The Energy Globe Award is described as the world’s most prestigious award for sustainability, and the organisation has bestowed the 2023 New Zealand award to Sustainable Coastlines for its Litter Intelligence programme.

Energy Globe aims to present successful sustainable projects to a global audience and to demonstrate that for most of our environmental problems, feasible solutions are already available.

Ulrike Straka, Austrian Trade Commissioner, presented the award to Sustainable Coastlines at the charity’s Flagship Education Centre. Straka said that this year, thousands of projects have been submitted from more than 180 countries.

“It’s awarded annually to projects saving our environment by personal action, sustainable projects or campaigns for raising awareness in sustainability. Both the quality and the diversity of the submitted projects are overwhelming, which made it very difficult to choose the very best project,” said Straka.

This isn’t the first time that Sustainable Coastlines has been honoured by Energy Globe. In 2018, the charity was the proud recipient of the even more prestigious International Energy Globe Award in the ‘Youth’ category for its work with young people.

This time, Litter Intelligence was submitted in the ‘Water’ category. Alongside coastal litter data, the programme enables citizen scientists to collect data from freshwater and stormwater sites. Through monitoring litter before it reaches the coast and collecting it in an open-source database, a greater understanding of how litter affects our wider water systems is achieved. This informs decision-makers on how to best keep our freshwater reserves free of pollution such as plastic.

Sustainable Coastlines CEO Josh Borthwick notes that the team is thrilled to have their efforts recognised, saying, “We wish to thank Ulrike and the rest of the Energy Globe team for recognising Sustainable Coastlines, our Litter Intelligence programme, and our amazing volunteers. Receiving such a prestigious award is a huge boost to our team and supporters, and will no doubt benefit our charity in the coming years.”

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