16 July 2010
Employees at EDF Energy in Exeter will be served up tasty low carbon lunches and discuss sustainability as part of this year’s Big Lunch.
The Big Lunch is calling on all neighbourhoods and communities across the UK to come together on Sunday 18 July. Events around the nation are taking shape from simple tea parties in back gardens to large street parties for the whole neighbourhood. The Big Lunch is led by the Eden Project with the support of a family of partners including EDF Energy, Britain’s largest producer of low-carbon electricity.
There will be opportunities for EDF Energy’s Exeter-based employees to take part in the sustainable lunches and discuss tackling climate change, at the company’s Gadeon House site on Exeter Business Park and Osprey House office at Sowton Industrial Estate, for three weeks from Monday 19 July.
The Big Lunch is the finale to Team Green Britain’s summer of inspiring activities which started on Green Britain Day (17 June) and has seen people across the country getting together to help the environment, with actions including using bikes for local journeys instead of taking the car, and planting trees with local schools, including 10 primary schools in Devon.
Team Green Britain, kicked off by EDF Energy last year, and 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.
Kay English, EDF Energy’s sustainability executive at Exeter, said: “EDF Energy kicked off Team Green Britain to help us pull together and discover our community spirit to tackle climate change. The sustainable lunches are a fantastic opportunity to unite groups of employees to participate in lively discussion, inspire each other and share ideas about how together they can make a difference.
”The sustainable menu will feature local haddock and locally-sourced vegetarian options. Each lunch discussion will involve a senior manager and be supported by a company One Planet Ambassador. Information gathered will be shared across the company to encourage further debate. Follow-up meetings will allow teams to check on progress against any specific actions they develop.”
As well as engaging with their own employees, EDF Energy has also teamed up with external experts to provide some big ideas for the Big Lunch. Team Green Britain supporter and eco-restaurateur Jamie Grainger Smith has devised a range of low carbon recipes for the occasion, while DJ and Team Green Britain’s food ambassador, Lauren Laverne, has devised a special playlist to be the perfect Big Lunch soundtrack . All this can be found at www.teamgreenbritain.org.
ENDS
For more information please contact Dan Pritchard, EDF Energy press officer, on 01392 813783.
Notes to editors:
About EDF Energy
EDF Energy is one of the UK’s largest energy companies, producing around one-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 Britain’s population via its electricity distribution networks and supplies gas and electricity to more than 5.5 million business and residential customer product accounts.
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 could 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 Sustainability Commitments, EDF Energy has launched one of the biggest environmental and social programmes of any British 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 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 around 20,000 people at locations across the UK.
About Green Britain Day
Green Britain Day was founded by EDF Energy, the UK’s largest producer of low carbon electricity, together with partners London 2012 and two leading environmental organisations, the Eden Project and Global Action Plan. It signals the launch of a fun-filled summer of inspirational events, bringing communities together to think and act greener. Throughout the summer, the Team Green Britain celebrity ambassadors and a number of Olympic and Paralympic athletes will be lending their support and getting involved with events across the UK.
About Jamie Grainger Smith and Think, Eat, Drink
Jamie Grainger-Smith, one of the driving forces behind the successful and ground breaking Acorn House Restaurant and Jamie Oliver’s, Fifteen, as well as working at the fantastic River Café in Hammersmith. Combing this wealth of experience, he has recently founded Think Eat Drink (TED) - a new green community. With a focus on advice and collaboration TED combines ethical and commercial knowledge with proven working methods that are designed to combine the highest standards with an ethical stance and green practices to preserve profits and the planet. The ultimate aim is to create profitable catering businesses, delighted customers and to transform the way society approaches food and drink.
About the Eden Project and Big Lunch
The Big Lunch is led by the Eden Project, with the support of a family of partners – The Big Lottery Fund, MasterCard, EDF Energy and the Department of Communities and Local Government.
Once a year, we would like as many people as possible to sit down to lunch together with their neighbours in a simple act of community. Last year, in the first-ever Big Lunch, there were 8,263 registered lunches with an estimated 730,000 people taking part, a good start on a rainy summer Sunday. This year we are encouraging people to pull up a chair for the second Big Lunch on July 18th.
The Eden Project is wholly owned by the Eden Trust, an education charity. Eden uses exhibits and educational programmes to remind people of what nature gives us and to help them learn how to look after it in return. Since fully opening in a former china clay quarry in Cornwall in March 2001, Eden has attracted more than 11 million visitors and generated more than £900 million for the regional economy.