Sustainability Leaders Awards 2020: Meet the judges

Download the entry guide at the bottom of this story for more information about the awards

Experts from Global Action Plan, Business in the Community and the Carbon Trust are among the judges for the Awards, which recognises excellence across the spectrum of sustainable business.  

As sustainability and climate mitigation become evermore business-critical issues, edie’s 2020 Sustainability Leaders Awards offer individuals and organisations a golden opportunity to be recognised and rewarded for the progress they’re making to achieve a sustainable future.

The 2020 Sustainability Leaders are now OPEN for entries. The entry deadline is Friday 27 September 2019. The Awards will then take place on the night of 5 February 2020 at the Park Plaza London, Westminster. 

— ENTER THE 2020 SUSTAINABILITY LEADERS AWARDS HERE —

Now in their 13th year, the Sustainability Leaders Awards recognise and reward changemakers within business; from the best efficiency programmes through to product innovations, from stakeholder engagement and social sustainability schemes through to the individual energy and sustainability leaders who are making change happen. The full list of last year’s Award-winners can be viewed here.

New awards categories for 2020 are the SME of the Year, recognising the groundbreaking work undertaken by smaller businesses to achieve a sustainable future, and the Investor of the Year, reflecting the emergence of green finance and its transformational impact in accelerating climate action.

Meet the Judges


Susanne Baker
Head of Programme, Environment and Compliance
techUK

Susanne is responsible for techUK’s Environment & Compliance Programme. The programme, which spans issues such as eco-design, chemicals policy and producer responsibility legislation to conflict materials, circular economy and climate change policy, helps techUK members to get to grips with the latest compliance issues, policy developments and environmental trends, and in turn works with government to ensure that regulation in this area is targeted and effective. 

 


Tim Balcon
Chief Executive
IEMA

Tim Balcon is Chief Executive of IEMA. With solid expertise on professional skills and growing organisations, Tim is leading IEMA towards achieving its global ambition to transform the world to sustainability. Tim joined IEMA in 2013 and since then has created a new vision for IEMA, reviewed and implemented a new governance structure and in 2016, led the organisation through an ambitious and comprehensive project to refresh IEMA’s membership structure and value offering.

 


Mike Barry
BITC Environment Leadership Team

Mike Barry is a sustainable changemaker and former Director of Sustainable Business (Plan A) at Marks and Spencer. Mike spent more than 14 years at the retailer and almost six years overseeing the ambitious Plan A strategy. He is a passionate believer that we need a fundamentally different way to doing business, one that’s good for customers, colleagues, citizens, communities, society and planet alike.

 


Gudrun Cartwright
Environment Director
Business in the Community

Gudrun Cartwright is Environment Director at Business in the Community. She is a strong advocate for the ability of business leadership to drive positive change for people and planet. Gudrun leads BITC’s Environment programme focused on ‘smart growth’ – creating prosperity and opportunity through a rapid transition to a resilient, net zero carbon, circular economy that restores the health of water, land and biodiversity in urban and rural areas. 

 


Elaine Cohen
Managing director
Beyond Business

Elaine is an expert voice in the field of CSR, sustainability strategy and reporting and the CSR interface with Human Resources Management. Elaine is the founder manager of Beyond Business, a specialist CSR Consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm, working with clients on all continents.

 

 


Matthew Farrow
Executive director
Environmental Industries Commission

Matthew Farrow is Executive Director of the Environmental Industries Commission, a role he has held since 2013. Previously he was Director of Policy at the Environmental Services Association, a trade body representing the waste management industry, and prior to that he was Head of Environment Policy at the CBI, where he played a key role in developing the CBI’s thinking on climate change under Director General Richard Lambert.

 


Liz Goodwin OBE
Director of food loss & waste
World Resources Institute

Liz Goodwin is a chemist by background. After an early career at ICI she began to move towards the environmental sector at Zeneca and subsequently Syngenta. In 2001, she joined the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and in 2007 Liz took on the role of CEO which position she held until June 2016. Liz joined the World Resources Institute (WRI) in 2016 as Senior Fellow and Director, Food Loss and Waste. In March 2017 Liz was appointed Chair of the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) by the Mayor of London.


Rob Holdway
Director
Giraffe Innovation

Rob is a familiar media face in design and sustainability issues and best known for presenting Channel 4’s Dumped TV programme where 11 unsuspecting contributors signed up for an eco-challenge only to be told they would live off a landfill near East Croydon for 3 weeks! Rob is a London Sustainable Development Commission – London Leader, a Davos World Economic Forum YGL and Professor Associate, Brunel University School of Engineering & Design.

