Best practice competition 2011

This page presents the entries in the best practice competition 2011. They were presented at the annual meeting in November.

For an overview of all best practice examples on the Green Spider website, see the GSN Best Practice Library.

For an overview of all best practice examples on the EECN website, see the EECN Best Practice Library.

EU Ecolabel campaign - Belgium

This campaign aimed to make the EU Ecolabel known in Belgium, and to trigger behavioural change in consumption. The concept of « plant a flower, pick a prize » was the basis of an online contest (although the flowers were grown in a real green house), with 10,000 EU ecolabelled prizes to win. The prizes were provided by Belgian producers, packaged by a company employing homeless people and shipped by the Belgian post, through a successful partnership. The Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and the Environment also used traditional media, along with partners’ promotional tools, to make this campaign a success.

More information: Description, Website

Contact: Mieke Van de Velde (FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and the Environment)

Aktion Klima! - Germany

Klima Kiste is a toolbox sent out to German schools by BildungsCent in partnership with the Federal Environment Ministry, within the Aktion Klima! programme. The Klima Kiste contains awareness raising facts and figures on climate change, practical devices and games to make concrete measurements and activities. It is shipped to voluntary schools along with a 500 euro grant to spend on climate change activities. School garden kits were also sent out. Interestingly, the project was financed from the emission trade benefits. Communication around the project involved various media and actions (conferences, YouTube channel, members of parliament delivering the Klima Kisten to schools, manuals).

More information: Description, Website

Contact: Silke Ramelow (BildungsCent e.V.)

Water Wiki – Finland

Finland hosts a great number of lakes, greatly valued by the Finns. The Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) thus set up a collaborative web service – the Lakewiki, to raise awareness and disseminate information about Finnish lakes. All citizens can provide information on lakes they know and use. To promote the wiki, a lake contest was organised: one lake was elected for each region as a flagship lake. Press releases, a promotion card and a voting card, a weekly television programme and newsletters encouraged Finnish people to vote for their favourite lake. This tool was developed by internal staff with open source software, thus ensuring a small budget.

More information: Description, Website

Contact: Matti Lindholm, Finnish Environment Institute

National Biodiversity Project – Belgium

This project was the first successful cooperation between the Federal Ministry and the Flemish authority on such a scale in Belgium. It consisted of TV and radio programmes on biodiversity throughout Belgium. Reports were broadcasted on different types of media, targeting various audiences (families, higher educated people, youth, and children). The main documentary was sent out to schools for free, thanks to a partnership with the documentary owners. A talk show was also produced for the French-speaking TV. One of the radio projects was even broadcasted from a forest cabin, to give more impact to the message.

More information: Description

Contact: Mieke Van de Velde (FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and the Environment); Diana Leuci (Flemish Government)

National Teleworking Day – Finland Winner 2011 !

The campaign was set up by the Finnish Environment Institute in partnership with Microsoft, to encourage employees and companies consider telework as a valuable option. Indeed, working from home saves time and stress (related to commuting), is environmentally-friendly and can help workers be more efficient in their work. The Day was organised during European Mobility Week, so that both campaigns reinforce each other. The main tool for the campaign was a website, with a meter to count the amount of kilometres avoided (converted in hours and kilos of CO2), also using interviews with teleworking “forerunners” and connecting to social media. This teleworking day will be organised again next year, since it was a great success.

More information: Description, Website

Contact: Ulla Ala-Ketola (Finnish Environment Institute)