Sustainable City Awards name this year's Green Champions

The great and good of the green world gathered at Mansion House on February 18th for the City of London Corporation’s annual Sustainable City Awards. Winners ranged from Britain’s first organic gastropub and a zoo combating CO2 emissions, to innovative climate change initiatives by multinational corporations.

Green Tomato Cars, the UK’s largest eco-friendly taxi service, was named the overall winner of the night and presented with the Sustainable City Awards Trophy.

Dubbed the ‘Green Oscars’, this year winning projects reflect how the business community’s ambitions have grown since the award scheme began in 2001, as early gestures towards more sustainable practices have been replaced by all encompassing climate change initiatives that overhaul traditional business models. Despite UK businesses experiencing one of the most challenging years in 2009, the high calibre of nominees is further evidence that the environmental and financial benefits of sustainable business practice have remained high on the business agenda.

Simon Mills, Head of Sustainability at the City of London Corporation, said: “It makes business sense to go green, and the range of sectors represented by our winners this year shows how this spirit is being widely embraced. Sustainable business practice is no longer a niche, but a mainstream movement across the whole spectrum of the business community. Whether it’s an international bank or a small start-up, businesses want to do their bit towards the one common goal.”

Hosted by David Kennedy, the Chief Executive of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change, the 12 category winners were chosen by a judging panel consisting of environmental and sustainable experts, including the Rt Hon. John Gummer, MP, Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal, Samantha Heath, CEO of London Sustainability Exchange, and Penny Shepherd MBE, CEO of UK Social Investment Forum.

The 2010 Winners:

Winner
Sustainable City Award Trophy - Green Tomato Cars
The first private hire company in the UK to exclusively use low emission vehicles in its fleet, the business also installed telematics in all of its vehicles enabling sophisticated assessment of driver performance, and a ride-sharing option to improve operational efficiency while reducing fares for customers.
Leadership in Sustainability - Land Securities
Awarded for their mandatory carbon-offset programme for energy usage associated with common parts of the shopping centres the company owns, including lighting, car parks and ventilation.

Access to Goods and Services for Disadvantaged Communities - Roots & Shoots
Awarded for their environmental education programme on issues such as sustainable food production and biodiversity within local communities in Lambeth and Southwark.

Sustainable Building - John Thompson & Partners
A practice of architects and urbanists recognised for the green refurbishment of their office space in Islington, including natural ventilation, low flush toilets and work surfaces made from plastic derived from yoghurt pots.

Environmental Management in SMEs - Paper Round
Managing the recycling for 3,700 London offices, this small business encourages green action amongst its workforce. On site showers and a bike lock-up encourage staff to cycle to work, and Energy Saving Trust “Smarter Driving” courses are compulsory for its truck drivers.

Tackling Climate Change - Land Securities
Awarded for their mandatory carbon-offset programme for energy usage associated with common parts of the shopping centres the company owns, including lighting, car parks and ventilation.

Resource Conservation - Newquay Zoo
A Thermal Imaging Report of every building on the Zoo site supported a programme to insulate or rebuild these buildings wasting energy in the complex. An Eco Map and Plan is in place for every area of the zoo, with energy reduction targets.

Sustainable Travel and Transport - easit
Created a number of networking partnerships representing over 115,000 employees in the South East to ease congestion and tackle commuting transport issues, ranging from a bespoke car share website to shuttle buses carrying an average of 2,000 workers each week.

Sustainable Procurement - Cafédirect plc
Cafédirect’s entry concerned ‘Adaptation for Smallholders to Climate Change’, a 3 year public private partnership that supports small scale coffee and tea farmers in four countries to adapt to the effects of climate change that are already affecting them.

Sustainable Food - Duke of Cambridge
Britain’s first organic gastropub keeps food miles as low as possible with 80% of fresh produce sourced from the Home Counties and a seasonal menu.

Responsible Waste Management - Land Securities
Awarded for their mandatory carbon-offset programme for energy usage associated with common parts of the shopping centres the company owns, including lighting, car parks and ventilation.

Sustainable Finance - Jones Lang LaSalle
Launched the industry’s first portfolio-level sustainability risk mapping service (The Third Dimension), which reinvents traditional property investment decision making by enabling investors to compare forecast risk and total return with sustainability. Over £30billion worth of assets are signed up to this service.

The Farsight Award - Société Générale
Awarded for research conducted by the international financial services provider examining the immense opportunities available to investors in the field of sustainable goods and services - from green cars to renewable energy and waste disposal.

David Kennedy, who presented the awards to the winners at the Mansion House awards ceremony, said: “It’s crucial we recognise the lengths many businesses are going to in their efforts to combat climate change and reduce their carbon footprint. They’re setting an example that others are evidently following, as applications and interest in the awards grow year on year, and the scale of businesses’ sustainable practice continues to exceed precedents.”

The highly respected RSA-accredited awards are staged by the authority for the Square Mile financial district and have grown to become the most prestigious sustainability awards in the UK, since their launch 9 years ago. The Sustainable City Awards are run in partnership with 20 organisations including livery companies, trade bodies, voluntary sector organisations and businesses, with representatives from each joining the judging panel to select winners and runners-up across the award categories.

The awards are part of a feeder scheme for the European Business Awards for the Environment, which means the winners have the chance to gain international recognition for their efforts.