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Unilever, Puma, DNV Take Home Top Prizes at Int'l Green Awards

<p>The consumer products giants scored top honors last week at the 2011 International Green Awards in London.</p>

We've covered Unilever quite a bit here at GreenBiz.com due to the sheer scale of its sustainability ambitions. By 2020, the company, with annual revenues exceeding $63 billion, plans to cut its massive environmental footprint in half through its Sustainable Living Plan.

We aren't the only ones who have taken notice. The consumer products giants scored top honors last week at the 2011 International Green Awards in London. According to the organizers, Unilever was named the Grand Prix award winner because it has "the greatest capacity to change the way society and business is perceived, supported by factual evidence of systemic change."

Unilever's vision behind its Sustainable Living Plan rests on a simple truth: The business must prepare itself for a future in which resources will become more constrained and carry a higher cost.

"We are preparing ourselves for that future. We're also trying to develop products and services which will allow our consumers to adapt to a very different world," Gavin Neath, Unilever's senior vice president of sustainability, said in an interview over the summer. "People talk a lot about things like climate change adaptation. In a real sense, part of what we're doing in the Sustainable Living Plan is about climate change adaptation."

Unilever also earned a nod at the event: Best Green International Business Award for large companies, followed by Puma and DNV, respectively.

There are a large number of awards handed out, which you can see in full at the Green Awards website, but here are the winners of some selected categories:

• Best Green International Business Award (Large)
Gold Winner: Unilever (UK)
Silver Winner: Puma (USA/Germany)
Bronze Winner: DNV (Norway)

• Best Green International Business Award (Medium)
Gold Winner: The Yalumba Wine Company (Australia)
Silver Winner: Kebony ASA (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: Wellman International (Ireland)

• Best Green Entrepreneur Award (or Start-up)
Gold Winner: Dale Vince (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Double Helix Tracking Technologies (Singapore)
Bronze Winner: Reel Gardening (South Africa)

• Best Green Government Award
Gold Winner: Dublin Fire Brigade -- "Kilbarrack Fire Station" (Ireland)
Silver Winner: Peterborough City Council (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: The Carbon Trust/Sysdoc -- "The Carbon Trust Aggregates Carbon Reduction Project" (U.K.)

• Best Sustainable Investment
Gold Winner: The Environmental Investment Partnership LLP (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Global Environmental and Social Business (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: Sindicatum Sustainable Resources (Singapore)

• Best Green Energy Efficiency Initiative Award
Gold Winner: Marks & Spencer (U.K.)
Silver Winner: OPower -- "Leading the Way Towards Taking Cities off the Grid" (U.S.)
Silver Winner: Hewlett-Packard -- "HP Wynyard Data Center" (Germany)
Bronze Winner: BBC / Arup -- "BBC low energy lighting program" (U.K.)

• Best Green Intelligent Buildings Award
Gold Winner: Deutsche Bank -- Deutsche Bank Towers (Germany)
Silver Winner: PwC -- 7 More London (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: Beijing Chyau Fwu Properties Co Ltd. -- "Parkview Green FangCaoDi" (Hong Kong)

• Best Green New Product Innovation
Gold Winner: Solvatten AB -- "Solvatten" (Sweden)
Silver Winner: Samsung Electronics -- "Ecobubble Washing Machine" (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Nissan -- "Nissan Leaf" (Belgium)
Bronze Winner: Puma SE -- "Clever Little Bag" (U.S.)

• Best Green Employee Engagement Award
Gold Winner: Earthwatch -- "Engaging HSBC Employees in Sustainability" (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Marks & Spencer -- "Plan A Employee Engagement" (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: Deutsche Bank -- "Earth Week" (Germany)

• Best Green Advertising & PR Award

Gold Winner: The Danish Transport Authority -- "Drive Green" (Denmark)
Silver Winner: British Gas -- "Green Streets" (U.K.)
Silver Winner: Greater London Authority -- "Capital Bee -- Saving London's Bees" (U.K.)
Bronze Winner: Republic of Everyone -- "Garage Sale Trail" (Australia)
Bronze Winner: P&G -- "Future Friendly 4 2010" (U.K.)

Image CC licensed by Flickr user havankevin.

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