On 22 February, the 20th Environmental Communication Awards were presented to winners at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa, Tokyo. Kyoto University was among the recipients of the award for excellence in the Environmental Reports category for its 2016 report (published last September). Three members of the Environment, Safety, and Health Division of the University's Facilities Department, including head Kazunari Suehiro, were in attendance to receive the honor.
The Environmental Communication Awards, administered jointly by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and the Global Environmental Forum (GEF), recognize outstanding examples of environmental reporting to encourage stakeholder communication and sustainability efforts.
The excellence award conferred on Kyoto University (and three others) is given to organizations specified in the Law Concerning the Promotion of Business Activities with Environmental Consideration.
A total of 338 applications were submitted for the 20th Awards. During the application period, which ran from 4 October through 8 November 2016, 217 applications were submitted in the Environmental Reports category, and 121 in the Environmental Activity Reports category.
Marking the Awards' 20th anniversary, the organizers released "gold", "silver", and "bronze" logos that awardees can use in their publications and communications on environmental activities. Kyoto University was granted the use of the silver logo (pictured below).