Such is the strict criteria, that this prestigious accolade has been bestowed on just 148 companies in the UK on this occasion and Midas is honoured to be part of a select group of organisations – just fifteen – that have been recognised for their achievements in the sustainable development category.
Fittingly the announcement is made on Friday 21st April 2023, the date of the birthday of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
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.
Midas has been recognised for its #MidasGreenInitiative which has seen it make significant investments to become a carbon neutral company in just 18 months. It began on 18 April 2019 and by June 2020 Midas had become ‘process carbon neutral’. In January 2021 it formed a long-term business partnership with The Forest of Marston Vale - a charity managing a community woodland site in its home county of Bedfordshire – and thus became carbon net zero.
Two months later Midas was audited by The Carbon Trust and accredited ‘Carbon Net Zero - PAS 2060 Scope 1,2 & 3’. This was followed in August 2021 with accreditation to ISO 14001:2015 by NQA Certification Ltd and further successful audit to ‘Carbon Net Zero - PAS 2060 Scope 1,2 & 3’ in March 2022.
The journey involved a complete investigation of all aspects of life and work at our facility in Bedford and significant financial investments, but the results are outstanding and have contributed to job satisfaction, motivation, profitability and long-term growth.
Speaking about the Award, managing director Alan Rance said: “We have highlighted that whatever size your organisation is, you can achieve carbon neutrality in a short timeframe if you honour the main principles of environmental awareness and take ownership of your responsibility to make amends for your carbon-intensive past.
“We recognised early on during the #MidasGreenInitiative the difference between carbon reduction and environmentalism and we committed to make carbon neutrality a genuine goal that underpins everything we do at Midas. It is at the heart of the culture at the company. We also recognised the importance of using our platform to encourage others to follow suit. Our investments and pledge have aided our competitive advantage and it’s important to share this message with other companies.
“In fact, in the last 18 months our turnover has doubled because of both our world-leading technicality and competence and our commitment to ‘green’ issues. It is not lost on us that the growth in our turnover, number of employees and expansion of premises is linked to being a company that people want to work for and a company that people want to do business with.
“As we work with medical and scientific device companies that are producing life-enhancing and life-saving equipment, we work to very strict standards. As a sector leading supplier with renowned expertise in product evolution, we have also shown that a world-class advanced production facility can achieve carbon neutrality. We make a huge effort to align with our customers and we do so in good faith whilst remaining conscious of our environmental responsibilities.
