Carbon-Busting Canary Wharf Wins Mayor’s Awards

2009-07-01

Canary Wharf Group scooped some of the top awards at the Mayor of London’s Green500 and Better Building Partnership Awards last Thursday, 11 June. The organisation received the Green500 Platinum award for its carbon reduction efforts; a commendation in the Green500 ‘Engager’ awards for green learning, skills and communication amongst staff, Canary Wharf-based companies and the local community; and a Better Building Partnership Gold Award for carbon performance in 2008. John Garwood, Group Company Secretary at Canary Wharf Group, was delighted, saying: “Canary Wharf is growing rapidly, and we need to operate in environmentally sustainable ways to maintain this growth.  “We are now home to a diverse workforce of over 90,000 people and some of the world’s best companies and retail outlets. We work closely with these companies to see what more can be done to reduce environmental impacts. Canary Wharf is keen to play its part in helping London reach its environmental targets.”  The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “I salute London's top organisations for truly grasping the nettle to become greener. Their sterling work to cut carbon and become energy efficient puts London on the front foot to emerge from the economic downturn stronger and stimulate new jobs.” The first ever Green500 and Better Buildings Partnership were hosted at Chelsea Football Club. Both programmes are funded by the London Development Agency to help deliver the Mayor’s target to cut London’s emissions by 60 per cent by 2025, create green collar jobs and stimulate a low carbon economy. Together, over the last year, their 200 members saved 117,000 tonnes of carbon, equivalent to taking 100 double decker buses off London’s streets.  Canary Wharf Group was recently named in the Sunday Times 60 best green companies list for 2009.