The Biodiversity Foundation has participated as a member of the Jury of the European Business Awards for the Environment, organised by the European Commission and whose award ceremony was held in Lyon (France) during the 17th European Eco-innovation Forum.

The director of the Foundation, Sonia Castañeda, attended the ceremony in which the Spanish company Red Eléctrica de España has been the winner in the Business and Biodiversity category.

These awards recognise the best environmental practices of European companies. The Spanish company was nominated in the category that recognizes the best initiatives in the field of business and biodiversity.

The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment has been, since 2014, the national coordinator in Spain of these European awards and last June the awards ceremony was held for Spanish companies.

These awards seek to recognize the best European companies that contribute to economic and social development while respecting the environment and biodiversity. They consist of five awards, one for each of the established categories: business and biodiversity, product, process, management and international business cooperation.

The jury, composed of a total of 24 members, is made up of European and national authorities, as well as experts from the green technology sector and academia. In total, for this year’s edition, 152 applications have been received from 22 member states of the European Union and other candidate countries such as Turkey, of which 16 were finalists.

The companies selected to compete for the awards come from 10 countries: Turkey, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, France and Spain. The EBAE Awards were established on the initiative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment in 1987. They are published for two years and seek to recognise European companies that have been an example of success by combining innovation, economic viability and environmental concern.