This year’s categories for Greening the Future include:
• Companies and organisations with innovative environmental strategies that improve business performance.
This category is sponsored by Rhodes University, which says its Rhodes Investec Business School has undertaken to sponsor this Greening the Future Award because it believes its focus will stimulate thinking in the area of business and the environment, as well as provide local case studies to stimulate further local innovation and convince others that sound environmental management makes good business sense in the South African context.
• Environmental best practice in not-for-profit organisations.
Nedbank sponsors this category which is focuses on rewarding the largely unsung heroes of conservation who try to make our planet a better, healthier and happier place. For many of these people and organisations, this is a vision born of passion, not financial gain.
• Companies and organisations with the “most improved” environmental practice.
Sponsored by EnviroServ Waste Management, this category rewards companies that have gone the extra mile to improve their green strategy and environmental footprint.
Sponsor EnviroServ says it decided to get involved because it subscribes to the concept of creating a corporate culture of continuous improvement.
EnviroServ says it regards an appreciation and implementation of an approach through which everyone gets involved as a practical and sustainable way through which real businesses can start to have a positive, practical effect on some of the impacts their activities have on the environment.
• Chemical safety.
The Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association (CAIA) sponsors this category. With chemicals so crucial to so many manufacturing processes all over the world, chemical safety is an absolute imperative and acknowledging best practice is vital to encourage improved levels of safety, not to mention the hazardous effect chemicals can have on the environment.
CAIA’s director of information resources, Dr Mike Booth, says it is important to demonstrate to people how many chemicals we deal with in the home and what effect they can have on our environment.
• Water care.
This category is aimed at showcasing and encouraging efforts to con serve water. South Africa is one of the driest countries in the world and with climate change set to gobble up more of our resources, companies and individuals will have to start implementing innovative policies to look after this source.
This category hopes to encourage South Africans to start looking after water resources and reward programmes that have made a significant difference in cleaning up water resources, conserving water resources or just taking care of the precious ones that are available at the moment.
• Energy efficiency and carbon management.
Energy efficiency has become the buzzword in South Africa in the past few months and it is only fitting that Eskom sponsors this category. This relatively new category will award companies/organisations which demonstrate pioneering efforts to conserve energy.
The value of energy efficiency cannot be overemphasised, especially because businesses are big consumers of power. This category rewards those companies that have increased their energy efficiency and improved energy management overall.