CREA Executive Director Bob Clark receives the Green Agency of the Year Award from Snooker Star Willie Thorne and Dawn Whiteley, NFEA Chair.
A Cumbrian business support agency has scooped a national environmental award at this year’s NFEA National Enterprise Network Awards, fighting off stiff competition from agencies across the country.
The Awards, which took place in Nottingham on Wednesday 15th September, recognise excellence in the delivery of enterprise support. The Green Agency of the Year Award recognises those agencies which champion sustainability within their own organisation and support their clients to do the same.
Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency (CREA) currently operates two programmes which help clients become more environmentally friendly: the Cumbria Business Environment Network (CBEN) Awards Scheme and the ENWORKS Resource Efficiency Programme.
The CBEN Awards Scheme helps businesses develop their own Environmental Management Systems through a series of workshops and mentoring.
The ENWORKS Resource Efficiency Programme has assisted over 750 Cumbrian businesses to become more resource-efficient. To date it has identified over £16 million in cost savings, 70,000 tonnes of carbon savings, helped divert 59,000 tonnes of waste from landfill and saved over 700,000 m³ of water.
In addition, CREA’s own buildings at Redhills are environmentally friendly, incorporating such features as ground source heating, rainwater harvesting, wind catchers, and a photovoltaic array that feeds back into the national grid. The organisation also has an audited Environmental Management System that covers all areas of resource usage.
Bob Clark, Executive Director of CREA, said, “this award reflects the high levels of effort and enthusiasm that our Environment Team put into helping Cumbrian businesses to become more environmentally-friendly. I know that they will keep up the good work, and continue to make Cumbria a shining example of best practice in these environmentally-conscious times.”
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