The Crown Estate has won the Environmental Leadership Award at the prestigious Scottish Business in the Community (SBC) awards.
SBC is Scotland’s leading organisation promoting responsible business practices. Its president is HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, who attended the awards ceremony which took place on Tuesday (June 23) in Edinburgh. The awards celebrate companies of all sizes across all sectors that make Scotland a better place in which to live and work.
The Environmental Leadership Award recognises outstanding environmental leaders who have brought effective change in their business and with stakeholders, customers and suppliers to bring about effective environmental action. The award was won jointly by The Crown Estate and Elan Hair Design.
David Ferguson, Head of Corporate Affairs - Scotland at The Crown Estate said:
“As active land managers, we see the protection and enhancement of the environment as a core part of our duty to maintain and enhance the value of the estate and the revenue generated from it.
“We play a key role across a diverse range of sectors in Scotland including agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and tourism, and work collaboratively with our tenants and business partners to deliver sustainable economic growth, which also benefits the local communities in which we work.
“We are proud of being a catalyst for change, able to stimulate adoption of environmental practices and promote the view that good stewardship must also include sustainability - an approach that inherently embeds environmental awareness in all our business activity.”
Scottish environmental leadership and innovation within The Crown Estate include its innovative carbon offset woodland scheme and biomass wood drying trials; piloting a Wildlife Estates Scotland accreditation scheme; development of the Forests for the Future teaching resource; support for a unique maritime archaeological survey of Scotland’s west coast; funding the Fishing for Litter campaign and supporting wildlife research.
Rigorously judged by an informed and mixed panel including politicians, business leaders and academics, the Awards, held at Prestonfield in Edinburgh, are a unique opportunity for businesses to be recognised for their achievements by their peers, customers, employees and relevant stakeholders.
Jane Wood, CEO of Scottish Business in the Community, said, “This is the first year we’ve opened the Awards to all businesses in Scotland and we’ve been thrilled with the quality of the applications. There’s such a huge amount of excellent work around the responsible business agenda that’s taking place within our communities so picking a winner was incredibly difficult but we are delighted to have The Crown Estate as our Environmental Leadership winner.”
Scottish Business in the Community Award Nominees 2015:
Large Company of the Year (Supported by PwC) – Asda, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, SSE
SME of the Year (Supported by PwC) – The Firefly Group, Sew Good, Vegware
Volunteering Company of the Year (Supported by ScottishPower) – Asda, Clydesdale Bank, State Street
Volunteering Team of the Year (Supported by ScottishPower) – Clydesdale Bank, State Street, Scottish Widows/Lloyds Banking Group
Employee Volunteer of the Year (Supported by ScottishPower) – Alan Anderson / Clydesdale Bank, Irene MacCallum / Clydesdale Bank, Emma Blaikie / John Lewis Partnership
Closing the Education Gap (supported by SQA) – DWF, Network Rail, ScottishPower
Environmental Leadership (supported by Zero Waste Scotland) – The Crown Estate, Elan Hair Design, Matthew Algie, E-Reps Network
Working Better - Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Flexiworkforce, Wates Living Space
