2024’s P.E.A. Award winners

Main image: P.E.A. Awards found Jarvis Smith at the P.E.A. Awards ceremony 2024, The Savoy. Photo credit Radski Photography

This evening (25 June), the winners of 2024’s P.E.A. (People. Environment. Achievement.) Awards, in association with OMMM, were announced at a glamorous ceremony attended by leading lights in the sustainability sector.

The event, hosted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at London’s Savoy Hotel, was part of London Climate Week (22-30 June) – the world’s largest city-based climate change festival.

Celebrating achievement

Winner’s of this year’s P.E.A. Awards, now in their 14th year, were not restricted to London; pioneers from across the globe were recognised for their tireless and inspiring efforts to flip the script and demonstrate that sustainable business is good for bottom lines as well as the planet.

Winners were celebrated in sectors ranging from Arts and Energy to Influencers and Indigenous Communities.

A new Lifetime Achievement Award was launched this year to recognise an individual who has made it their life’s work to effect positive change for the planet, without waiting for traditional ‘leaders’ to smooth the way. The shortlist comprised Chris Packham, Professor David Hill and John Burton, who won the award.

‘John Burton was one of the most important figures in helping to save vast areas of land across the world in order to protect wildlife, nature and its communities’, explained P.E.A. Awards founder Jarvis Smith. ‘The single greatest act we can do is protect the land and the people who care for it. That is why we are raising money tonight for the Amazon rainforest in John Burton’s name. We do have time – but not much!’

The awards ceremony

For 14 years the P.E.A. Awards has provided a glamorous night of great food, inspirational company, first-class entertainment and free-flowing drinks. This year was no different, with an award-winning plant-based menu and vegan wines, plus zero-alcohol drinks, from The Savoy.

This year, a silent auction was held to raise money for the World Land Trust’s John Burton Memorial fund and Amazon for Life, to protect Indigenous communities and conserve wildlife in the Amazon rainforest.

Auction lots ranged from a two-night stay in The Savoy with afternoon tea to a signed and framed photo of David Attenborough (winner of 2020’s Eco-Hero of the Decade P.E.A. Award) and art by Lama Tashi Norbu, a contemporary Tibetan artist trained at the court of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, that was created live over the course of the evening.

Guests were also given an opportunity to sponsor baru and cashew nut trees in Bolivia to help support the Amazon for Life restoration project and balance guests’ personal or business carbon footprints. Each tree sequesters around 25kg of carbon each year, supports the growth of a superfood and generates an income for the local communities and Indigenous people in the Bolivian Amazon Rainforest, all managed by Amazon for Life.

P.E.A. Award winners received handmade, bespoke trophies created by the extremely talented Katie Weiner, who is renowned for finding vintage treasures and combining them with upcycled materials to stunning aesthetic effect.

2024’s all-female judging panel comprised Cat Fletcher, Emily Cromwell, Jayn Sterland, Jo Wood, Jordan Brompton, Katie Hill, Ruth Easter and Stephanie Jordan.

2024’s P.E.A. Award winners

ARTS

Winner: Ben and Ciara, Going Green Media
This media company highlights green projects and solutions from across the globe, spotlighting incredible people, projects and innovations that are actively making our world a greener place, and sharing their journeys with their ever-growing audience of over 300,000 individuals.

Runners-up: Dewi in the Deep (team); Earth Minutes (team); Forest Without Frontiers (team); Janina Rossiter, 1, 2, 3, Who’s Cleaning The Sea?

CLIMATE PIONEER
Sponsored by Deloitte

Winner: Eleni Polychroniadou, Sintali 
Sintali verifies the impact of the built environment around the world, acting as an independent third party to validate sustainability claims made about buildings and ensure companies, governments and financial institutions are genuinely making a positive difference.

Runners-up: Cathy Yitong Li; Fazeela Mubarak; Justin Sutton-Parker; Luke Howell, Hope Solutions; Zahra Biabani

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY  
Sponsored by Krystal

Winner: The Advanced Infrastructure team
The judges loved the LAEP+ (Local Area Energy Planner Plus) Platform – a planning tool for local authorities and their partners to create the infrastructure we need to supply energy across our country, in our journey towards a net zero world.

Runners-up: Citibeats (team); Earth Minutes (team); GreenInsight (team); Sam Tovey, North

DRINKS
Sponsored by Avallen

Winner: The Boatyard Distillery team
The judges were very impressed with this bin-free distillery, which transforms spent botanicals into chocolate, liquid waste into electricity and barrels into furniture and brewery tools. Leftover fruit is turned into compost and even condiments.

Runners-up: Feragaia (team); Papillon Gin (team); Sapling Spirits (team); Two Drifters (team)

ENERGY
Sponsored by Duracell

Winner: Lily Cairns Haylor, Advanced Infrastructure
The judges felt Advanced Infrastructure’s planning tool, which helps local authorities create the infrastructure we need in our journey towards a net zero world, identifies an important gap and offers a scalable solution to speed up the transition to a greener, more sustainable future.

Runners-up: Orsted (team); Pedra Wadstrom, Solvatten

ELECTRIC VEHICLES  
Sponsored by myenergi

Winner: The team at Paxster
The judges loved the electric light delivery vehicle developed by Paxter for city use as part of its range of last-mile vehicles with different volume capacities. They can be used for post, parcels and more.

Runners-up: Co-Charger (team); ENSO Tyres (team); Spark EV (team)

FOOD

Winner: Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Gorilla Conservation Coffee
The judges were bowled over by the way Dr Gladys is giving smallholder farmers on the outskirts of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) access to global agricultural commodity markets, increasing incomes and resilience while reducing threats to forest resources and mountain gorillas.

Runners-up: Kenneth Rimdahl, Forest Friendly Tea; Liberation Foods (team); Lou Palmer-Masterton, Stem & Glory; Marc Coloma, Heura Foods