Humans and nature come together in sustainability

In terms of numbers, the winners in the sustainable development category represent a weak showing in this year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. Just nine names appear in the list, compared with 116 for international trade and 27 for innovation. But if collectively they are the awards’ poor relations, individually they are rich in ideas.

The low number in this category is nothing new. Originally known as awards for environmental achievement, they have never featured prominently, rarely producing more than 15 winners.

The name change in 2001 reflected the need to recognise organisations that are not only addressing their environmental footprint but also their social impact. This year, several winners have been rewarded for this joint approach.

Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, the Shared Interest Society, a lender to Fairtrade buyer and producer organisations, uses loans to shape the way they do business by imposing requirements on their management practices.

However, environmental impact is a consideration too – Shared Interest uses loans to foster environmentally sustainable practices, such as the use of locally sourced materials and organic production methods.

Social impact is the main focus for the Workspace Group, a Northern Ireland-based social enterprise that fosters community regeneration by encouraging enterprise and self-employment.

Yet, as with Shared Interest, the group’s activities – which include undertaking energy efficiency and local energy generation projects – reveal that the line between social and environmental impact is not always clear cut.

“There is a significant opportunity to develop economic activity from environmental sustainability,” explains Brian Murray, chief executive of The Workspace Group. “We have developed a model for sustainable energy projects that can be applied to any area, with the outcome being local job creation, energy cost reduction, carbon dioxide savings, investment opportunities and various other social impacts.”

Even when it comes to wildlife conservation, the relationship with humans remains an important one. Scottish Seabird Centre, which wins its third sustainable development Queen’s Award since 2004, is a conservation charity. Yet in promoting responsible tourism, it acknowledges that bringing society and nature closer together can protect wildlife.

In doing so, the centre is part of a broader global trend. Development groups and environmental organisations – which once had very different missions – have moved closer together as they have seen that protecting the environment and fostering economic development are not conflicting aims.

This approach involves taking into account all stakeholders. In this year’s Queen’s Awards, for example, Wessex Water Services wins in the sustainable development category in part because it is the first water company to establish catchment management agreements with farmers outside its own landholdings.

The company works with farmers to help them manage their use of nitrates and pesticides and reduce the agricultural runoff that is a major source of water pollution.

Among this year’s winners, several are addressing resource consumption. Seasalt, an apparel company based in Penzance, Cornwall, is working to reduce the environmental impact of its clothing and accessories.

The family-owned business is the first UK fashion company to meet Soil Association standards on organic cotton, and has adopted measures such as waste reduction. “Cotton was the area we focused on as it was our most widely used fabric,” says Neil Chadwick, joint managing director.

This year’s sustainable development awards also demonstrate the importance of organisations looking beyond their own operations. This is why Seasalt gives preference to suppliers that meet similar environmental standards to its own.

“By having a wider view of a supply chain we can have a much bigger impact,” says Mr Chadwick. “By using an organic alternative on the majority of our cotton products, we have prevented the use of hundreds of tonnes of chemicals and pesticides.”

Similarly, Shared Interest’s policy of lending mainly to buyer organisations in Europe and North America means it can reach small-scale producers that would be unable to access its financial services directly.