The City of London Corporation has revealed the 10 Square Mile businesses shortlisted in the capital’s top environmental gongs – the Clean City Awards.
The scheme, now in its 26th year, rewards businesses leading the way in improving their environmental performance – be it by reducing plastic use, taking action to cut carbon emissions or by boosting recycling.
Companies of all sizes and sectors across the Square Mile have been selected, with firms cutting out single-use plastics and improving London’s air quality dominating the list.
The shortlisted applicants are:
Air Quality and Climate Action:
- 1 Angel Court
- Cannon Bridge House, BNP Paribas
- Bank of England
Plastic Free City:
- Investec
- Eversheds Sutherland
- Broadgate
Communication and Engagement:
- Investec
- Cannon Place
- Bank of England
Resource and Circular Economy:
- America Square Conference Centre
- CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang
- Broadgate
There is also a chance to win the Chairman’s Cup, which looks at organisations’ environmental and sustainability performance, and behaviour change during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Shortlisted applicants are :
Chairman’s Cup – Facilities Management:
- 1 Angel Court
- Broadgate
Chairman’s Cup – Large Category:
- Taylor Wessing LLP
- Bank of England
- Investec
Winners from last year include the Bank of England, Bow Lane Dental Group, Linklaters and Standard Chartered Bank.
Together, they cut out over a million sets of single-use plastic cutlery, and tens of thousands of plastics cups, water bottles and plastic toothbrushes. Hundreds of thousands of plastic coffee cups were also eliminated.
Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Environmental Services Committee, Keith Bottomley, said: “Congratulations to all the firms that have been shortlisted this year.
“These companies are great examples of what can be done in environmental sustainability, making significant contributions to cutting carbon emissions, reducing plastic, and improving recycling.
“I hope that shining a spotlight on their good work will give ideas and encourage other firms, and I look forward to recognising the winners later this year.”
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The City Corporation itself has pledged to become plastic free in 2021.
The authority has installed a network of 17 on-street water refill points in the Square Mile in a bid to help eliminate disposable plastic water bottle use, as part of its Plastic Free City campaign.
The scheme calls on businesses and individuals to reduce single-use plastics across the Square Mile.
Over 100 companies employing nearly 100,000 people have signed up to the initiative, with more than 620,000 plastic straws, 19 million cups, and 12 million items of cutlery cut by firms taking part.
Over 600,000 plastic water bottles and nearly 3.5 million food containers were eliminated from use.
Over 200 of the City’s pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants have also become part of a network of water bottle refill stations, where the public can refill reusable water bottles – all found on the Refill app.
In April 2017, the City Corporation, Hubbub and partners from across Square Mile launched the Square Mile Coffee Cup Challenge, resulting in over half a million coffee cups being recycled in April 2017 alone, with a total of four million by the end of that year.
The campaign raised awareness in London and across the UK of the impact of coffee cup litter on the environment.
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