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Time to wake up to sustainable consumption

“As consumers, we can no longer afford con-sumption habits that ignore the environmen-tal, social and economic impacts of the choices we make, we can no longer consume with our eyes closed. It’s time to wake up!”

This is the underlying message of a recently launched European Commission campaign to encourage citizens to change their consumption patterns and use resources more efficiently. The “Generation Awake. Your choices make a world of difference!” campaign is designed to raise awareness about the need to use natural resources wisely, and to encourage consumers to think about the impact on the planet when making purchasing decisions.

The key message of the campaign is, ‘consume differently, and think before you choose’. To get this message across to consumers, a range of tools are being em-ployed, including a viral clip, a dedicated website and a Facebook page where visitors are encouraged to join “Generation Awake’’ and accept challenges, like using only public transport for a month or reducing showering time to save water.

The Europe-wide campaign was officially launched in Poland by European Environ-ment Commissioner, Janez Potočnik, and Polish Environment Minister, Andrzej Kraszewski. Speaking at the event,

Mr Potočnik said: “With our economy in difficulty and our resources dwindling, it’s time to start rethinking some of our habits. Using resources more carefully not only helps protect the environment, but saves money and reduces business costs. It’s about using less to do more. Everyone can do their bit. We just need to wake up!” Other launch events are also being organised in the Czech Repub-lic, Hungary and the United Kingdom.

A wake up for businessesThe Generation Awake campaign is also a wake-up call for businesses, not only in terms of improving their efforts to use resources more efficiently, but also in terms of anticipating and responding to the likely changes in consumption patterns. A shift towards more sustainable consumption patterns will lead to more demand for products and services that are less polluting and less resource intensive.

This provides new opportunities for busi-nesses that can meet this demand. The European Union, through its Roadmap for a Resource Efficient Europe, is sup-porting this transition to a cleaner and greener economy. The Roadmap sets out a long-term strategy for sustainable growth

based on the efficient use of the natural resources our economies are built on, including energy, raw materials, soil, fish stocks and biodiversity. The aim is to in-centivise both the demand and the supply side with market-based policy instruments, to increase certainty for investment and innovation and to ensure that all relevant policies factor in resource efficiency in a balanced manner. http://www.generationawake.eu/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/index_en.htm

Launch of EBAE Awards 2012: key milestones15 December 2011 - 20 January 2012Application period: businesses from all Member States and candidate countries apply to the EBAE

8 February - 9 March 2012Jury members’ preparatory work

15-16 March 2012Jury meeting in Copenhagen, Den-mark, followed by the publication of the nominees for each award (Manage-ment, Product, Process, International Business Cooperation and Business & Biodiversity.

23 May 2012 (tbc)Awards ceremony, Brussels, Belgium.

More details at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/awards/index.html

Issue # 14 – December 2011

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E u r o p e a n B u s i n e s s A w a r d s f o r t h e E n v i r o n m e n t 2 0 1 2

The 2012 edition of the European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) was officially launched in November 2011, at a meeting of the competition’s steering committee in Istanbul, Turkey. The meet-ing provided an opportunity to discuss the modalities of the 2012 edition and to present a new online registration and evaluation tool, which will reduce time and paperwork for coordinators, candidates and jury members.

MANAGEMENT CATEGORY RUNNER-UP 2010

Aiming for excellence in eco-management

“We developed our new vision ‘Respects the Globe, Respected Globally’ in 2009 to emphasise sustainability, which is an essential feature of our culture of excellence. Arçelik practices eco-management principles based on environmental and quality management system standards. These principles are fully integrated with sustainable development and corporate social responsibility involved in all processes.”

Bahadır Akın, Head of Arcelik Group Quality Systems and Six

SigmaCoordinator.

There was also discussion on the new structure of the competition, with the addition of a fifth award category in 2012. The Business & Biodiversity category will recognise businesses that make a valuable contribution to the protection of biodiver-sity and the support of natural ecosystems. In 2012, the winner of this new award will be selected from among the applicants to the four existing categories. The submis-sion of entries to the EBAE 2012 is once

Arçelik A.Ş., one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of home appliances, was a runner-up in the Management category of the 2010 EBAE. Arçelik’s project, ‘Re-spects the Globe, Respected Globally: A Good Eco-Management Practice’, focused on the integration of environmental and social issues into the company’s over-all management approach. The project advanced to compete in the EBAE after winning first prize in the Turkish National Environment Awards, becoming the first company from an EU candidate country to be selected as an EBAE finalist.Arçelik’s business objectives and processes reflect its sustainability approach. This is achieved through adherence to relevant international production and management

standards, in particular the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System, the ISO 9001 Quality Management System and ISO 14064 certification for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.Arçelik has continued to receive recogni-tion for its environmental achievements. In January 2011, the company received three awards in the Competition for Industrial Energy Efficiency Projects, which is organ-ised by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.http://www.arcelikas.com/

PRODUCT CATEGORY RUNNER-UP 2010

Eco-friendly cooling

EBAE Steering Committee launched 2012 competition

“Our Ecocool range of Ice Cold Merchandisers (beverage coolers) allows beverage companies to offer cold drink availability while at the same time reducing their carbon footprint. It is a key element of our sustainability strategy, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of our operations and products, both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions as well as energy consumption”

Mrs Venia Zafolia, Sustainability Coordinator.

