Edinburgh businesses crowned green champions at 2016 VIBES Awards
Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Leisure were each recognised as champions of business sustainability at the 17th annual Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland (VIBES) Awards.
The convention and conference centre was awarded the Management SME Award (sponsored by Centre for Sustainable Practice and Living), Lothian Buses picked up the Transport Award (sponsored by Energy Saving Trust) while Edinburgh Leisure took the prize for the inaugural Green Team Award (sponsored by Anglian Water). Edinburgh based Changeworks also received a commendation in the Green Team Award category.
The award ceremony, held in Glasgow’s Radisson Blu Hotel on November 8th, saw nine businesses presented with a prestigious award in front of an audience of 300 people.
VIBES is Scotland’s leading environmental awards scheme which recognises and rewards businesses contributing to the country’s sustainable development by taking significant steps to improve or reduce their impact on the environment. The awards aim to encourage efficient use of resources, enhance business competitiveness, improve environmental performance and support wider sustainable development goals.
This year, 32 Scottish businesses were shortlisted from a record number of entries. Each of the finalists underwent a rigorous judging process, including a programme of site visits, to assess their environmental practices.
Awards were presented for Management SME (under 250 employees) and Large (250+ employees), Environmental Product or Service, Transport, Hydro Nation Challenge, Micro Business and Circular Economy along with two new categories, Green Team and Innovation, a special themed award in celebration of Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design which was presented to Guala Closures Ltd.
Gillian Bruce, Chair of the VIBES Awards, commented: “The VIBES Awards recognise and showcase the fantastic work being undertaken by businesses across the country to put sustainability at the heart of their operations, often saving money in the process.
“We have been very impressed with the high standard of entries, and with a record number of companies entering the VIBES Awards this year it is encouraging to see that so many businesses understand how reducing their environmental impact can also benefit their business.
“We would like to congratulate all of our 2016 winners and finalists and hope that many more companies will be inspired to follow in their footsteps by recognising the benefits of sustainability in business.”
Reynaldo Guino-o, Business Excellence, Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), said: “We all have a role to play in mitigating the impacts of climate change and we are thrilled to have been awarded by VIBES which is dedicated to recognising and rewarding companies supporting sustainability. Congratulations to all winners and indeed finalists of this year’s awards, it has been great to see so many companies working hard to support the environment.”
Richard Hall, Managing Director, Lothian Buses, commented: “We are delighted to have been selected as the winner in the Transport category at this year’s Vibes Awards. This highlights Lothian Buses ongoing journey to reduce our impact on the local environment and our commitment to meeting the Scottish Government’s Climate Change targets.”
Fiona Douglas, Energy and Sustainability Officer, Edinburgh Leisure, said: “Edinburgh Leisure is delighted to have won the first ever Green Team Vibes Award! This award is a reflection of all the hard work put in by the whole team at Craiglockhart Leisure and Tennis Centre. The aim of our team was to reduce our impact on the environment but we did not foresee that there would be so many additional benefits. Our hope is to inspire more organisations to create a Green Team and start making a difference.”
Each of the 2016 VIBES winners is now eligible to enter the 2018 European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) which is open to winners and runners up of RSA Accredited award schemes. VIBES is the only Scottish based RSA Accredited award scheme.
This year six out of the 10 entries representing the UK were chosen from previous VIBES Awards winners. CMS Window Systems went on to win the Management (medium and large) Award category at the ceremony in Estonia last month while Perthshire based Jessie Mac’s came runner up in the Management (micro and small) category.
Sponsoring the awards this year is Scottish Government, ScottishPower, Chivas Brothers Pernod Ricard, Anglian Water, Keep Scotland Beautiful, SEPA, NetRegs, Energy Saving Trust and Scottish Centre for Sustainable Practice and Living. The University of Stirling Management School is a venue sponsor.
VIBES is a strategic partnership between Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Government, Scottish Water, Scottish Enterprise, Highland and Islands Enterprise, Zero Waste Scotland, Energy Saving Trust and Scotland’s 2020 Climate Group. The Awards are further supported by CBI Scotland, the Institute of Directors, the Federation of Small Businesses, Bright Green Business and Quality Scotland.
The Awards are accredited by the RSA Environment Awards Accreditation Scheme (www.rsaaccreditation.org).
For more information on the VIBES Awards visit www.vibes.org.uk. Regular updates on the 2016 VIBES Awards are posted on Twitter (@VIBES_Awards) #VIBES2016 and on the VIBES Blog www.vibes.org.uk/news/
