HOW GREEN IS YOUR COMPANY?

Munro Global is partnering The Sunday Times and environmental performance specialists, Bureau Veritas in the inaugural Sunday Times Best Green Companies awards. This new benchmark for environmental performance is designed to encourage, acknowledge and publicise businesses and other organisations, which are striving to improve their environmental performance.

For the past seven years, The Sunday Times has run the Best Companies to Work For awards celebrating best practices in employment. This has become a highly prestigious target for organisations seeking recognition for their efforts to retain and motivate their people. The methodology, co-produced with Best Companies Ltd, is now a benchmark for human resource professionals throughout the UK; and nearly 150,000 employees are now surveyed each year.

At a time when many ordinary people are confused by a plethora of green messages and exaggerated claims, The Sunday Times recognise that there is a widespread desire for a stamp of credibility to mark those companies that are genuinely striving to improve their environmental performance.

The Sunday Times has worked with the leading environmental consultancy, Bureau Veritas, to develop measures of performance that will encompass a wide range of organisations – in size, activity and environmental impact. Munro Global companies, FDS International and Maven Research, have collaborated in designing a web-based survey programme, based on this expert knowledge, to allow participating companies to respond and have their entries judged against their peers.

All UK companies are invited to take part in the Best Green Companies project which involves both employers and employees measuring their organisations approach to environmental management. The employers section measures key performance indicators, including standard core areas such as energy use and recycling, and also allows organisations to describe their environmental objectives and efforts to increase awareness of green issues in the workplace. The employees section seeks to understand the extent to which management strategies are embedded in, understood and acted on, throughout the organisation.

Charlotte Cornish, COO of Munro Global commented, “we are delighted to be able to contribute to this exciting programme which will help to identify, and publicly recognise, those organisations which are genuinely committed to embracing the green agenda from boardroom to shop floor”.

For further information please visit www.timesonline.co.uk/bestgreencompanies.

CONTACT DETAILS For more press info, photos or to set up an interview, please contact Emma Bennett, Marketing Manager, tel. 01494 688208 or email ebennett@maven.co.uk

Notes to Editors: Munro Global was formed in June 2006. It aims to become a recognised centre of excellence in the provision of research-focused marketing services solutions.

Its companies include:

• FDS International - a recognised leader in customer satisfaction, benchmarking and mystery shopping research, founded in 1972, which has grown to become one of the UK's Top 25 agencies
• acefieldwork – a provider of excellence in face-to-face field-based research
• Maven Research – a specialist in automotive, financial services, business services and employee engagement research, has pioneered the use of web and other technologies in building new and flexible client interfaces.

Electra Quoted Management Limited is a specialist asset management company established in 1981, and is a subsidiary of Electra Partners. It manages three Electra Kingsway VCTs, Electra Active Value and EQMC European fund. It concentrates on both the quoted and unquoted UK smaller companies arena, targeting both retail and institutional investors. As at 31 December 2006 Electra Quoted had funds under management of over £140m.