Midas Pattern Company Ltd honoured with the King's Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development

On Thursday 2nd November a small team from the Forest of Marston Vale Trust were lucky enough to be present when HM Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Susan Lousada presented Midas Pattern Company Ltd with the King's Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development 2023. Midas are a hugely successful and profitable global precision polyurethane moulding company and the Forest of Marston Vale Trust are delighted to have Midas as a charitable partner and Corporate Friend of the Forest.

The King’s Award for Enterprise recognises and celebrates business excellence across the UK. Winners are chosen because they have demonstrated outstanding success and promoted the opportunity to prove an inspiration to others. His Majesty the King personally approves the recipients.

This prestigious accolade has been bestowed on just 148 companies in the UK this year, and Midas is part of a select group of organisations – just fifteen – that have been recognised for their achievements in the sustainable development category.

James Russell, Forest Director; Grant Sorrell, Commercial Director and Robina Ballard-Davis, Brand and Fundraising Manager, all attended the King's Award Event.

Midas has been recognised for their highly respected #MidasGreenInitiative which has seen them make significant investments to become a Carbon Neutral company in just eighteen months. They instigated the #MidasGreenInitiative on 18th April 2019 and by June 2020 Midas had become ‘Process Carbon Neutral’. In January 2021 Midas formed a long-term business partnership with The Forest of Marston Vale Trust which enabled them to become fully ‘Carbon Net Zero’ - confirmed through an audit by The Carbon Trust giving them PAS 2060 Scope 1,2 & 3 accreditation. This was followed in August 2021 with accreditation to ISO 14001:2015 by NQA Certification Ltd and a second successful audit to ‘Carbon Net Zero - PAS 2060 Scope 1,2 & 3’ in March 2022.

When presenting the Award, HM Lord Lieutenant, Susan Lousada said, "This is really special for me because whilst I'm here to give you an award, I actually feel that what you have done is so significant for this county. How you have made this green initiative and spread it out to other people is frankly brilliant, it's forward thinking and it should be held up as something to be replicated."

Watch HM Lord Lieutenant, Susan Lousada's speech below:

The #MidasGreenInitiative was born out of managing director Alan Rance Prof MICME watching a David Attenborough documentary on the climate crisis facing us all. Many of us watched and were saddened, shocked, even scared by the facts presented, including Alan, but he was also motivated to act. Being the MD of a manufacturing company he understood that his business was a contributor to the climate crisis, with significant carbon emissions. Alan decided that reducing Midas’ carbon emissions would not be enough because he wanted to truly embrace environmentalism and ensure that he, and his company, were doing all they could to contribute to saving our planet.

As a result, carbon neutrality became the centre of company culture at Midas and what followed was a doubling in turnover, growth in employee numbers and premises expansion as they have been recognised as a company that not only possesses world-leading technicality and competence, but is also an organisation that people want to work for, and do business with. Being green has become a competitive advantage for Midas.

Receiving the Award, Alan Rance, Midas' managing director said, "We've proven that any business can re-set itself, press pause, make the changes and investments that are needed to become carbon net zero, then move forward profitably, successfully, responsibly and more environmentally aware than ever before."

Alan Rance Prof MICME accepts the King's Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development from The Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire – Susan Lousada

From the Forest of Marston Vale’s perspective, our partnership with Midas is the gold standard for corporate partnerships, as they have worked tirelessly to reduce and remove all possible carbon emissions from their business and only looked to offset the residual emissions as a last resort.

The #MidasGreenInitiative is proof that "manufacturing doesn't have to cost the Earth" and achieving carbon net zero should be a priority for every business. Both the Charity and Midas benefit from the partnership. The financial support delivered by Midas is significant, but beyond the £’s there’s a genuine desire to help the Charity thrive in every way possible, demonstrated by these words from Alan, “‘I speak on behalf of the whole Midas team when I say we are truly humbled to have been awarded The King’s Award for Enterprise – Sustainable Development – 2023, but I know that our success would be hollow without the fabulous partnership we share with the Forest of Marston Vale. Our ‘Carbon Net Zero’ status is only legitimate because of the tree planting programme and PIU (Pending Issuance Units) ownership made possible by you. We could have won the award without you, but it’s because of you that it has true value and is ‘tree hugger auditable’ – Thank you Forest of Marston Vale from us all’’

Drop me an email if you’re interested in talking more about becoming a Corporate Friend of the Forest. Email: [email protected]