Newry organisations score high in ‘green’ survey

Newry & Mourne District Council and O’Hare & McGovern have achieved Gold Standard in the 16th Northern Ireland Environmental Benchmarking Survey.

Now in its sixteenth year, the Survey annually assesses top businesses in Northern Ireland for environmental management, performance and assurance.

104 organisations participated this year and the average overall score decreased from 77% in 2013 to 74% but only 4% of this year’s respondents scored less than 40%.

The decline in the average score was expected as the Survey underwent an overhaul, demanding tougher calls to provide evidence and a clear focus on corporate strategy.

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said, “Too many people think creating a better environment means weakening our economy, the challenge of the 21st Century is to invent new ways to deliver excellent environmental performance and create prosperity.

“The Benchmarking Survey highlights the need for businesses to see the environment as an opportunity and not a barrier. A reduction of environmental impacts through resource efficiency and investment in sustainable technologies, helps to grow their business,” he added.

Chair of ARENA Network, David Gavaghan, added, “The Survey is a key driver which ensures that environmental issues are on the agenda of organisations across Northern Ireland. There is tangible evidence that environment impact is amongst the top issues that companies are managing.

“The environmental arena is constantly evolving with new ideas, strategies and business models and I have no doubt that every business in Northern Ireland has the capability to grasp these opportunities and make their organisations sustainable, transparent and responsible places to work.”

To find out who else participated and how they scored, visit www.arenani.org.uk.

Please e-mail patricia.mccambridge@bitcni.org.uk at the ARENA Network if you are interested in taking part next year.

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Posted by Newry Times News on Dec 5 2014. Filed under Business, Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry