WWF congratulates 2014 Living Planet @ Work Award Winners

TORONT, ONTARIO – WWF-Canada congratulates the winners of the third annual Living Planet @ Work (LP@W) Awards. The award recognizes leading contributions from champions in WWF’s LP@W program, championed by HP. LP@W was launched three years ago to empower green champions and green teams with the tools to drive sustainability at work and engage colleagues in the process.  As of today, more than 900 green champions from companies across Canada and abroad have utilized the LP@W platform and raised more than $500,000 for WWF’s conservation work. 
 
The 2014 LP@W Award winners are:
 
Champion of the Year: Mike Robertson, Ontario Power Authority (OPA)
 
Mike has been a LP@W champion since 2012. Mike’s passion and commitment to the environment was demonstrated this year when he rallied a team of his colleagues to “polar dip” into freezing Lake Ontario in the middle of February in support of WWF’s Arctic conservation work. In May, he led a team of OPA employees in their pursuit to the top of the CN Tower for WWF’s 24th Annual Climb fundraiser. Through both initiatives he helped to raise over $2800 for WWF’s conservation programs in 2014.
 
Champion of the Year: Stephanee Legault, Canada Steamship Lines (CSL)
 
Stephanee helped develop and launch CSL’s first ever Ship Efficiency Challenge to engage crew members on ships and to implement ideas that have environmental impacts on board vessels. At CSL’s Montreal head office, Stephanee and the CSL Environmental Committee led another creative campaign in the Spring, Active April Month, which encouraged sustainable travel among office employees. For every kilometre walked or biked and stair climbed, CSL made a donation to WWF. A total of $8256.50 was donated to WWF’s conservation programs.
 
Green Team of the Year: Brookfield Johnson Controls Canada (BJCC)
 
Brookfield Johnson Controls’ green team is structured to ensure all BJCC’s regions and offices are engaged in sustainability initiatives. Additionally, the green team is supported both by a steering committee and by President, Gord Hicks who has set the concept of sustainability at the core of real estate operations and management at BJCC. This year, the team rallied employees around LP@W’s Spring Things workplace fundraising campaign. Together, through corporate matches from BJCC, the team helped to raise nearly $10,000 for WWF’s conservation efforts.
 
Company of the Year: Bentall Kennedy

Bentall Kennedy has taken a unique and comprehensive approach to its employee and tenant engagement strategy. In the beginning of the year, Bentall Kennedy re-energized Blue Teams (their version of green teams) at all of their Canadian corporate and regional offices to engage employees in reducing environmental impact. Blue Teams kicked the year off by rolling out Bentall Kennedy’s ForeverGreen Engagement Program. ForeverGreen was designed to guide Bentall Kennedy employee and tenant actions by providing the resources to raise awareness and identify priority areas to make their workplaces greener. A number of Bentall Kennedy properties in Ontario rallied to support WWF’s Arctic conservation work by making philanthropic donations that collectively raised $37,440.
 
Top Fundraiser of the Spring Things Campaign: Lindt & Sprüngli Canada, Inc.
 
Special thank you to the employees of Lindt & Sprüngli who were the top fundraisers of LP@W’s Spring Things workplace fundraising campaign. Through Spring Things, Lindt & Sprüngli raised more than $26,500 for WWF’s conservation work. The donation is made up of employee contributions to WWF’s Arctic conservation program and those raised through the 24th Annual CN Tower Climb.
 
HP’s Change the Equation Sustainability Reporting Contest: Town of Huntsville

HP’s Change the Equation Sustainability Reporting Contest challenges companies to report on their progress up “Mount Sustainability by writing their sustainability report. This year’s award for the winning report goes to the Town of Huntsville. The research and writing of the report was led by the Town’s sustainability coordinator, Rebecca Francis with support from a team of 4th year Environment and Business students at the University of Waterloo. The Town’s report was recognized for its clearly defined long-term environmental management strategies and its compelling design.
 
Quotes:
“2014 was a big year for WWF’s Living Planet at Work program. We saw new green champions rise to the challenge to reduce footprint at work, engage more of their colleagues and raise significant funds for WWF. Collectively these passionate workplace green champions are leading the transformation towards sustainability for the good of business and the planet.”
– David Miller, President and CEO, WWF-Canada 

“What is gratifying is that our belief in a new way of mobilization is working – giving business two things it needs: engaged employees and footprint reduction, and also a source of a new fundraising stream for WWF and the environment.”  
– Lloyd Bryant, Managing Director, HP Canada 

About Living Planet @ Work
With Living Planet @ Work, WWF is harnessing the collective power of individuals in the workplace to tackle the greatest conservation challenges of our generation. http://atwork.wwf.ca/
 
About WWF
WWF is creating solutions to the most serious conservation challenges facing our planet, helping people and nature thrive. www.wwf.ca
 
Contact:
Weiwei Su
Communications Specialist
416-939-9662
[email protected]