Heron Bros Ltd has achieved Platinum status – the highest scoring level – in this year’s Northern Ireland Environmental Benchmarking Survey.

Just ahead of the United National Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris, Northern Ireland companies have put their ‘green’ credentials on the table for all to see. With 83 organisations from all sizes and sectors participating in 2015 Northern Ireland Environmental Benchmarking Survey.

The results were announced at Belfast Harbour on Wednesday 25 November and materials handing giant, NACCO Materials Handling Ltd was announced as the top performing company, closely followed by Belfast Harbour and Bombardier Aerospace.

The Survey, generated by Business in the Community’s ARENA Network campaign, annually assesses top businesses in Northern Ireland for environmental management, performance and assurance.

The 2015 results have seen scores increase to 78% from 74% in 2014 and 58% of participants scored over 80%. This continued improvement demonstrates that Northern Ireland businesses are committed to making progress and managing their impacts effectively.

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said: “The Northern Ireland Environmental Benchmarking Survey highlights how our local companies are acting smartly by reducing their environmental impacts and investing in sustainable technologies. The participants from our business and public sectors have recognised the need for transparency through benchmarking and public reporting, showing responsibility and commitment to driving improvement.

“This Survey is leading the way in challenging and inspiring more organisations to go beyond reporting, maintaining and setting targets. I praise and congratulate each of the participants this year – showing how organisations can take effective action and be ambassadors of good environmental stewardship.”
Chair of ARENA Network, David Gavaghan, added: “The continued improvement evident in this year’s Survey demonstrates that Northern Ireland businesses are committed to making progress by managing their impacts effectively, which gives me confidence that there is an openness to new ways of working. This will be vital in the future, as our continually reducing planetary resources demonstrate a need to think and act differently.

“Globally, a growing number of companies are committed to taking a circular approach to resource consumption and efficiency, and in turn, businesses are reaping the benefits. In the coming years, we need to see that approach being explored in Northern Ireland and through Business in the Community, we will bring the information, tools and support to help companies do just that. Collaboration will be vital to the development of this work and I hope we can call on our Survey participants to lead the way in this regard.”

To find out who else participated and how they scored, visit www.arenasurvey.com