Águas do Douro e Paiva S.A. The model is based on a set of environmental, social and

sustainable principles, including: the prevention of environmental

impacts; compensation of CO2

emissions; energy efficiency; adoption of best available

practices; the motivation and involvement of employees;

eco-efficiency, innovation and R&D; promotion of environmental

and biodiversity values; and, the transparent

communication of performance.

Changes in EBAE categories

In agreement with the Steering Committee members, DG

Environment decided that the Product category becomes the Product and Services category.

The award is for the development and/or implementation of a new

product or service that makes an outstanding contribution to sustainable development. The

official definition clearly includes services. Renaming the award

category is a change in wording to clarify what was already

implied for this category.National coordinators stated

that they do not intend to make an amendment to their national

competitions as most of them already called this specific award,

Product and Services category.

NewsletterIssue # 19 – February 2013

The 2014 European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) – the fourteenth edition of the competition – will be officially launched in January 2014. In a change to the competition’s timetable, the EBAE Award Ceremony will now take place in autumn 2014, following the completion of the national award schemes across the participating Member States and candidate countries.

Looking towards the 2014 European Business Awards for the Environment

EBAE 2012 Runners-up: committed to meeting environmental challengesThe companies nominated in the Management, Product & Services and Process categories of the 2012 European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE) share a common, integral trait: a commitment and willingness to address environmental and sustainability challenges. The six runners-up from these three categories each achieved the highest standards of environmental performance, and can be recognised as pioneers of green innovation.

Those businesses that have succeeded at a national level will be put forward to compete for the coveted European Business Awards for the Environment. The winners of the competition’s five award categories – management, product and services, process, international business cooperation and business and biodiversity – will be announced during a special award ceremony organised in November 2014, during the European Forum on Eco-Innovation.

The application period for online submissions will run from 17 February until 31 March 2014. During this time the competition’s National Coordinators will manage the application process for their country’s candidates – each country can send a maximum of 12

entries, with a maximum of 4 entries in each category. Following the deadline for submissions, the National Coordinators will have until 27 April 2014 to validate all of their entries.

Between early-May and mid-July, the members of the EBAE Jury will evaluate the entries, making pre-selections of possible nominees in each category. The EBAE Jury meeting will take place in Rome in mid- to late-September, ahead of the award ceremony in November.

To keep up to date with the latest EBAE developments, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/awards/index.html

Based in Porto, Portugal, the regional water supplier Águas do Douro e Paiva S.A. supplies drinking water to 1.7 million people within 19 municipalities in the Northwest of Portugal. The company – which

develops and manages water catchment, treatment and distribution systems – was nominated in the Management category of the EBAE 2012 for its project ‘An integrated and sustainable management model for drinking water utilities’.

According to the Jury for the EBAE 2012, the company was selected as its management model incorporates a wide range of parameters such as product safety, energy savings, biodiversity protection, employees’ involvement and customer satisfaction. www.addp.pt

Supplying drinking water in a sustainable manner

2012 Management category runners-up

France’s national, state-owned railway operator SNCF was nominated in the Management category of the EBAE 2012. The company – which operates in 120 countries and employs 235,000 people worldwide – was selected for its project ‘The implementation of sustainable procurement creates value: a global value for business, the environment, society and suppliers’.

SNCF implemented a new, innovative procurement procedure known as SynergiA, which takes environmental, social and sustainable factors into account. SynergiA embeds the company’s CSR strategy into all procurement processes, and places a focus on resource management and the improvement of labour practices.

The EBAE 2012 Jury highlighted the fact that SNCF’s procurement procedure took cost and quality into account as well as CSR criteria, and incorporated these considerations into technical specifications and calls for tenders. www.sncf.fr

Headquartered in Haag, Austria, the heat pump specialists, OCHSNER developed a new high-efficiency split-evaporator for its air/water heat pumps, which significantly boosts the efficiency of air/water heat pumps, reduces energy consumption and lowers heating costs. The company’s project ‘New generation of air-source heat pumps’ was selected by the EBAE 2012 Jury as one of the three nominees in the Product and Services.

The innovative heat pump is especially suited to heating renovation projects because of its easy and fast installation. Furthermore, this pioneering product – which has set new market standards for a heat pump – incorporates a new ventilator technology to reduce noise emissions.

