Green List companies last year employed between 50 and 74,000 staff and represented industries as diverse as media, leisure, construction, retailing and oil and gas exploration. As different as they seem, these firms are united by their commitment to reducing their impact on the environment. They are proof that exciting, innovative and often simple methods give big results.

Tyne and Wear-based coffin manufacturer, J C Atkinson and Son, beat a host of other companies, big and small with varying environmental impacts, to win the title at the awards ceremony held on London’s South Bank on 14 May 2008. The construction giant Carillion finished in second place overall, with Co-operative Financial Services third.