I hate to ask but how come that such companies seem to win prizes with greenwash?
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The 2011 International Green Awards™ in association with sponsor Celestial Green Ventures PLC has announced Unilever PLC as the overall Grand Prix winner at this year’s glittering ‘green carpet’ awards ceremony held at the iconic Natural History Museum.
Sponsored by Celestial Green Ventures PLC, Unilever PLC became the 6th Grand Prix winner after an extremely close contest, following in the footsteps of the China Environmental Protection Foundation, Keep Britain Tidy, Nokia, Honda and O2 from previous years.
The Grand Prix is the overall winner of the event which is judged the best amongst all the entries and which, in the opinion of the expert judging panel, has the greatest capacity to change the way society and business is perceived, supported by factual evidence of systemic change.
Ms Karen Hamilton, Vice President – Sustainability, Unilever Plc commented “We’re delighted to be awarded the International Green Awards™ Grand Prix by the influential jury of sustainability experts and luminaries. The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan commits us to halve the environmental impact of our products, help more than a billion people improve their health and well-being and source 100% of our agricultural raw materials sustainably. We are making solid progress towards these goals and the International Green Awards™ are an important recognition of these efforts”.
“Celestial Green Ventures PLC felt both privileged and honored to be the sponsors and presenters of this year’s Grand Prix award at the International Green Awards™ of special significance in this, the UN International Year of the Forest. The diversity of the entrants for this year’s awards demonstrates that embracing sustainable development in business is key in the fight against climate change and it's encouraging that business is waking up to this clarion call. The International Green Awards™ are a great way of highlighting and rewarding these efforts and encouraging individuals and organizations alike to actively contribute to making a positive environmental difference.” Ciaran Kelly, CEO, Celestial Green Ventures PLC.
This prestigious award went to Unilever PLC by virtue of its ambitious Sustainable Living Plan, which puts the multinational company on track to reduce its impact on the environment whilst also developing and growing as a company. While each of the category winners displayed true innovation in their own sector, judges were impressed by the extent and ambition exhibited by Unilever’s strategy considering the wide-ranging nature and size of the organization, with measured progress and ambitious targets to embed sustainability within all aspects of the company, forming a world leading core strategy for future business behavior.
While it was a close run competition for the International Green Awards™ Grand Prix winner, the judges thought that Unilever deserved the award owing to their past success, present goals and future sustainability commitments.
The International Green Awards™ judges thought: “Unilever’s ‘Sustainable Living Plan’ reflects the most comprehensive value chain approach with ambitious goals and genuine ethos for sustainability. As a prolific global organization, Unilever has a huge responsibility towards promoting and embodying sustainability; something that they have never been shy of, represented in the ambitious goals they have set through this Plan.”
This year, the International Green Awards™ took further steps to establish the event globally, encouraging worldwide participation in all 20 categories. Entries were received from all over the world, including Bahrain, Singapore, India, Kenya, United States, Pakistan, Peru, Denmark, Australia, South Africa and Sweden amongst others. The quality of work submitted made the judges’ task of choosing winners quite difficult. The judging criteria were based on the pillars of creativity, sustainability and effectiveness, but it was not only the high standard of the entries, but also the cultural and social variances between countries which made judging an interesting and challenging experience.
BBC veteran, Philippa Forester and sustainability author and finance expert Leo Johnson hosted the ceremony and announced winners for all 20 categories, which made up the shortlist for the overall Grand Prix Winner.
The main sponsor, Celestial Green Ventures PLC, is a carbon project development company, specializing in REDD forestry projects and currently hold the carbon credit rights on an area in excess of 20 million hectares of vulnerable rainforest in the Amazon region of Brazil.
When we consider that “carbon credits” are nothing more than modern day indulgences that allow the rich countries and multinational companies to continue to pollute and emit carbon dioxide and other harmful substances while buying such indulgences from non-polluting countries then, I guess, we can understand how the awards, as far as such companies, work.
© 2011