For these reasons, the EBAE Jury described this product as an important innovation to enhance heat pumps for use in the built environment. Moreover, the product could have a significant impact on energy efficiency as it offers a high replication potential, particularly in refurbishment and retrofit projects.www.ochsner.com

LichtBlick AG was nominated in the Product category of the EBAE 2012 for its project ‘Generating «swarm power» with intelligently controlled at home power plants’. Based in Hamburg, Germany, the company worked in collaboration with Volkswagen AG to develop an innovative high-efficiency cogeneration unit. The product, known as the ‘ZuhauseKraftwerk’ (home power

plant), simultaneously produces heat and electricity and increases energy efficiency.

LichtBlick’s innovative concept makes cogeneration affordable and easy for consumers. It links decentralised renewable energy units together through a virtual control system. This system complements fluctuating wind and solar power and increases grid stability.

The EBAE Jury described this product as an intelligent cleantech application and a proven solution for decentralised electric power supply by micro-cogeneration plants. Furthermore, they believed it could have an enormous impact on energy efficiency and could play an important role in balancing grid capacity and local heat demand. www.lichtblick.de

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) was chosen as one of the three nominees in the Process category of the EBAE 2012. The German technology specialists developed a process technology for the manufacturing of metal rings for dynamic seals. The cutting-edge innovation, called narrow strip forming laser technology (SUL – Schmalband Umform Laserschweiß-Technologie), lowers emissions, reduces material use and is virtually waste free.

The SUL process is a sustainable innovation, which offers significant material savings in production. In terms of its application, the entire SUL system requires a small number of tools, ensuring the product development chain is shorter and more efficient. Small scale production is therefore more economical, due to the faster set-up times. The EBAE Jury described this technology as an innovative method of metal forming to manufacture radial shaft seals. This project was selected as a nominee as it significantly reduces material use and waste, operates without punch oil and requires no post-cleaning or other chemicals.www.fst.com

The Spanish company Sener Ingeniería y Sistemas has constructed the first commercial solar power plant in the world to use central tower receiver and molten salt heat storage technology. The plant, known as Gemasolar, is located in the town of Fuentes de Andalucía – close to Sevilla.

In addition to the molten salt heat technology, which is capable of reaching more than 550ºC and boasts a storage capacity of 15 hours, Gemasolar – a 19.9 MW power plant – features 2,650 heliostats, which point to a central receiver at the top of a 140m tower. The receiver absorbs solar radiation and heats up the

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An economic and energy-efficient heat pump solution for the built environment

Getting on track for sustainable procurement

Making cogeneration affordable and easy through home power plants

2012 Process category runners-up

Management category runners-up

SNCF - SynergiA

Product category runners-upLichtBlick AG

Product category runners-upOCHSNER

Karl Ochsner, owner and managing partner of OCHSNER Wärmepumpen GmbH, declared

during the ‘Energiesparmesse Wels 2012’ held in March 2012

that heat pump technology is not only a renewable energy

technology but also an important tool to improve energy efficiency.

The use of renewable ambient heat with heat pumps can

play an important role to meet EU energy policy goals.

www.ehpa.org/uploads/media/2012-1_newsletter_final_

smaller_size.pdf

Reducing material use and waste through narrow strip forming laser technology

Generating solar power through molten salt technology

2012 Product and services category

runners-up

molten salt compound that circulates in its interior. The resulting energy is either harnessed to generate electricity or stored for later use. The plant is capable of supplying 110 GWh of clean electricity annually – enough to serve 27,500 households. The EBAE Jury chose this project as a nominee as it addressed the need for energy storage in combination with renewable electricity generation. In particular, they highlighted the company’s use of salt as a high temperature storage medium rather than oil.www.sener.es

Entitled ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’, the proposed EAP – which was announced in November 2012 – sets out to develop Europe’s ecological resilience and help the EU move towards a sustainable green economy. To achieve these goals, the programme outlines proposals aimed at protecting nature, stimulating sustainable growth, creating new jobs and setting Europe on a path to prosperity and health within the limits of the planet.

The proposed EAP will help to establish a common understanding of the main environmental challenges facing Europe as well as the steps that must be taken to tackle them effectively. To this end, the programme also seeks to tackle environmental causes of disease.

