Fredericton Gets Gold for Green Matters, Green Shops at International LivCom Awards

Fredericton (NB) – Green Matters and Green Shops, two cutting-edge greenhouse gas reduction initiatives created by the City of Fredericton, received international recognition during the annual International Awards for Liveable Communities (LivCom) which wound up in Chicago this week.

Green Matters, launched by the City in 2007 to encourage residents to make small but important changes to combat climate change, finished second to Porirua, New Zealand in the Socio-Economic Category with both cities earning gold awards for excellence.

Green Shops, launched in 2008 to encourage Fredericton businesses to reduce their environmental footprint, also received a gold award in the same category finishing fourth, just behind third-place winner Schwalm Eder-Kreis, Germany and ahead of Montreal, winner of a silver medal in fifth. There were 13 cities from around the world represented in the category.

The City of Fredericton was also a bronze medal winner in the Whole City Award category for its community and corporate commitment to sustainability, and a finalist in the Bursary Award category for its new Green Matters Certified program.

This international recognition speaks well of what the City is doing and that Fredericton is on the right track. We went head-to-head with some incredibly worthy and progressive cities of every size and were up against some cutting-edge environmental projects. To be recognized internationally for our efforts and to earn this kind of praise is quite an accomplishment.

The award winning “natural” project from Johannesburg, South Africa had highlighted efforts to green the city to contribute to global climate protection. The winner of the “built” project category was the scheme to turn an industrial wasteland in the city of Vancouver, the Southeast False Creek into a vibrant, model sustainable community. The test of its success came with the housing of 2800 athletes competing at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine won the $16,000 Bursary Award for the most inspiring and innovative project.

The LivCom Awards were launched internationally in 1997 and are endorsed by the United Nations Environment Program. The program is run as a UK Registered Charity. More than 50 countries are regularly represented.

To find out more about the awards and for a full list of finalists, results and summaries of submissions, go to www.livcomawards.com.