The BusinessGreen Leaders Awards are back for 2022, at a time when promoting the many strengths of the green economy has never been more important
We're going to host a party. And a work event.
The BusinessGreen Leaders Awards is back for 2022 and will return to its traditional mid-summer date. After two years of rescheduled gala dinners and virtual awards, this year's event will return to The Brewery on the evening of June 22nd. And we would love you, and as many of your peers and colleagues across the UK as possible, to join us and be in with a chance of winning one of the country's most prestigious green business awards.
That is because there is a very serious side to this annual celebration. Yes, we want to bring as many people from across the green economy together to enjoy themselves after a uniquely busy and challenging few years (and we'd obviously like to sell as many tickets as we can). But there is also a critical need to showcase and highlight the very best green businesses, projects, and leaders from across the UK at a time when some of the momentum built up at the COP26 Climate Summit is at risk of dissipating.
Over the 11 years we've run the BusinessGreen Leaders Festival I've lost count of the number of times that people have told me how being shortlisted for an award helped them secure management buy-in, boosted team morale, and bolstered marketing strategies. Most crucially, the recognition provided by the awards has helped many companies move their environmental or net zero strategies on to the next level, unlocking further progress in pursuit of their green goals. These awards are about a lot more than whether or not someone walks away with a gong.
There is also a wider issue here. The green economy has enjoyed more media coverage and public attention than any point in its history over the past year or so, largely as a result of the focus provided by the COP26 Summit. But public engagement with and awareness of the grandest economic project in human history still remains far too low. And with energy prices rising and those politicos who remain opposed to the net zero transition mobilising for battle, it is critical that the technologies and businesses that are at the heart of the green industrial revolution become ever more visible.
The public and policymakers alike need to see the heat pumps, the wind farms, the hydrogen plants, the solar arrays, the passivhauses, the nature-based solutions, the electric vehicles, the net zero investment portfolios, and the myriad other technologies and business models that can ensure a net zero transition can be delivered without compromising living standards. They need to be familiar with them, to be comfortable with them. To understand that they represent the future, that they are reliable and effective and desirable and competitive.
The goal of the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards (and BusinessGreen as a whole) has always been to aid this process, to remind as many business leaders, policymakers, and prospective customers as possible that there is a fast-expanding ecosystem of businesses that are firmly committed to delivering the innovative clean technologies and business models that can transform the world for the better.
That's why you should tell everyone you know to consider entering this year's awards. It may be a great big party, but it's also a really important one.
This article first appeared as part of BusinessGreen's Overnight Briefing, which you can sign up for here.