Speaking about the new EAP, Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: “The new Action Programme sets out the path for Europe to become a place where people live in a safe and healthy natural environment, where economic progress is based on a sustainable, green economy and where ecological resilience has been achieved.”

The strategic agenda for environmental policy-making set out in the new programme includes 9 priority objectives to be achieved by 2020. It outlines three thematic priorities, namely: protecting nature and strengthening ecological resilience; boosting sustainable resource-efficient low-carbon growth; and effectively addressing environment-related threats to health.

These thematic priorities are supported by an enabling framework with four further priority objectives: promoting better implementation of EU environment law; ensuring that policies benefit from state of the art science; securing the necessary investments in support of environment and climate change policy; and, improving the way environmental concerns and requirements are reflected in other policies.

The programme also puts forward two additional priority objectives that focus on enhancing the sustainability of EU cities, and improving the EU’s effectiveness in addressing regional and global challenges related to the environment and climate change.

The proposed EAP will be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Once agreed, the new EAP will become EU law.

Find out more about the new EU Environment Action Programme to 2020: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/newprg/index.htm

In collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan Management Review has produced a report entitled ‘The Innovation Bottom Line: How companies that see sustainability as both a necessity and an opportunity, and change their business models in response, are finding success’. It outlines how in tackling sustainability-related challenges organisations have been able to increase profits through innovative business models.

Since 2010, the authors of the report have charted how organisations have addressed issues such as resource scarcity and demands from customers for healthier products with innovations that create business value. The report is based on a global survey of 2,600 executives and managers from commercial enterprises representing a range of industries and sectors. The report’s findings indicate that sustainability has become a permanent element of many company agendas and a source of profit for some.

The report found that nearly 50% of the companies surveyed changed their business models as a result of sustainability opportunities. Furthermore, 37% of the respondents reported a profit from sustainability measures. In analysing those companies that have enjoyed success in this area, the report states that business-model innovation is at the heart of sustainability-driven profit.

The study labels the companies that have enjoyed increased profits through sustainability measures as ‘Sustainability-Driven Innovators’. It states that such organisations focus on how their efforts can increase market share, boost energy efficiency and build competitive advantage.

The study also found that companies generating profits from sustainability followed five general practices, including: changing their existing business models; leading from the top and ensuring the integration of sustainability strategies; measuring and tracking sustainability goals and performance; understanding their customers’ perception of sustainability and their willingness to pay more for green products or services; and, collaborating with individuals, customers, businesses and groups beyond the boundaries of the organisation.

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Global businesses turn sustainability-related challenges into profits

More information:

MIT Sloan Management Review, Research Report, Winter 2013: ‘The Innovation Bottom Line: How companies that see sustainability as both a necessity and an opportunity, and change their business models in response, are finding success’: www.bcgperspectives.com/Images/MITSMR-BCG-Sustainability-Report-2013_tcm80-126806.pdf

The European Commission has proposed a new Environment Action Programme (EAP) designed to guide EU environment policy up to 2020. Built on the founda-tions of the EU’s environmental policy achievements, the pro-posed programme – the seventh of its kind – draws on a series of recent environmental initiatives, such as the Resource Efficiency Roadmap, the 2020 Biodiversity Strategy and the Low Carbon Economy Roadmap.

EU Environment Action Programme: a guide to living well, within the limits of our planet

Besides being nominated to the prestigious European Business Awards for the Environment, SENER have won the final prize in the 2012 Basque Division for its Gemasolar project, which it entered in the category of Sustainable Development Process.Actually, 2011 has been an intensive year of awards and recognitions for SENER. The company had previously won the top European Business Award for Innovation in 2011, the CSP Today awards for ‘Engineering Firm 2011’ and ‘Solution Dispatchability Increaser 2011’ and the American version of CSP Today’s ‘Engineering Firm 2011’ award because of its progress in the U.S. market. In October 2011, Jorge Sendagorta, SENER President and C.E.O., was also awarded the ‘Managing for Growth’ award by the Spanish Confederation of Directors and Executives and the ‘Best Basque Businessman’ organised by the Basque Company and Society Foundation for his distinguished career.

