECGT, 2024/825) regulation: from 27 September 2026, “green” claims require measured evidence – a regulatory and financial, not a moral, question. Hungarian and international good practices (Kerca Biofarm, Boutiquehotel Stadthalle, Adrère Amellal, Eccleston Square Hotel) close the talk. Other speakers included Dr. Gabor Molnar, Balazs Kovacs (Good Deal Consulting, Vienna – EU Climate Pact ambassador), Dr. Zsuzsanna Varadi (Visit Hungary) and Dr. Terez Horvath (VisitBalaton365).
“Don't talk to the guest about sustainability — talk about numbers on sustainability.” From 27 September 2026 the EU ECGT requires measured evidence for “green” claims: evidence = data, data = digitalization.