What we need today are companies who are willing to make bold, revolutionary commitments even if they don’t yet know how they’ll be able to fulfill them. I’m thrilled that these awards recognized such leadership!
The 6th International Green Awards were recently held at London’s Natural History Museum. The Awards are accredited by the Royal Society of Arts and recognize creativity in promoting sustainability internationally focusing on media, communication, product design, people and innovation and are chaired by Sir Paul Judge, President of the British Chartered Institute of Marketing.
A reasonably distinguished panel of judges chose the winners, including:
- Bonnie Nixon – Executive Director, Sustainability Consortium, US
- David Mason – Communications Director, Forum for the Future; UK
- Marina Silva – Environmentalist & Politician; Green Party, Brazil
- Professor Jacqueline McGlade – Executive Director; European Environment Agency, Denmark
- Aniol Esteban – Head of Environmental Economics; New Economics Foundation (nef) UK
- Brendan May – UK Chairman; Rainforest Alliance, UK
- Gabrielle Lovering – Head of Design; BBC Worldwide, UK
- Jane Davidson – Minister of Environment & Sustainability; Wales
- Michael Gidney – Deputy Executive Director; Fairtrade Foundation UK
- Peter Paul van de Wijs – Managing Director, Communications & Business Role Focus Area, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) SWITZERLAND
Unilever was named the Grand Prix award winner because it has “the greatest capacity to change the way society and business is perceived, supported by factual evidence of systemic change.” The company projects annual revenues exceeding $63 billion by 2020 and plans to cut its massive environmental footprint in half through its Sustainable Living Plan.
The vision behind Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan rests on a simple truth: A business must prepare itself for a future in which resources will become more constrained and carry a higher cost.
“We are preparing ourselves for that future. We’re also trying to develop products and services which will allow our consumers to adapt to a very different world,” Gavin Neath, Unilever’s senior vice president of sustainability, said in an interview with the news and education website GreenBiz over the summer.
“People talk a lot about things like climate change adaptation. In a real sense, part of what we’re doing in the Sustainable Living Plan is about climate change adaptation.”
Unilever also earned a nod at the event for Best Green International Business for large companies, followed by Puma and DNV, respectively.
To get the lowdown on all of awards handed out, go to the Green Awards website or check out this short list of winners in selected categories:
Best Green International Business Award (Medium)
Gold Winner: The Yalumba Wine Company (Australia)
Silver Winner: Kebony ASA (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: Wellman International (Ireland)
Best Green Entrepreneur Award (or Start-up)
Gold Winner: Dale Vince (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Double Helix Tracking Technologies (Singapore)
Bronze Winner: Reel Gardening (South Africa)
Best Sustainable Investment
Gold Winner: The Environmental Investment Partnership LLP (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Global Environmental and Social Business (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: Sindicatum Sustainable Resources (Singapore)
Best Green Energy Efficiency Initiative Award
Gold Winner: Marks & Spencer (U.K.)
Silver Winner: OPower — “Leading the Way Towards Taking Cities off the Grid” (U.S.)
Silver Winner: Hewlett-Packard — “HP Wynyard Data Center” (Germany)
Bronze Winner: BBC / Arup — “BBC low energy lighting program” (U.K.)
Best Green New Product Innovation
Gold Winner: Solvatten AB — “Solvatten” (Sweden)
Silver Winner: Samsung Electronics — “Ecobubble Washing Machine” (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Nissan — “Nissan Leaf” (Belgium)
Bronze Winner: Puma SE — “Clever Little Bag” (U.S.)
Best Green Employee Engagement Award
Gold Winner: Earthwatch — “Engaging HSBC Employees in Sustainability” (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Marks & Spencer — “Plan A Employee Engagement” (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: Deutsche Bank — “Earth Week” (Germany)