The UBi Biodiversity Awards Celebrate 10 Pioneer Businesses The room in Berlin where the UBi Project Awards “The Supply Chain Lives” were announced in November 2023 was filled with biodiversity enthusiasts. An Ulm-based company that produces used clothing containers with green roofs where plants and insects happily co-exist and Berlin’s oldest blacksmith’s shop known for its lilac wood knife handles were among the awardees. The awards celebrated ten medium-sized companies from Germany and Switzerland that are taking a proactive role in integrating biodiversity in their operations and reorganising their supply chain management with biodiversity in mind. Steffi Lemke, German Federal Minister for the Environment, who attended the ceremony, emphasized: “Shifting to nature-friendly business practices is not only ecologically necessary, but also pays off for companies, especially in times of scarce resources, disrupted supply chains and high raw material prices. It is therefore a win-win situation for both nature and companies if they integrate biodiversity more strongly into their management strategies. In the best-case scenario, the economy itself actively contributes to the restoration of destroyed ecosystems.” The awards intend to promote and inspire businesses to take action for protecting and preserving biodiversity along the entire value chain with forward-looking supply chain management solutions. The ten finalists of the second edition included: Upländer Bauernmolkerei – milk producer, DEFLEX – window, door, and façade accessories, etepetete – vegetable and fruit retailer, Heinrich GLAESER – textiles, Melitta Group Management – coffee and household products, PERÚ PURO – chocolate industry, Rixdorfer Schmiede – blacksmith, Böck GbR – laser engraving, SCHWARTAUER WERKE – food industry, and Triodos Bank N.V. Deutschland – financial sector. The awards “The Supply Chain Lives: Transforming Supply Chains, Integrating Biodiversity” was organised as part of the UBi: Business & Biodiversity project, which is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. Additional information on the competition and the finalists can be found here (in German). For further questions, please contact Alexander Mannweiler. Image © Katja Zimmermann