Finalists announced for the 2014 Eurostar Ashden Awards for Sustainable Travel

Tisséo has made public transport a desirable option in Toulouse

Ashden and Eurostar have announced the four finalists for the 2014 Eurostar Ashden Awards for Sustainable Travel.

Living Streets, Ecotricity, Stad Mechelen in Belgium and Tisséo in Toulouse, France, have each moved a step closer to winning a share of a £30,000 prize fund. Two winners will be announced at a prestigious ceremony in London on 22 May 2014.

Now in their third year, the Awards recognise innovative travel schemes that are leading the way in encouraging people to adopt more sustainable forms of travel, helping improve quality of life while reducing congestion, pollution, and carbon emissions.

The 2014 finalists are:

Ecotricity, UK

Eco entrepreneur and founder of Ecotricity Dale Vince is kick-starting demand for electric vehicles by creating a new ‘Electric Highway’ – a network of fast charging points across the UK motorway network. This has eliminated one of the biggest barriers to uptake of electric vehicles: the limited distance it’s possible to travel before having to re-charge.

Living Streets, UK

Living Streets aims to get people out of their cars and onto their feet with its national walking campaign held in May each year, backed up with year-round campaigns. The goal: to create safe, attractive streets where it’s great to walk. A big focus is to get children into the walking habit and develop healthier behaviours: over 750,000 school children were involved in Walk to School Week last May.

Tisséo, France

Toulouse’s public transport operator has achieved a phenomenal 80% increase in the use of public transport in France’s fourth largest city. Tisser means ‘to weave’ in French, and Tisséo has done just that – it has woven together a comprehensive web of sustainable transport options to create a model low-carbon travel network.

Stad Mechelen, Belgium

The city of Mechelen has been transformed into a haven for living, working and shopping, reducing traffic in the city centre by 70%. Implementing a car-restricted zone has been key – and that’s far more than just closing off a few streets to traffic. The council has taken an innovative approach, using cameras and signage instead of physical barriers, and worked with local businesses to help them make it easier for people to take public transport to work.

Nicolas Petrovic, Chief Executive of Eurostar, said: "The 2014 finalists offer inspiring examples of innovation in sustainable travel. We hope that by celebrating their successes we will encourage more people to think differently about how they travel, and demonstrate that travelling by train, bus, tram or bike is often cheaper, easier and more efficient than driving or flying."

The Eurostar Ashden Award for Sustainable Travel is part of Eurostar’s Tread Lightly programme to reduce the business’ impact on the environment and encourage people to switch to more sustainable modes of transport.

Ashden also announced finalists for their UK, International and School Awardshttp:// http://www.ashden.org/awards/2014 :.

A major focus for this year’s awards will be how access to clean energy improves the lives of women and girls

UK finalists include a national crowd-funding platform for renewable energy, businesses that are bringing the prospect of zero-carbon buildings one step closer to reality, and community energy pioneers that are helping people take control of their energy supply. Finalists for the UK School Awards are embracing the energy-saving challenge and galvanising young people to help protect our planet.

International finalists are transforming lives and tackling climate change in Burkina Faso, Cambodia, India, Myanmar and Tanzania. They include not-for-profit organisations that are finding sustainable ways of increasing agricultural yields and preserving water, to businesses developing creative solutions to meeting the poor’s energy needs, designing low-carbon buildings and using sustainable energy to improve the lives of women and girls.

Valere Tjolle

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