Sustainable City Awards 2022

The Sustainable City Awards celebrate the organisations and individuals who are driving change for a green and thriving London.

At Global Action Plan, we believe in a sustainable future where everyone can enjoy happy and healthy lives within the Earth’s limits. For this to be a reality, the systems in our capital city will need to change, and to make these changes we will need the power of people coming together to take action and use their voice.

Partnered by Mayor of London and LEDNet (London Environment Directors’ Network), with funding donations sponsored by Investec, the 2022 Sustainable City Awards were an opportunity to celebrate 'Changemakers' - individuals and organisations creating change to help Londoners from all backgrounds live and work in ways that are good for the health of people and the planet.

There were 75 nominations for the 2022 awards. Our shortlist was announced following the help and hard work of 27 judges who donated their time and expertise to find our winners and highly commended nominees.

Our shortlist of nominees featured amazing individuals and organisations from London’s education, public and voluntary and community sectors.

Get to know the shortlisted nominees of the Sustainable City Awards 2022

London's School Changemaker of the Year 2022

WINNER - HENRY GREENWOOD, GREEN SCHOOLS PROJECT

Henry is the Founder and Managing Director of the Green Schools Project, a project on a mission to change the way schools respond to the climate and nature crisis. Through a range of training, support, and resources, they help schools embed climate education into lessons while supporting pupils to run projects that reduce carbon emissions.

Through his work at the Green Schools Project and in particular the Zero Carbon Schools Programme, Henry has demonstrated not only an impressive passion and drive for supporting positive change in schools; he is also actively working to expand the influence his work can have throughout the entire school community at the schools he works with. The Zero Carbon Schools Programme takes a cross curricular, whole class and then whole school approach to combine climate and nature education and action within curriculum time with pupils empowered to lead projects addressing on an issue relating to food, travel, energy or purchasing.

Judges were impressed by the results of the programme so far as well as Henry's commitment to expanding the reach and impact of the programme by offering different models of delivery. This year more than 40 schools are taking part in the programme and Henry plans to expand this to 100 next year.

Highly commended

Zaqiya Cajee

Zaqiya is a student who founded and has been running an environmental initiative called ‘SwopItUp’ since the age of 15, with the purpose of helping other young people take action against climate change. She has also volunteered on the Teach The Future climate campaign and was a co-coordinator of the global youth Mock COP26 Conference.

Jenny Chapman

Jenny runs the London Schools Eco-Network (LSEN), a vibrant and expanding group of students and staff from across the city who are passionate about sustainability, education and the intersection of the two! Students meet to discuss environmental and educational issues, organise and deliver campaigns and share what has worked well in their schools, giving them ownership of the LSEN whilst allowing them to develop life skills.

Rachel Harrison

Rachel is Henry Fawcett Primary School’s Assistant Headteacher and the driver of a project to make the school and its community the centre of sustainable development in the Kennington/Oval area.

Martyn Steiner

Martyn Steiner is the environmental science teacher and sustainability project leader at Halcyon London International School. In this role he supports colleagues to bring nature into their teaching. Martyn is also a primary school governor and sits on the British Ecological Society's Education and Careers committee.

London's Sustainable School of the Year 2022

WINNER - GREENSIDE PRIMARY SCHOOL

Greenside Primary School has developed a way of teaching that promotes learning experiences linked to food and nature within all aspects of our curriculum. Learning about the natural world is more than a single subject specific lesson a week, or an opt in extra curricula offering - it is integrated into everything.

The judges were highly impressed with this school's carefully thought through and expertly executed strategy to embed sustainability issues into children's learning.

Their choice of food as a lens through which to explore local and global environmental and social justice issues is working well and leading to tangible change at school, and the development of children's knowledge, skills, and compassionate values.

One judge praised the way the school made efforts to intersect food with other sustainability issues commenting that there was "real integrity in their simplicity". The judges felt that the ethos behind what this school is doing is what makes it such a powerful example of what is possible, and what gives it its systems changing potential.

