Eden’s Green Foundation course wins top business award

November 18, 2011

The Eden Project’s sustainability programme for businesses in Cornwall has won a top award.

Green Foundation scooped the prize for Best Business Support Through Mentoring and Education at the Western Morning News Business Awards held at St Mellion International last night (Thursday, November 17).

Based on the success of this programme Eden is now developing Green Foundation to deliver to businesses across the country.

Since it started in October 2010, the course has worked with 315 people from 273 businesses in the local area.

Designed and delivered by the Eden team and funded by the European Social Fund, Green Foundation motivates businesses to engage with sustainability and identify opportunities to help them secure a competitive edge in the low-carbon economy.

Organisations are encouraged to make positive changes helping to ensure that Cornwall has a resilient and sustainable business base.

Eden was among 248 entries for the competition which had 14 categories including Employer of the Year, Customer Service Award, Innovation of the Year and Best Business Start Up.

Lindsey Brummitt, Programme Manager at Eden, said: “We are absolutely delighted to win this accolade. 

“Green Foundation offers a really practical response to some of the business challenges of today and the results have been fantastic – we have seen real tangible changes to save money, collaborate and drive positive change and we are very proud to be supporting local businesses on the journey to a low carbon economy.”

More than 300 members of the Westcountry business community attended the awards ceremony which was hosted by BBC Spotlight presenter Janine Jansen.

The competition’s overall sponsor was South West Water, with associate sponsors Royal Bank of Scotland, KPMG and Bond Pearce. Category sponsors were Foot Anstey, Gregory Distribution, Coutts, First Great Western, Plymouth University, Viridor and Brewin Dolphin.

To find out more about the award-winning programme, go to www.greenfoundation.org.uk