diva creative - social marketing specialists

Care4Air & ECO Stars Come Top With Gold Green Apple Awards

Competing against over 180 local authorities at a high profile awards ceremony in the House of Commons, Care4Air, one of diva’s flagship campaigns was awarded a gold Green Apple Award, coming top in their category. The good news was swiftly followed by the announcement that the ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme, launched this year by Care4Air, had also won the top gong in their category too!

The prestigious Green Apple Awards are one of the biggest, longest established environmental award schemes in the UK. All winners are put forward to represent the UK in the European Business Awards for the Environment.

Care4Air, currently in its fifth year, is a unique campaign that has achieved a consistently high profile and is recognised as best practice across the UK. The campaign has an award winning website, holds an annual national conference in Sheffield and is recognised by Defra as an example of best practice in communications around air quality. Care4Air contributed significantly towards Sheffield’s successful bid for Beacon status in 2007 and has achieved widespread sector recognition in terms of raising awareness of a ‘technical’ issue in a highly accessible and engaging way.

In January 2009 Care4Air launched the ECO Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme - the first of its kind in the UK. The free South Yorkshire-wide scheme encourages commercial operators of buses, coaches, HGVs and LGVs to implement operational best practice in fleet management. This is supported by tailormade recommendations on how to reduce fuel consumption and lower vehicle emissions to reach a maximum five-star operational rating for environmental performance. Over 3200 vehicles across the region are currently signed up to the scheme.

Both the Care4Air and ECO Stars teams will now attend the awards ceremony at the House of Commons on 17th November to receive their gongs.

For more information on the annual Green Apple awards visit www.thegreenorganisation.info
For more information on Care4Air and ECO Stars visit www.care4air.org