Highly commended

Halcyon London International School

Halcyon London International School sprinkles 'green seasoning' into subjects across the school, to build a culture of genuine connection and concern towards the natural world. Fully vegetarian lunches, a sustainable travel policy and environment-focused subjects, clubs and service activities help model sustainability thinking.

Henry Fawcett Primary School

Henry Fawcett Primary School has been working on a project to make the school and its community the centre of sustainable development in the Kennington/Oval area. As well as work that takes place in the classrooms, the school has been connecting with local partners and wider community to find ways to help remove barriers to engaging with sustainable change and broaden the reach of their work.

Parliament Hill School

Climate action and active citizenship is embedded in the culture of Parliament Hill School. The climate action group is the largest extra-curricular club at Parliament Hill, always looking for new partnerships and opportunities to learn more about how they can tackle climate change and support local community groups.

London's Public Sector Organisational Changemaker of the Year 2022

WINNER - LONDON BOROUGH OF MERTON - CLEANER CONSTRUCTION FOR LONDON TEAM

The Air Quality team is delivering London’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) for Construction Machinery. This pioneering work is shaping positive change in the construction industry, delivering on-the-ground site compliance and significant measurable emissions savings in NOx, PM and CO2 across London.

The Judges were all highly impressed by the London Borough of Merton's Cleaner Construction for London project as it seeks to deliver best practice in a way which could be replicated both globally and at scale. They were impressed by the inclusive nature of the project, as one judge commented, "There is no environmental justice without social justice" and this was considered a key strength of the project.

Overarchingly the judges were in agreement that Merton’s work is a powerful initiative, tackling an underrepresented area in the climate agenda. Considered a world first, with clear and demonstrable impact. A very worthy winner.

Highly commended

London Borough of Redbridge: Green Homes Grant Team

The Redbridge Go Green Grants are available to homeowners and landlords in the borough to help improve the energy efficiency of their homes through the installation of low-carbon heating improvements. This could help save up to £600 a year on energy bills and make homes warmer and more comfortable for the people living in them.

London Borough of Waltham Forest

Since 2014 Waltham Forest has been leading the way on introducing a range of walking and cycling infrastructure and behaviour change initiatives to encourage and enable more people to travel sustainably. This has resulted in improvements in air quality, residents travelling more actively, and an increase in average life expectancy from birth in 2006 of around 1.5 months.

London's Community Changemakers of the Year 2022

WINNER - LIFEAFTERHUMMUS, COMMUNITY BENEFIT SOCIETY

Lifeafterhummus’ 50 local volunteers collect surplus food from 45 local stores every week to support the needs of Somers Town’s local community, currently serving 80 local households and over 125 children living in poverty, and redistributing surplus food to 11 local hostels, 1 after-school club and 1 church group – all thanks to their volunteers! They also provide referrals for debt advice, grants, care navigation, welfare rights, domestic violence and whatever support is requested working alongside local partners and the council.

The judges loved the innovation and inclusiveness of this project and described it as ""so much more than just a foodbank"". They loved that it includes a library of things, that they use low carbon transport and that it is led by BAME communities.

They were impressed that this service has expanded to include a wraparound support service for people using their foodbanks and had managed to engage so well with the local council.

Overall the judges felt that Life After Hummus is helping to solve the root of the problem of food poverty. And it had a brilliant name!

Highly commended

Made in Hackney

Made In Hackney is a plant-based community cookery school and food support service that provides critical nourishment and inspiring food educational experiences in culturally diverse, planet friendly food. Their work tackles health inequalities, the climate crisis and brings communities together through celebratory and exploratory food events.

The Restart Project

The Restart Project is a people-powered social enterprise that aims to fix our relationship with electronics. They bring people together to share skills and gain the confidence to open up their electronics, repair their broken devices and to talk about the wider issue of what kind of products they want.

Bikeworks CIC

Bikeworks believe everyone should have access to cycling, for leisure, exercise, travel and wellbeing. They exist as a community-evolved social enterprise to increase physical activity, wellbeing (mental & economic) and connectivity (people, place and travel). During the pandemic they also stepped up, transforming ourselves as an emergency cycle delivery service, supporting community groups and the NHS, to deliver food, essential items and testing kits.

