Category Description
This award is open to any organisation, commercial or otherwise, which has achieved a significant innovative breakthrough towards solving the climate crisis. It could be a specific technical innovation, or any other kind of breakthrough – in policy or practice – involving a fresh approach which can enable really significant reductions in greenhouse gases, particularly in ‘hard to abate’ sectors or circumstances.
The breakthrough does not need to be applied extensively in practice as yet, but it does have to demonstrate a proven capacity to drive change.
Award winners will likely be ones which show real game-changing climate action or potential; which can inspire others to take action, and which are both replicable and scalable.
We request a total word count of 1500 words +/-10% (excl. supporting docs). Any confidential data will be treated as such and only shared with the judging panel.
Criteria
Judges will be looking for evidence of the following points within the supplied application form (weighting percentages in brackets):
- Details of the innovation and why it has clear practical potential to tackle climate impacts, including quantifiable data on achievable reductions in greenhouse gas concentrations, along with other climate benefits (45%)
- Degree of creativity and fresh thinking deployed in originating and applying it: why and how is it doing something which no-one else had managed? (20%)
- Awareness raising and knowledge sharing: how effectively and widely is it being promoted, marketed or communicated so that its benefits can achieve maximum potential as quickly as possible (15%)
- Replicability and scalability: how can it be taken up more widely and scaled to achieve that potential – so that it moves beyond the niche and into the mainstream? (20%)
PLEASE NOTE: The criteria above are different to the questions in the application form. You will need to follow the application questions; cross-referencing these with the criteria to ensure you’ve captured them within your application. The criteria are followed by the judges in order to compare all entries in each category like-for-like, Please ensure you register / login to AwardStage (Opens 1st Feb), select the category and export a PDF copy of the questions. Some category application questions differ. The application questions will be available four weeks before entries open, so if you wish to get them ahead of time please email us.
Are we eligible to enter?
Our awards programme is open to all organisations of any kind… companies large and small, charities, not-for-profits, social enterprises, NGOs, membership and accreditation organisations and government departments including local and county councils. We are all about rewarding sustainability practice – in all its forms. So if your organisation is making a difference, directly or indirectly to people and planet, you’re eligible.
We don’t just recognise businesses that are operating responsibly, or supporting / partnering with worthwhile causes. We also actively encourage entries from organisations that have been specifically set up or adapted to offer a product or service that tackles a social or environmental problem.
Our category descriptions and criteria have been written to guide entrants on what content should be detailed in their entries. However, we do not expect square pegs to fit in round holes… Some of your business activities or dedicated programmes might not fit entirely with any one specific category. In these cases, the descriptions and criteria are open to an element of interpretation and rest assured that our judges will still take into account entries that are strongly aligned with the overall context of the category.
If you have any concerns about the suitability of your entry, or would like to discuss your activities in more detail, we are here to help. Give Karen a call on 07813 718541 or email us.