The Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland (VIBES) Awards describe themselves as aiming to “encourage the efficient use of resources, enhance the competitiveness of businesses, improve environmental performance and support the wider goals of sustainable development including social benefits through community and staff involvement”.
This year the award ceremony was held at Radisson Blu in Glasgow on November 14th. It saw its greatest attendance to date with more than 400 business figures, of which there were 43 finalist companies across 10 award categories.
The VIBES Awards are a partnership between the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), The Scottish Government, Energy Saving Trust, Highland & Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Water, Zero Waste Scotland and the 20:20 Climate Group, alongside being supported by a variety of further organisations.
When looking at the organisations involved, it is clear that there is a strong set of influencing partners who share a common aim in improving Environmental, Social and Economic value within Scotland.
SEPA quoted Bob Downes, Chair of SEPA and head of the VIBES judging panel, in their round-up of the event.
“The most successful businesses in the future will be those that are not just compliant, but which are also low carbon, low material use, low water use and low waste, and which see environmental excellence as an opportunity. This is at the core of SEPA’s One Planet Prosperity regulatory strategy.”
The message this gives, alongside his words on the growing impact of climate change and the cost of inaction continuing to mount, further reinforces the need for organisations to adopt a ‘People, Planet, Profit’ approach, or be left behind.
Beyond Green were finalists for the ‘Green Team’ category last year, and entered the ‘Sustainable and Active Travel’ category this year. The change in category was due to targeting a specific area we felt our performance was strongest. We are delighted to have won our category by showcasing our performance and perseverance in embedding sustainable and active travel into many aspects of the business. This includes encouraging our landlord to install a shower at our new offices, collectively setting active commuting travel targets which are recorded and closely monitored, incorporating sustainable travel choices in business travel to reduce cost and carbon emissions, incorporating netwalking, outdoor meetings, and walking events to work ‘beyond the office’, amongst a variety of additional applications.
Winning a VIBES award means a great deal to us at Beyond Green. The rigorous judging process, a record number of entries, combined with competing organisations in our category such as Next PLC and Edinburgh Trams reinforces and legitimises our efforts. We have received a number of congratulations from those who highly value the awards and can’t wait to head back for the third year. Our continued performance and approach to travel was also a strong factor in obtaining our B Corp certification which you can view our score here.
You are able to see why the judges chose Beyond Green as winner of the Sustainable and Active Travel category for 2018 in their video here.
