19 July 2010
EDF Energy Networks employees did their bit to lower their carbon footprint by taking part in their own Big Lunch, ahead of Sunday’s (July 18) nationwide event.
Around a dozen colleagues from the company’s Bury St Edmunds office in Barton Road joined together on Friday (July 16) to bring their lunch from home as well as tucking into strawberries collected from a pick-your-own fruit farm nearby.
Led by the Eden Project and supported by a number of partners including EDF Energy, the Big Lunch called on all neighbourhoods and communities across the UK to come together on Sunday (July 18) to have simple tea parties or even large street parties eating local food. Many events took place across the region.
The Big Lunch was the finale to Team Green Britain’s summer of activities to inspire people to get together to help the environment, from encouraging people to swap their cars for bikes for local journeys and planting trees with school children.
At the Barton Road office, colleagues sat under the trees to eat their lunch and also chatted to Michael Strand, development officer at Suffolk Wildlife Trust about hedgehog homes which can be put into gardens to give hedgehogs shelter in bad weather.
EDF Energy Networks employee Meryl Phillips who helped organise the event said: “It went very well and everyone enjoyed taking time out to have a chat and especially eat local food. It is really important to take part in these events to appreciate where your food comes from as well learning more about the environment.”
Clive Steed, sustainability manager for EDF Energy added: “It is great to see our teams eating local food from sustainable sources which will go towards lowering their carbon footprint.
“Team Green Britain is a way of bringing people together to tackle climate change and the Big Lunch is a fantastic opportunity to do this and encourage people to swap ideas and inspire one another.”
Team Green Britain, was kicked off by EDF Energy last year, and was formed together with partners including London 2012, the Eden Project and Global Action Plan is now a movement of hundreds of thousands of people who have signed up to work together to reduce Britain’s carbon footprint.
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For further information, contact Jessica Gallagher in the EDF Energy press office on 01473 266484.
Notes to editors:
EDF Energy is one of the UK’s largest energy companies, producing around a fifth of the nation’s electricity from its nuclear, coal and gas power stations, as well as combined heat and power plants and wind farms. The company provides power to a quarter of the UK’s population via its electricity distribution networks and supplies gas and electricity to more than 5.5 million business and residential customers. It is the number one supplier of electricity to major business in the UK.
EDF Energy’s safe and secure operation of its eight existing nuclear power stations at sites across the country makes it the UK’s largest generator of low carbon electricity. EDF Energy is also leading the UK’s nuclear renaissance and has published plans to build four new nuclear reactors, subject to the right investment framework. These new plants would generate enough low carbon electricity for about 40% of Britain’s homes. They would make an important contribution to the UK’s future needs for clean, secure and affordable energy. The project is already creating business and job opportunities for British companies and workers.
Through Our Climate and Social Commitments EDF Energy has launched the biggest environmental and social programme of any UK energy company. EDF is the official energy utilities partner and sustainability partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company is also helping its customers and others use energy more sustainably through products and initiatives such as Read, Reduce, Reward and Team Green Britain.
EDF Energy is part of EDF Group, one of Europe’s largest power companies. Following the integration with British Energy in 2009, the company employs nearly 20,000 people at locations across the UK.