At-Bristol Celebrates Being Crowned West of England Carbon Challenge Carbon Champions 2012 – for the second year running!

Wed 4 July 2012

At-Bristol has been presented with a West of England Carbon Challenge Carbon Champions 2012 award by leading sustainability experts Forum for the Future, only one of two companies to win for two successive years.

The awards, given for the initiatives companies take on to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 10% over a 12 month period, were presented at a ceremony hosted by At-Bristol, by green activist and author, Jonathon Porritt. These organisations are now part of the UK’s largest regional business club of energy savers – the West of England Carbon Challenge. This is a unique group of 130 leading businesses and public sector organisations that have come together to cut their energy use year on year.

At-Bristol has won a number of sustainability awards over the last year, including Gold in the Green Tourism Business Scheme awards – the only visitor attraction in Bristol to have done so and has developed a number of school workshops for Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 students to further develop their understanding of sustainability, and being able to use At-Bristol as a model to help with their learning.

The hands-on science and discovery centre is also launching its new exhibition on 20 July; Our World – no more waste. This exhibition is to help visitors learn more about our natural recycling processes that have been effective for four and a half billion years and how in it nothing goes to waste – volcanoes make the air we breathe, oceans make sand from rocks, and plants are made from the gases we breathe. 

Chris Dunford, At-Bristol’s Sustainability Officer, said: “We’ve worked really hard to maintain, and develop, our sustainability drive in At-Bristol over the last 12 months following our successes from last year, and it pays off with recognition from groups like the West of England Carbon Challenge. Sustainability plays a key part in the way At-Bristol functions, from the way the building is run to the new installation of photovoltaic panels on our roof. 

He adds: “We continue to learn about new things we can do ourselves, but we’re now also in a position where we can pass on our work to help others learn and improve what they do, whether that’s a business looking to decrease their carbon emissions, or a school group learning about sustainable energy.”

This year’s winners of the WECC Carbon Champions awards include: At Bristol, Avon Fire & Rescue, BAM Construction Ltd, Bevan Brittan Buro Happold, CODA Architects, Environment Agency, Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE), and Latcham Direct.

The WECC comprises of a formidable group of organisations, who together, employ more than 125,000 people, a quarter of the West of England workforce. The group have a combined energy bill in excess of £113 million pounds, and over the last year, reported a collective saving of 3% of their energy bill, ahead of the national average.

The West of England Carbon Challenge, managed by Forum for the Future helps companies to measure, manage and reduce their energy costs by offering advice, tools for measuring their footprint, regular events with top speakers, and helping network with others. It offers a platform for professional development of employees in the region, and an opportunity for employers to showcase their corporate responsibility. 

For more information on At-Bristol please visit: www.at-bristol.org.uk or call the information line on: 0845 345 1235.

-ENDS- 

For further press information, please contact Zoë Fox in the At-Bristol press office on: 0117 9157 152 or email: press@at-bristol.org.uk. You can also follow At-Bristol on Twitter: @atbristol, become a fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/atbristolfans or for a slightly unusual perspective, learn more about our sustainability through the eyes of our robotic peregrine falcon: @brianrobofalcon