Organised by the Estonian Ministry of the Environment, the ‘Environmental Award for Business’ is presented annually as part of the national ‘Environmental Award of the Year’. Launched in 2001, the competition awards both individuals and organisations for their endeavours in the areas of environmental protection and awareness raising. A total of four awards were presented by the Estonian Minister of the Environment, Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, during the 2012 awards ceremony – held on 27 November 2012.

The competition awards outstanding companies and individuals who have set an example in terms of environmental achievement over the previous 12 months. Awards were presented for the ‘Environmental Deed of the Year’, the leading ‘Small Environmental Deed’ and the ‘Nature Friendly Company of the Year’. This year’s jury decided to award two winners in the third category – one for the best green product or service and another for the leading green process.

Each award is presented with a monetary prize and the right to display the winner’s label on their product or in their promotional material. Launched in 2007, the label helps the competition winners demonstrate their status as a recognised environmentally-friendly company.

This year the title of the Environmental Deed of the Year and a monetary award of €1,000 were presented to the Estonian Ornithological Society for its project ‘Ornithological studies for natural science teachers’. The project helped teachers provide natural science education for their pupils and ensured thousands of children learned more about birds as a result.

The title of Small Environmental Deed of the Year and a monetary prize of €1,000 went to JCI GO Chamber for their open-air performance of ‘Naksitrallide Metsakool’. The renowned book ‘Naksitrallid’ was adapted as a play, which was performed at the Estonian Puppet and Youth Theatre. The adaptation used well-known characters from the original story to highlight environmental issues, and included puppets and decorations made only from waste or recycled materials.

Divided into two categories, the Nature Friendly Company of the Year award recognised companies that had provided exceptional green products or services or set new standards in terms of green processes. Rexest Grupp OÜ won the green product or service category for successfully reducing waste generation in Estonia through the use of recycled plastics. The company uses waste plastic, particularly

household packaging plastic, to produce innovative and recyclable building materials known as Plastrex. In addition to winning this award, the Rexest Grupp OÜ will be nominated as a candidate for the European Business Awards for the Environment.

Biogas producer Aravete Biogaas OÜ was awarded the top prize in the green process category. The company produces biogas from bovine solid and liquid manure for use in electricity and heat production. Since September 2012, the electricity produced at the Aravete plant has been channelled into a distribution network, providing heat to the town’s residents.

Estonian awards recognise excellence in environmental endeavourThe companies awarded in the 2012 Estonian

national competition were:

Environmental Deed of the YearAward:

Estonian Ornithological Society

Small Environmental DeedAward:

JCI GO Chamber

Nature Friendly Company of the Year

Green product or service categoryAward:

Rexest Grupp OÜ

Green process categoryAward:

Aravete Biogaas OÜ

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Agenda6 March 2013

European Mobility Week Award Ceremony

Brussels, Belgiumwww.mobilityweek.eu/award/

29 April – 1 May 2013 Blue Economy World

SummitBerlin, Germany

www.blueeconomy.eu/m/events/view/Blue-Economy-Summit

15-16 May 2013 2013 European Business

SummitBrussels, Belgium

www.ebsummit.eu/

23-24 May 201314th European

Forum on Eco-Innovation-

Prague, Czech Republic http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoinnovation2013/1st_forum/

27 May 2013CIP Eco-innovation

European Information DayBrussels, Belgium

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/news-events/selection-

events/index_en.htm

4-7 June 2013Green Week 2013

Brussels, Belgium http://ec.europa.eu/environment/

greenweek/

How to contact usEBAE website: http://www.ebae.euYou may contact your national coordinator directly:http://ec.europa.eu/environment/awards/in_your_country.html

EBAE SecretariatNancy Lukombe, c/o PRACSIS tel: +32 (0)2 340 30 64; e-mail: eu.awards.env@pracsis.be

European Commission, Directorate-General for the EnvironmentJanice Mc Hugh tel.: +32 (0)2 299 03 83; e-mail: Janice.Mc-Hugh@ec.europa.eu

Rexest Grupp OÜ, the winner of the green product or service category, uses recycled plastic to produce new plastic elements for construction purposes.

Aravete Biogaas OÜ received the green process award for constructing the first biogas plant of its kind in Estonia.

Find out more about the 2012 Estonian Environmental Award for Business: www.envir.ee/1191263

The 2012 Environmental Award for Business took place on 27 November 2012.