Environmental ‘Top of the Class’
Belfast Harbour has been revealed as the top scoring company in the 13th Northern Ireland Environmental Benchmarking Survey, announced today by Business in the Community’s ARENA Network campaign.
The Survey, carried out by ARENA Network and supported by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, annually assesses top businesses in Northern Ireland for environmental management, performance and assurance.
Environment Minister Alex Attwood, who gave the keynote address commending all participants for their leadership and achievement said:
“One of the most effective ways of achieving progress is by business and government working together. That is why I am pleased that the Northern Ireland Environment Agency is entering into a three year strategic partnership with Business in the Community to build on its work with ARENA and its members.”
“The ARENA Network Survey is strategically important for businesses and the public sector because it challenges all of us to do the right thing to protect our environment while delivering clear business benefits for participants.”
ARENA will continue to widen the net and encourage companies outside the top 200 to participate in benchmarking, to start making improvements and realise the gains this approach brings.
Peter Dixon, Chair, ARENA Network explains: “This year, the Survey was made even more robust and results prove that businesses here are leading the way in terms of environmental improvement and performance management.
“Given the difficult economic conditions, the fact that environmental savings often translate into business savings is arguably one factor that is helping drive continued environmental and improved business performance.”
The top results (in order of scoring) were achieved by: Belfast Harbour, Royal Mail, Dale Farm Ltd, Farrans (Construction) Ltd, Pritchitts, Seagate Technology (Ireland) Ltd, IKEA Belfast, Bombardier Aerospace, BT and John Graham (Dromore) Ltd.
However, as safety and environmental manager at the harbour David Knott explained, the event is viewed as much more than a competition.
He said:
“We wouldn’t regard this as a competition or an award, more as a benchmarking exercise that lets us measure ourselves against other organisations but, significantly, we also use it as a gap analysis to identify where our weaknesses are and try and improve on those year on year.”
