“The Ashden Awards honour the very best in creative green thinking… tonight’s winners have met the defining challenge of our age – delivering clean, sustainable energy.”
Greg Barker MP, Minister of State for Climate Change
Last night in the packed auditorium of the Royal Geographical Society in London, our ten winners were rewarded and two were given the prestigious Ashden Gold Awards. Anna Ford compered the evening, and over 500 people partied late into the night with the winners. The overall UK Gold Award winner was Hampshire-based housing association, Radian for their outstanding achievements in retrofitting hard-to-treat homes to save energy and building new homes to high environmental standards. Toyola Energy Ltd, from Ghana was named the winner of the Gold Award, selected for its success in making over 150,000 efficient charcoal stoves accessible to low-income families. Princess Zahra Aga Khan, Director of Social Welfare at the Aga Khan Foundation, made a speech and received the award on behalf of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, Pakistan.
Kevin McCloud, presenter of Grand Designs, gave out the UK awards. He spoke of our responsibility to create the ‘post-industrial revolution’ of clean energy for all, and made the point that the UK must have targeted, well-structured legislation to deliver clean energy and energy efficiency widely and successfully. QI’s John Lloyd made some Quite Interesting remarks on guinea pigs, philosophy and the Theory of Everything – reminding us that the universe is packed with energy, but the challenge is harnessing it.
The Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, Greg Barker MP, showed his warm support for the Awards.
Earlier in the day, the winners were all congratulated by our patron, HRH The Prince of Wales, over tea at Clarence House.
The evening was also an opportunity to announce the new Eurostar Ashden Award for Sustainable Travel. We are delighted to be working with Eurostar to make an award for local sustainable travel initiatives in three European countries, starting from next year. Our Founder Director, Sarah Butler-Sloss, said: “Sustainable travel is a vital part of moving to a lower-carbon world. I am delighted that Eurostar, as part of their deepened commitment to sustainability, has given the Ashden Awards this fantastic opportunity to find and champion the best innovative, local, sustainable travel schemes in the UK, France and Belgium.”
The Awards Week is the start of a journey for all our winners as part of what Svati Bhogle of TIDE, India, called ‘the Ashden Awards Family’. Svati spoke movingly of how the Ashden Award gave her ‘hope in the heart, a dream in my head and money in my pocket.’ Since winning the Ashden Award in 2008, TIDE has set up a for-profit arm, Sustaintech, and has begun a pioneering programme to make the Indian tea industry more sustainable.3
Speaking at the Ceremony, Sarah Butler-Sloss pointed out that the climate and energy crises are today’s problems, but the winners show today’s solutions. “We must act faster and more strategically to encourage the growth of local clean energy both in the UK and in developing countries….. I want sustainable energy to be so ordinary that people like me don’t need to make a fuss about it anymore.”
Links to photos can be found on our home page.
