Coinciding with World Environment Day , which this year is celebrated under the slogan “A planet #SinContaminación by plastics”, we awarded 12 Spanish companies for their commitment to sustainable development and their environmental performance. A campaign that urges governments, industry, communities and individuals to come together to urgently reduce the production and overuse of disposable plastics that pollute our oceans, harm marine life and threaten human health.
The awards have gone to 12 Spanish companies that have demonstrated a firm commitment to sustainable development, that stand out for their environmental performance and that provide solutions to these issues.
The acting Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, has expressed her satisfaction with the results achieved in this edition of the awards. The awards recognize companies that have excelled in improving their environmental performance through sustainable innovations in management, products and services, processes, or activities compatible with biodiversity.
“These awards are already a benchmark of prestige for the Spanish business world, as well as a source of pride and another example of the strength of the Spain brand also in environmental matters,” he stressed.
His Majesty the King, in charge of presenting the awards, congratulated the companies for “promoting new business strategies and for committing to a new business approach where the environment plays a leading role”. To all of them, he added, “I invite them to play their role as ambassadors of the environment among the Spanish business fabric, being a reference and source of inspiration for many other companies in our environment”.
The call for the 2017-2018 edition of the awards, whose jury was made up of 11 experts in sustainability and business, included four main categories and a special category: management for sustainable development; product and/or service for sustainable development; process for sustainable development; International Business Cooperation for Sustainable Development. In addition, all companies were eligible for the special category “Business and Biodiversity” through any of the four main categories.
In this edition, 78 applications were submitted. All of them represent a wide range of activity sectors of the Spanish economy, such as energy, food, industry, services and consumption, among others. There is also an important representation of companies providing innovative solutions for the circular economy.
After its evaluation, the jury valued the high level of innovation and technological development of the initiatives presented in the different categories of the competition, which recognize business management initiatives for sustainable development, innovative products and services, as well as business processes and projects that promote sustainable development. Initiatives that demonstrate economic activity compatible with biodiversity conservation also stand out.
PRIZES AND RUNNERS-UP
In the Management for Sustainable Development category, Iberdrola was awarded as a large company for its strategic decision in the energy transition towards decarbonisation, involving all levels of the organisation and all its suppliers. The SME awarded in this category is A&B Laboratorios de Biotecnología, for its continuous commitment to leadership in environmental innovation integrated into its business model, being the first Spanish company to be certified in ecodesign and for business growth based on its environmental management system.
In this first category he has obtained a second prize Consum S. Coop. V. The jury has valued its environmental management, which integrates multiple actors with a great capacity to influence consumers through awareness.
In the second category, Product/Service for Sustainable Development, Plastic Repair System 2011 S.L. won the first prize, for implementing a technology representative of the circular economy that allows the reuse of plastics from repair.
In this category, UTE Cirtec, which uses pneumatic waste on road asphalt, reducing the use of raw materials and reducing waste generation, and Sistemas Urbanos Drenaje Sostenible S.L., which supports energy efficiency and water management in cities, have received two runners-up.
In the Process for Sustainable Development category, the company has been awarded Energy Revival S.L., for its innovative solution towards an extension of the life of batteries with easy replicability and an expanding market. EKOLBER, Ingeniería del Caucho y Plástico de Colágeno S.L. and EKONEK, Innovación en Valoracion de Subproductos, S.L. they have obtained second prizes for generating a waste recovery process incubated from innovation in vocational training classrooms, which contributes to the circular economy in biocompatible, biodegradable and even edible products in the case of EKOLBER; and for presenting an improved protein drying process to treat food by-products, in the case of EKONEK.
In the Business and biodiversity category, the first prize went to Suez Spain, for an innovative project to transform water treatment plants into green infrastructures, supporting actions in favour of biodiversity.
In this category, she won a second prize in LafargeHolcim. The jury valued its commitment to Net Positive Impact in quarries through participatory management models and innovative experiences that favor biodiversity and the increase of natural capital. Red Eléctrica de España has also received a second prize for its commitment to innovation in activities to mitigate the impact of business activity on biodiversity, designing a successful methodology in the restoration of meadows of Posidonia oceanica, a priority habitat in the Natura 2000 Network, and an example of science-business collaboration.
The award-winning companies in the Spanish Section will enter the European final, competing with the rest of the winning companies in other member states of the European Union and candidate countries. The winners of this final will be announced on November 14 in Vienna (Austria).
The European Business Awards for the Environment of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment have been awarded since 1987 to recognize companies that stand out for their environmental performance.