 


Chris Large
Partner
Global Action Plan

Chris leads partnerships in many fields for GAP, with one common thread running through them all: the huge change required for the UK to exist within environment limits will bring great benefits to people’s lives, not hardship. Since joining the charity in 2005, Chris has led the creation and coordination of National Clean Air Day, is supporting the implementation of Singapore’s green building strategy and created the award-winning Operation TLC programme that saved the NHS millions of pounds of energy costs. Chris’s focus is now on improving air quality through public mobilisation.


Anya Ledwith
Director
Eshcon

Anya Ledwith has a mission to make environmental management the business norm. Founder of award-winning consultancy Eshcon, Anya works with a range of sectors, from micros to multinationals, on ISO 14001 EMS, carbon reporting & ESOS energy audits. Being both a consultant and implementer of systems, Anya see both sides & understand the challenges faced, so tailoring advice accordingly. This helps clients embed the environment into core business activities and so gives them the results they are looking for: real improvements & commercial benefits.


Anita Longley
Chair
Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability

Anita has over twenty years’ experience at a senior level in the private and public sector. She is CR professional with particular expertise in sustainability in the energy industry. Anita is currently Chair of the Institute of CR and Sustainability, (ICRS). Anita is also a trustee of the Scottish Power Foundation and until recently NED at Secure Meters. As Director of CR at RWE npower for 12 years, Anita established the CR Team and developed the CR strategy for the UK business and for the generation business across Europe. 


Mike Pitts
Interim challenge director
Innovate UK

Dr Mike Pitts is Interim Challenge Director for the Transforming Construction ISCF Challenge at Innovate UK. He was previously Head of Urban Systems covering the priority areas of Urban Living and Smart Infrastructure. Mike has also led on embedding sustainability across Innovate UK’s strategy and programmes since he joined in November 2012. He has also led Clean and Cool entrepreneur Missions in 2013 to Brazil and 2015 to San Francisco. Mike also ran the Resource Efficiency programme during 2013/14.


Trewin Restorick
Chief executive
Hubbub

Trewin Restorick is Founder and CEO of the award-winning charity Hubbub UK www.hubbub.org.uk which transforms the way environmental messages are communicated by bringing people and organisations together as a force for good. He is also Chair of Student Hubs http://www.studenthubs.org/ Previously Trewin created Global Action Plan the UK’s leading environmental behaviour change charity. Trewin is a frequent media commentator on environmental issues and was trained by Al Gore as one of his climate change ambassadors.


Michal Rea
Chief operating officer
Carbon Trust

Michael joined the Carbon Trust in 2002 as Director of Strategy, responsible for developing existing and new services to reduce carbon emissions and develop low carbon technologies. He has carried out a number of strategic and operational roles at the Carbon Trust, including Director of Technology Development and his current role of Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Michael was at McKinsey & Co where he specialised both in corporate & business unit strategy and performance improvement. 

 


Luke Redfern
Regional account manager – transport
Energy Saving Trust

Luke Redfern is the regional account manager for transport at the Energy Saving Trust. The Energy Saving Trust is the UK’s leading impartial organisation helping people save energy, reduce carbon emissions and use water more sustainably. Their transport programme is supported by the Department for Transport, and helps consumers, businesses and the public sector adopt sustainable transport and work towards cleaner air quality.

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Nick Turton
External Affairs Director
Energy Institute

Nick Turton is External Affairs Director at the Energy Institute, the chartered professional membership body that brings global energy expertise together. He previously spent more than a decade in Westminster, Whitehall and in consultancy advising government ministers and corporate leaders across the energy sector, dealing with issues as complex and contentious as global climate talks, new nuclear power and spiralling energy bills. 

 


Forum for the Future

Forum for the Future has agreed to have a representative on the judging panel again this year and a currently finalising who that person will be.

 

 

 


Green Finance Institute

The Green Finance Institute will also be putting a name forward to judge this year’s entries and are currently finalising who that person will be.

 

 

 


 

The 2020 Sustainability Leaders are now OPEN for entries. The entry deadline is Friday 27 September 2019. The Awards will then take place on the night of 5 February 2020 at the Park Plaza London, Westminster. For more information, read the entry guide here

— ENTER THE 2020 SUSTAINABILITY LEADERS AWARDS HERE —

edie staff

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