Novozymes won a best case award in the recently concluded “Competition on Sustainable Development Case in China”.

The competition, co-organised by the Economic Observer, China’s leading economic media and Shell China, went through a 6-month period of nomination, pre-selection, verification and final selection. This is the first time that a competition on sustainable development cases of such magnitude and rich variety has been held in China. The panel of judges also came from various backgrounds, including distinguished scholars, experts, leading NGO representatives as well as relevant government officials. A total of 118 cases involving NGOs, enterprises, authorities and individuals were nominated from all over China and 23 were shortlisted. After stringent inspection and verification the judges made their final choice on the top 10.

Submitted under the name “Partnering with Local Community for Sustainable Business Development”, Novozymes case was an obvious favour with the panel of judges, who voted unanimously for our second place among the ten with the comment “a showcase of a dynamic partnership with local community to promote sustainable development”. The two parties concerned are Novozymes Tianjin plant and TEDA Ecological Landscaping Company (TEDAEL), a local Chinese enterprise responsible for landscape architecture and greenery development in TEDA. Novozymes has worked closely with TEDAEL since 2001 in supplying treated process water for irrigation in TEDA and application of NovoGro® in green fields and gardens. As the only case where industries and enterprises are involved, and ranking highly among the top 10, our sustainable development practices have won high level of recognition from organisers, officials and fellow award winners, and attracted much attention from the media.

At the award ceremony on 26 March, Mr. Li He, Chief Editor of the Economic Observer handed over a trophy and a certificate of honour to Weiming Jiang, President of Novozymes China. On behalf of the panel of judges, Mr. He praised Novozymes’ case for its “good economical, social and environmental benefits” and said the case was certainly “worthy of being publicised”.

Approximately 100 people attended the ceremony, including officials and representatives from China’s top legislature, Environmental Protection Administration, China's Agenda 21 Administration, NGOs, academic institutions and journalists from leading Chinese media and universities students. At the ceremony, a video footage on Novozymes’ case featuring our wastewater treatment facilities and bulk packaging line of NovoGro® was shown to the audience.

“We are very honoured to receive this award,” said a very proud Weiming. “However, I feel a bit sad that we are the only industrial case that qualifies for the best sustainable development case. We do hope to see a lot more industries and enterprises joining forces with Novozymes in driving sustainable development in China.”