Tenth annual BusinessGreen Leaders Awards to celebrate a decade of green business breakthroughs

The 10th annual BusinessGreen Leaders Awards has officially launched today and is now seeking entries from the UK's most exciting and innovative green businesses, projects, executives, and campaigners.

This year's awards will take place on the evening of Wednesday June 24^th at The Brewery in central London, bringing together around 600 of the UK's top green business executives, investors, and entrepreneurs with a raft of leading politicians, investors, and campaigners.

As ever, attendees on the evening will enjoy a gala dinner and awards ceremony, keynote speeches from some of the leading figures in the green economy, a unique networking opportunity, and a chance to celebrate the successes of the most vibrant and important of sectors.

Organisations and individuals wishing to enter this year's awards now have until 5pm on Friday March 27th to submit their entries.

"It is hard to believe that the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards are already celebrating their tenth edition and have now been highlighting the trail-blazing successes of the green economy for a decade," said BusinessGreen editor-in-chief James Murray. "Over that time we've seen green business models and clean technology projects evolve from a niche concern to one of the driving forces for the entire UK economy. The next decade and its transition towards a net zero emission economy will inevitably make the sector ever more important and as such there has never been a better time to come together to celebrate our collective green economic progress."

This year's awards comes right in the middle of a critical year for both BusinessGreen and the UK's climate efforts, as the country prepares to stage the crucial COP26 Climate Summit in November and we host the inaugural Net Zero Festival on September 30th.

As such, the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards want to hear from as many of the UK's pioneering green businesses, teams, and NGOs as possible, as the brand continues in its mission to further raise the profiles of the individuals and organisations that will power the UK's net zero transition.

"As last year's Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Lord Deben, has argued we are entering a critical decade during which the world will either move onto a net zero decarbonisation trajectory or condemn future generations to escalating climate impacts," said Murray. "It has never been more important for pioneering green businesses to both redouble their efforts and publicly demonstrate the multiple benefits that arise from clean technologies and sustainable business models."

As in previous years, the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards are free to enter, but in order to invest in staging the UK's most prestigious green business awards the terms and conditions for the awards require all shortlisted companies to book tickets to attend the gala evening.

Some of last year's winners reflect on what the awards mean to them

Duncan Clarke, Head of Region UK at Ørsted, said:

"Each year, the BusinessGreen Leaders awards brings together the industry's best and brightest in a celebration of innovation, talent, and ambition that is truly inspiring. We're very proud to have been named Company of the Year for two years' running, but what makes us even prouder is to see the incredible work being done by companies and individuals, all striving to make a real difference in the fight against climate change."

Samer Salty, Managing Partner at Zouk Capital, said:

"BusinessGreen's impressive insight into the green economy means its Leaders Awards are the most recognised in our industry and an important annual showcase of the best of sustainability innovation and ambition. We therefore were delighted last year to be awarded 'ESG Investor of the Year' in recognition of our long-standing commitment to ESG in our investment strategy."

Katharine Teague, Head of Advocacy & Sustainability at AB Sugar, said:

"Given the environmental challenges facing the world and business today, it's important to celebrate the inspiring sustainability work and innovation from individuals and business across all industries through platforms such as the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards. We can all learn from one another, have a greater impact on the planet and accelerate progress. But businesses can't do it on their own any longer and standing still certainly isn't an option.

"It was an honour to win the award for Sustainability Executive of the Year, to have our achievements and performance recognised by such a prestigious panel of judges from across industries. We are motivated to keep improving, innovating and driving change over the next decade to help us achieve our 2030 commitments."

Matt Allen, CEO at Pivot Power, said:

"Needless-to-say Pivot Power were incredibly grateful to receive the Green Infrastructure Project of the Year award in 2019. To be recognised by such a well respected media leader like BusinessGreen, and in front of such an impressive audience, was a real honour and a true highlight from this past year."

Jonathan Fenton-Jones, Operations Director at Baytree, said:

"Baytree were honoured to win the Building Project of the Year award at the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards 2019 for our new warehouse building in Dunstable. 

The Award has encouraged Baytree to strive for better efficiency in the design and construction process via increased digitisation with the aim of reducing waste in all its forms… Winning the Award has enabled Baytree as a business to raise its profile as a developer of industry leading projects with a major focus on environmental, social and community wellbeing whilst also featuring significantly in the company's marketing activities throughout the year."

Ilias Vazaios, Partner at Ecuity, said:

"We were so proud to be named 2019 BusinessGreen Consultancy of the Year. This accolade is a great reflection of our transition into a highly capable team with a wider impact on the decarbonisation debate. The enthusiasm generated through participation in the awards has been wonderful."