London's Public Sector Individual Changemaker of the Year 2022

WINNER - DR RITA ISSA, BROMLEY BY BOW HEALTH CENTRE

Rita is an East London GP at Bromley by Bow Health Centre, a climate change and health researcher, and campaigner, working with health professionals and the local community to raise awareness and empower bottom-up and top-down action on climate change and air pollution, for human and planetary health

The judges were all very impressed by Rita's work as someone who is leading the charge on climate and health.

Her focus on empowering and encouraging others stood out as did the way in which her work covered both the macro issues as well as those at the local level - showing the importance of community impact.

The judges reflected on how she has brought the health voice together, promoting inclusion and driving sectoral change through her work on as a leading member of the doctor climate campaigns and networks.

Highly commended

Councillor Pete Elliott

Over the last eight years, Pete has worked with hundreds of people across Lambeth Council and the wider Lambeth community in his role as Councillor to champion a just and equitable transition to carbon neutrality in Lambeth. Alongside climate work, much of his efforts have been on housing and air quality as key areas that need addressing locally. By helping address these problems that are affecting people’s everyday lives, you can, both work to reduce some of the inequalities, and also work to address the climate emergency.

Dr Tamsin Ellis

Tamsin has been at the forefront of sustainable healthcare in primary care not just in her own practice (Greener Practice, Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, NCL ICS) but nationally. She puts sustainability at the heart of her practice and understands that the climate crisis is a health crisis that also unfairly affects communities differently.

Dr Anna Moore

As a Respiratory Registrar and Education Fellow for Barts Health NHS Trust/Royal London Hospital, Anna became increasingly concerned about the impact of air pollution on health, but noticed that there was a difference between what she was learning as a respiratory doctor and what she learned as a parent through reading information on social and mainstream media. With not enough training for health professionals on the damage that air pollution does to our health and what measures we can take to reduce our exposure, Anna was really interested in looking at how we can improve this in health education at all levels, so is always on the look-out for opportunities to get involved in this work - and has actively created some as well!

The Samantha Heath Award for London's Changemaker of the Year 2022

WINNER - RACHEL LEDWITH, THE FELIX PROJECT

Rachel is the Head of Community Engagement for The Felix Project, a London-based food redistribution charity set up in 2016 to tackle food poverty and waste. They rescue good, surplus food from the food industry and sort and deliver to approximately 1,000 front-line charities, primary schools and holiday programmes in London.

The judges felt Rachel really stood out in this category due to her personal energy and drive, and the scale of her impact, bringing nutritious food to thousands of people in need. Her solutions were unique, simple and innovative.

She brought together all 32 London Boroughs to work alongside community groups in a genuine collaboration – not the easiest option but one which led to huge impact. Her work addressed immediate crises, with a positive impact on health and wellbeing and in turn helping to build more resilient communities for the future – setting up systems which will last long after Covid.

The Samantha Heath Award for London’s Changemaker of the Year (for individuals in the voluntary and community sector), is named in memory of the former London Sustainability Exchange (LSx) Chief Executive, Samantha Heath).

Highly commended

Neil Sheppeck

Neil has committed himself tirelessly to environmentally focused projects which give residents a direct role in envisaging and shaping the future of their communities. He leads the ‘What If Lambeth?’ project; providing workshops imagining a fair, sustainable Lambeth 2030. He also leads Beyond Politics and represented local environmental groups on Lambeth’s 2021 Citizen’s Assembly Steering Group.

Clare Searle

In a volunteer capacity, Clare leads Greener and Cleaner’s strategic initiatives, collaborating with members, key stakeholders and organisations to bring positive environmental change in line with the charity’s objectives.

Rebeka Clark

Rebeka is the Senior Project Officer for The Conservation Volunteers and Site Manager at Stave Hill Ecological Park, where her main objective is to create a place for people and wildlife where both thrive. She has made Stave Hill Ecology Park a place for kids to build dens, find frogs and muck about in chalk streams; a place where people get involved or sit on a bench watching dragonflies whizz past; a space where the noisy demanding urban jungle is blocked by a big green wall.

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