VANCOUVER, B.C. (March 23, 2010) - The GLOBE 2010 Welcome Reception had an air of celebration as the GLOBE Foundation announced the winners of the 2010 GLOBE Awards for Environmental Excellence. The awards, now in their 8th edition, are presented to Canadian companies that excel in sustainable business practices, develop progressive technologies and offer outstanding services.
This year saw winners in seven award categories: Corporate Environmental Excellence - Business Strategy, Corporate Environmental Excellence - Facilities and Events, ecoFREIGHT Sustainable Transportation, Technology Innovation and Application, Excellence in Emerging Technology, Excellence in Urban Sustainability and Finance.
The Corporate Award for Environmental Excellence - Business Strategy was presented to RBC Royal Bank of Canada, a company that has been practicing environmental stewardship and sustainability since 1990 when RBC introduced its first formal environmental policy. In 2007, RBC became one of the first Canadian banks to articulate its entire environmental platform in a formal commitment document dubbed the RBC Environmental Blueprint.
This five-year plan addresses its three priority environmental issues: climate change, biodiversity and water, and outlines how it will approach new and emerging environmental issues in its operations, business activities and products and services going forward. Finalists in this category included Vancity and Walmart Canada Corp.
Hot off the heels of an extremely successful display of sports and culture, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games accepted the Corporate Award for Environmental Excellence - Facilities and Events.
In order to "manage the environmental, social and economic impacts and opportunities of the Games and produce lasting benefits, locally and globally," VANOC recognized local and global sustainability challenges and opportunities, it learned from past Games and best practices, and it embraced the unique opportunities to make a positive difference.
VANOC also implemented a corporate governance process to ensure aligned decision-making for its sustainability commitments and conducted GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) compliant annual performance reporting with stakeholder engagement and third-party assurance. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and The Minto Group were finalists for this award.
Port Metro Vancouver took home the ecoFREIGHT Award for Sustainable Transportation, praised for its work in reducing emissions of criteria air contaminants and air toxics. This work is also yielding benefits in terms of reducing greenhouse gases.
Wherever possible the Port has looked for opportunities to address the issues of air quality and climate change together.
The Port is collaborating with other ports, the marine industry and with government agencies to develop a data baseline, promote efficiency, implement technologies and support regulatory changes to reduce air emissions. The ecoFREIGHT award finalists included Bison Transport Inc. and Frito Lay Canada.
The winner of this year's Award for Technology Innovation and Application was Tantalus Systems Corp., a company that developed Smart Grid software which is helping to revolutionize the way electricity is consumed and delivered. The software helps to optimize the use of energy and water resources by automated metering practices, reducing operational costs, eliminating revenue/energy and giving utilities and customers access to the information needed to manage these resources intelligently. Other finalists were: Altech Technology Systems Inc., Pulse Energy, and RETScreen International.
Securing top honors in The Award for Excellence in Emerging Technology was Dow Chemical Canada ULC, for introducing its PowerHouse Solar Shingle into the market. This technology is a revolutionary flexible photovoltaic solar cell packaged in the form of a roofing shingle that can be easily integrated with standard asphalt shingle materials - at an affordable cost.
This game-changing product is expected to be available in limited quantities in mid-2010 with shingle systems more widely available in 2011, putting the power of solar energy directly in the hands of homeowners. It was ranked number 13 on TIME magazine's list of "The 50 Best Inventions of 2009." Finalists in this category included Climate Smart Businesses Inc. and Saltworks Technologies Inc.
After being a finalist at the 2008 GLOBE Awards, Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties Ltd. was honoured with the Award for Excellence in Urban Sustainability. Millennium Water incorporated numerous innovations in its planning, design and community building and makes use of passive design as a key component in the reduction of energy and resource use.
The project includes creative approaches to site infrastructure, the control and management of storm water as well as innovative approaches to energy conservation and generation. Environmental sustainability by decreased resource consumption was achieved by implementing a number of site-wide strategies. The City of Edmonton and Toronto Hydro Corporation were the other finalists for this award.
In addition, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) was presented with the Finance Award for Sustainability in recognition of its excellent contribution to sustainability and its outstanding role as the single largest source of Cleantech financing in Canada over the last five years.
The GLOBE Awards are judged by a panel of experts well known in the Canadian business and environment community: Toby A.A. Heaps, President and Editor, Corporate Knights; Françoise Faverjon-Fortin, Vice-President, Infrastructure and Environment, Export Development Canada; Robert J. D. Page, TransAlta Professor of Environmental Management & Sustainability, University of Calgary; Nicholas Sonntag, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, Westport Innovations Inc. and President, Westport Asia; and P. Wayne Soper, President, Smart Living Media.
The 2010 GLOBE Awards, presented by the GLOBE Foundation, were sponsored this year by BNN, the Business News Network, Export Development Canada and Transport Canada's ecoFREIGHT Program. For more information on finalists, winners and future applications visit www.theglobeawards.ca. To learn more about GLOBE 2010, visit www.GLOBE2010.com.
