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The awards ceremony for the fourth edition of the National Sustainability Award took place on May 7th, at Nova SBE, as part of the 20|30 Sustainability Conference.
The path towards decarbonisation, the recovery of nature, new ESG investments and businesses, Artificial Intelligence, the Circular Economy and the April 1974’s commitments, from the perspective of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, were the main issues debated in this edition.
With 10 categories up for grabs, Decarbonisation, Circular Economy, Sustainable Mobility, Preservation of Natural Capital, Well-being and Sustainable Cities, Equality, Diversity and Equity, Health and Well-being in Organisations, Sustainability Communication and Sustainable Finance and Digital Transformation across Sustainability, Costa Verde received the honourable mention for large organisations and in the Circular Economy category with its Endless project, a unique eco-design collection turning industrial sludge into sustainable porcelain pieces.
The initiative, coming from years of research and development, has as its main objective the recovery of industrial sludge and its reintroduction into the production process. The raw materials used to produce porcelain are resources extracted from nature, such as kaolin, sands, feldspars and water, from which the effluent resulting from the processes is then channelled to its own Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant, turning into waste and water, being then fed back into the value chain, with the aim of reducing the consumption of natural resources and minimising the environmental impacts of its operation.
Endless is designed using single firing, thus resulting in differentiated and unique pieces, which increases the perception of the product’s value, particularly among environmentally conscious buyers. Single-firing generates savings of 35% in energy and carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to the decarbonisation of the industry.
Dozens of projects were submitted to the competition and analysed by Deloitte, the award’s Knowledge Partner. All these initiatives were then analysed by the jury, for each category, which in the case of Circular Economy was made up of António Miguel Ferreira, CEO of Claranet Portugal, António Nogueira Leite, Full Professor at the Faculty of Economics of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Emídio Pinheiro, Chairman and CEO of EGF and Helena Pereira, Emeritus Full Professor at the University of Lisbon, and chaired by Paulo Lemos, former General Director of ENV and former Secretary of State for the Environment.
The National Sustainability Award is an initiative launched in 2020 by Jornal de Negócios and designed for a 10-year time horizon, with the aim of recognising, publicising and rewarding the best policies and practices, in defence of the three pillars of sustainability, in order to stimulate and raise awareness in society on the growing importance and impact of applying the principles of Sustainability in the daily lives of different types of Public, Private, Collective and Individual Entities and their relationship with various areas of society and knowledge.
Costa Verde sees this distinction as recognition of all the work carried out throughout its existence, strongly leveraged by sustainability policies, in a production unit that is one of the most advanced in the world and has a very high level of certification.