Frigoglass (Greece), a global leader in com-mercial refrigeration, was a runner-up in the product category of the 2010 EBAE. Nominated for its range of “Frigoglass Ecocool’ eco-friendly cooling solutions”, the company produces a range of beverage coolers, designed to minimise the envi-ronmental impact of commercial refrigera-tors by cutting both

energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This is achieved through the use of natural hydrocarbon and CO2 refrigerants, and other natural substances in the insulation process. In addition, optimised and effi-cient design, best-in-class components and intelligent energy management systems make the units significantly more econom-ical to run. Advanced assembly techniques and the use of fewer materials also contrib-ute to increased recyclability.Since its success in the EBAE, Frigoglass has continued to adopt measures to further improve its environmental performance. In October 2010, the company announced plans for a collaboration with Coca-Cola

for the production of beverage cooler components from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) bottles. http://www.frigoglass.com/

Steering committee of the European Business Awards for the Environ-ment met in Istanbul in November 2011.

again managed by the national coordi-nating bodies. In order to be eligible to compete in the EBAE, businesses must first succeed in their national competition.

Countdown to the EBAE awards 2012The competition for Europe’s greenest companies will culminate with the EBAE award ceremony in mid-2012. Registration for the 2012 edition of the awards is expected to open in mid-November, with a deadline for submitting national applications of 20 January 2012. This provisional planning also foresees the EBAE jury meeting in March 2012, and finally, the Award ceremony in Mai 2012, in Brussels. The final schedule will be confirmed in the coming weeks on the EBAE website: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/awards/index.html

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C O U N T R Y F O C U S

Showcasing Irish innovation in environmental management and practice

The 13th edition of the Belgian Business Awards for the Environment (BBAE) took place on 26 October 2011 and focused on the theme of, “innovation for sustainabil-ity”. The BBAE is a Business and Society Belgium initiative, which is supported by the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB). This year’s awards attracted applications from 25 businesses, from which the Jury selected 12 nominees and four prize winners: Tri-Vizor, which developed a carpooling system for cargo; Umicore, for its advances in recycling rechargeable batteries; Recticel and partners, for their new insulation product, Isofinish®; and Siemens, for their efforts in integrating renewable energy sources and sustainable transport. Chocolate manufacturer, Belvas, also received a special mention from the Jury for its use of heat retrieval to produce hot water for melting chocolate.

During its deliberations, the jury identified some interesting developments. In particu-lar, a notable shift among entries towards more collaborative initiatives, as well as the increasing role of the three central objec-

Belgian award winners and nominees announced

as representatives from governmental and environmental agencies. Twenty companies entered the Irish awards in 2010, reflecting the increasing importance of environmen-tal issues for businesses of all types and sizes. Abbott Ireland received the award for Environmental Management, JFC Manufacturing won the Product award, while Lagan Cement received the Excel-lence award for its efforts in substituting non-renewable fossil fuel with green energy derived from Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF). The process to select the Irish entrants

The Irish Business and Employer’s Con-federation (IBEC) is the coordinator of the Irish National Awards for the European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE). IBEC’s National Environmental Awards encompass five categories: Man-agement, Product, Process, International Business Cooperation and Environmental Excellence. The winners and commenda-tions are entered into the EBAE. The judging panel consists of experts in the fields of environmental law, corporate social responsibility and academia, as well

for the EBAE Awards 2012 will begin in October 2011, with the winners an-nounced in January 2012.http://www.ibec.ie/IBEC/DFB.nsf/vPages/Environment~Resources~ibec-environment-awards-09-08-2011?OpenDocument

tives of the EU’s Europe 2020 Strategy – smart, sustainable and inclusive growth – as strong drivers of innovation. http://www.businessandsociety.be

The European Commission’s LIFE Unit recently published the selection of the Best LIFE Environment Projects 2010. The 13 projects selected represent the most successful of the recently completed LIFE Environment projects. Further details at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/bestprojects/documents/bestenv10.pdf

Hamburg is Germany’s second largest city and Europe’s third main port. It has served as a trading hub for centuries and is now a modern industrial centre. The brochure describes how the city confronts environmental challenges and acts as a role model for other European cities. Further details at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/europeangreencapital/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/ENV-10_034_Hambourg_MEP_final1.pdf

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How To CoNTACT uSEBAE website: http://www.ebae.euYou may contact your national coordinator directly:http://ec.europa.eu/environment/awards/in_your_country.html

EBAE SECrETArIATCédric Hananel, c/o PRACSIS tel: +32 2 340 30 64; e-mail: eu.awards.env@pracsis.be

EuroPEAN CommISSIoN, DIrECTorATE-GENErAL For THE ENVIroNmENTIsabelle Michielstel.: +32 2 299 68 73; e-mail: isabelle.michiels@ec.europa.eu

winners of EmAS Awards 2011 announced On 18 November 2011, the European Commission announced the winners of the European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme Awards for 2011. This year’s winners, selected from among 36 entries, were: Belvas Organic Chocolate (Belgium), Ebswien hauptkläranlage (Austria), Eurobank EFG Bank (Greece), Fritz-Erler-Schule Pforzheim (Germany), Kneissler Brüniertechnik (Germany) and the Municipality of Ravenna (Italy).The EMAS Awards recognise outstanding achievements in one particular environ-mental management aspect each year.

The theme of the 2011 awards was, “Stakeholder involvement, including employee involvement, leading to continuous improvement”.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/emasawards/index.htm

A G E N D A

World Water Forum and World Water Day, Marseille, France 12-17 March 2012

Cleantech Forum EuropeMunich, Germany 16-18 April 2012

Green Week 2012Brussels, Belgium 22 -25 May 2012

Learning from the “best”

Hamburg – European Green Capital 2011

Winner private medium-sized organisations: ebswien hauptkläranlage (Austria)