Ashden is a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based charity that works in the field of sustainable energy and

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

. Its work includes the annual Ashden Awards, advocacy and research in the field of sustainable energy, and mentoring and practical support for award winners. Sarah Butler-Sloss created the awards in 2001, from the Ashden Trust, one of the

Sainsbury Family The Sainsbury family (also Lord Sainsbury and family and incorrectly the Sainsbury's family) founded Sainsbury's, the UK's second-largest supermarket chain. Today, the family has many interests, including business, politics, philanthropy, arts, and ...

Charitable Trusts. In 2011 the charity changed its working name to Ashden, with its full name registered with the Charity Commission being 'Ashden, Sustainable solutions, better lives'.

About the Ashden Awards

Ashden rewards and promotes local sustainable energy in parts of Europe and the developing world through its annual Ashden Awards. Awards are given to organisations and businesses that deliver local, sustainable energy schemes with social, economic and environmental benefits. Awards are provided across several different categories, including UK and international awards. Awards for sustainable travel schemes have been provided since 2012. Each award includes a cash prize.

The Awards ceremony

The Ashden Awards ceremony is held annually at the Royal Geographical Society in

. Previous hosts include broadcasters

Emma Freud Emma Vallencey Freud (born 25 January 1962) is an English broadcaster and cultural commentator. Early life Freud was born in London on 25 January 1962 and is the daughter of politician and broadcaster Sir Clement Freud (1924–2009) and June ...

Anna Ford Anna Ford (born 2 October 1943) is an English former journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She first worked as a researcher, news reporter and later newsreader for Granada Television, ITN, and the BBC. Ford helped launch the British ...

John Humphrys Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for the '' Nine O'Clock News'', the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until 2019 he presented on the BBC Radio 4 ...

and

Jonathan Dimbleby Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. ...

and environmental journalist

Mark Lynas Mark Lynas (born 1973) is a British author and journalist whose work is focused on environmentalism and climate change. He is a contributor to ''New Statesman'', ''The Ecologist'', ''Granta ''and ''Geographical ''magazines, and ''The Guardian'' ...

. Guest speakers in recent years have included

Kandeh Yumkella Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella (born July 5, 1959) is a Sierra Leonean agricultural economist, politician, and the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy ...

, Prince Charles,

Sir David King Sir David Anthony King (born 12 August 1939) is a South African-born British chemist, academic, and head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. King first taught at Imperial College, London, the University of East Anglia, and was then Brunne ...

Wangari Maathai Wangarĩ Muta Maathai (; 1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental and a political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As a beneficiary of the Kennedy Airlift, she studied in the Un ...

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...

, David Attenborough,

Hilary Benn Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 26 November 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds Central since a by-election in 1999. He served in the Cabinet from 2003 to 2010, under both Tony Bl ...

, (the then UK Secretary of State for International Development), Dr RK Pachauri, Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, David Cameron, (leader of the Conservative Party) and Lord May of Oxford, (former Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government).

Support programmes

Ashden provides a package of support for organisations after they win their awards. It also runs 'LESS ', a peer-to-peer mentoring programme for schools to learn from each other about energy saving. In 2011 Ashden helped set up the Ashden India Renewable Energy Collective, made up of Ashden Award winners working in India. The collective works to end

energy poverty Energy poverty is lack of access to modern energy services. It refers to the situation of large numbers of people in developing countries and some people in developed countries whose well-being is negatively affected by very low consumption of e ...

in India by acting as a unified voice for the sustainable energy sector.

Ashden seminars and conferences

Ashden also holds specialist seminars and conferences bringing together their award winners with practitioners, academics, and those who make or influence policy. Examples of recent seminars include one held at Imperial College and another held at

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List of winners

The Ashden Awards have been presented to 205 organisations, including NGOs, businesses, local governments and schools.

References

External links

* {{Energy in the United Kingdom, nongovorg Environmental awards Sustainability organizations Energy in the United Kingdom Charities based in London