European Business Awards for the Environment: Winners announced

The bi-annual Awards, to which edie’s Sustainability Leaders Awards act as a feeder scheme, reward companies of all sizes that have made an outstanding contribution to sustainable development; those whose activities contribute to economic and social advance without detriment to the environment.

This year’s winners, announced in Lyon, France, were selected from a shortlist of 16 candidates from 10 different European countries.

EBAE Award-winners: –

Management Award – Eczacibasi Yapi Gerecleri (Turkey)
Process Award – Daimler AG (Germany)
Product and Services Award – EcoNation (Belgium)
International Business Co-operation Award – Interface Nederland BV (Netherlands)
Business and Biodiversity Award – Red Eléctrica de España (Spain)

(Winner project summaries can be found here)

The winners were announced by the Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, who said: “To strengthen the European economy, businesses should strive to put eco-innovation at the heart of their business model and the five winners of EBAE are excellent examples of this.

“These businesses, both large and small, prove that environmental and business performance can go hand in hand.”

Two companies from the UK made the shortlist of finalists; The Bay Fish & Chips in Stonehaven for the Management Award, and eco-friendly packaging firm Vegware for the Product and Services Award.

RSA accreditation

Edie’s Sustainability Leaders Awards, which celebrate the very best in sustainable business, are included in the highly-regarded RSA accreditation scheme – one of only a handful of environmental schemes to be chosen for this honour. This means that SLA Award-winners are automatically given access to the European Business Awards for the Environment. 

Two 2013 SLA finalists made the list of UK entrants to this year’s EBAE Awards: Cynar End-of-Life Plastic to Diesel and Berendsen UK, both for the Product and Services category.

The 2014 Sustainability Leaders Awards took place in London last month. A full report from the Awards, including case studies of each of the winners, what the judges said and photos from the night, is available here.

Luke Nicholls