Climate change Armageddon: Sir Tim Smit of The Eden Project says we can't be the next civilisation to fall.

It's as big as the Digital Revolution, don't be left behind.

• Sir Tim Smit's 5-year partnership with The Planet Mark has been invaluable in terms of helping to raise awareness in the plight the planet is facing. He gave the keynote speech at The Planet Mark inaugural awards on Thursday night at Sadler's Wells where he spelled out the utmost urgency of action that must take place now.

• The Planet Mark is an innovative certification scheme that is actively engaging over 1 million people to contribute to saving the planet. The awards ceremony recognised the outstanding work that pioneering companies, holders of The Planet Mark, are doing in terms of sustainability and reducing carbon emissions.

• Sir Tim stunned the audience with his knowledge of climate change and the very little that is being done on a big scale. Things are being done but not enough. Time literally is running out. There is a window of just 12 years predicted by UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to try to turn around the huge juggernaut that is facing each and every one of us living on Planet Earth.

In his TED-style 13 min talk, Sir Tim Smit said:

"If you stay at the fringes at dealing with sustainability in a really polite and middle-class way...then it's a bit like moving the deckchairs on the Titanic."

He then told us that last year he climbed the tallest tree in the world, in the Sequoia National Park, Sierra Nevada as part of a campaign to help save the trees.

This was the moment that stunned the audience. He said that the tree he climbed is 4500 years old and being an archaeologist, he said could name all 37 civilizations that had existed in that tree's lifespan, all of which had a beginning, a peak and a collapse.

He went on:

"Be aware that everyone of those 37 civilizations had people like us in it and they didn't stop things.

Why?

Because everyone becomes beige. We all get sucked into it and everyone talks about sustainability a lot but we are all hooked into a world where we don't know don't when to say STOP!"

His talk was a rallying cry to everyone to take part, to make a change to our daily habits and to look at our moral compasses.

He continued: "Governments have not got the ability to police anything anymore. The only police are us and the values we espouse".

The Planet Mark is so important with the work they do in spreading the word. He said: "If you're a citizen, you have got to be moving in this direction. We all need to get more muscular...and stop being complicit like all the climate change deniers. We are at a point when leadership depends on us collectively linking ourselves together".

The Planet Mark CEO and founder Steve Malkin told the audience that when he launched The Planet Mark five years ago, "The goal was to help organisations realise that sustainability is good for business and that business is really good for society and the environment.

The way we do this is byunlocking the passion of individuals inside every organisationwe work with to do better inside their own company. This is working and helping to contribute to the goal of improving the quality of life (on the planet). "

Here are the benefits to being ‘Planet Marked':

• Makes the organisation more attractive: To both prospective employees (who are more environmentally aware) and to prospective clients

• Increase sales: The Planet Mark certification helps demonstrate and communicate a commitment to environmental stewardship to differentiate from competitors

• Payback within one year: The cost of running the programme is recovered within Year One

• Reduces carbon footprint: By default, the scheme forces companies to reduce emissions. On average participating companies reduce carbon emissions by 12% per employee

• Helps educate and encourage the workforce to carry on with the ‘planet saving' work at home

• Communicate results uniquely:  The Planet Mark helps communicate sustainability achievements to wider audiences

12 free passes to visit The Eden Project per certified organisation. The visitors feel the transformative powers of Eden and go back to their companies ready to make changes

Below are some highlights from the Impact Report that the Planet Mark holders have achieved in 2017:Click here:the Impact Report

• 4% average absolute or total reduction of carbon emissions
• 12% average reduction of carbon per employee
• 1,017,226 employees (and further education students in certified businesses) have been actively engaged
• 88% renewal rate of organisations who commit to relentless improvement year on year

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

The Planet Mark™ began in 2012, when Steve Malkin, CEO of Planet First and founder of The Planet Mark™, was introduced to Sir Tim Smit KBE, co-founder of Eden Project. Over the following months, they discussed how they might create an effective people-driven sustainability programme for any organisation of any size, any sector, any place in the world.

Since then, The Planet Mark has developed into an internationally-recognised and trusted sustainability certification that is helping more than 100 organisations, including businesses, charities, schools, hospitals and infrastructure.

Mission: Their mission is to empower organisations and their people to make year-on-year progress on sustainability. Their approach is to ensure companies grow economically by improving their environmental and social performance.

• The amount of plastic produced in a year is roughly the same as the entire weight of humanity but only 9% of plastics are recycled. The Arctic is heating faster than any other part of the world; it stalled the Polar Jet Stream in the summer of 2018 causing the massive heat wave. There is still time to make a difference.

• Steve Malkin along with Sir Tim Smit and their colleagues are helping to make a difference. Together they have created The Planet Mark certification, which is a people-driven sustainability programme for any organisation of any size, any sector, anywhere in the world.

• It is a low resource programme that is proven to work. On average, holders of The Planet Mark make a 12% carbon saving each year per employee through energy use, waste, water, travel and procurement.

• Since Sir David Attenborough's The Blue Planet films, sustainability and environmental awareness was heightened and everyday people (i.e. employees) want to do their bit to help save the planet.

Amanda Ruiz PR hello@amandaruiz.co.uk  Tel: 07711 419595

Steve Malkin available for interview: steve.malkin@planetfirst.co.uk Tel: 07775 637156