NIE ‘cleans up’ with environmental award

Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) has become one of Ireland’s largest organisations to achieve a prestigious international environmental award for outstanding environmental work.

The ISO 14001 certificate, in recognition of NIE’s environmental efforts, was presented to Harry McCracken, Managing Director of NIE, at a special event at the company’s Castlereagh House control centre.

With offices, sites and 35,000 miles of underground and overhead electricity network spanning the province, NIE’s environmental efforts will make a major contribution towards the sustainability of the Northern Ireland environment and reduction of any adverse impact on the environment.

Accepting the award, Mr McCracken said: “Northern Ireland Electricity is an integral part of the community, delivering power to 710,000 homes and businesses. Companies such as NIE, with far-reaching environmental impacts, are rightly coming under increasing pressure to be more environmentally efficient - more ‘green’.

“This achievement shows that people in NIE have a real commitment to minimise our impact on the environment and to manage our activities in the interests of the whole community in Northern Ireland.”

NIE, including sister company NIE Powerteam, is the first transmission, distribution and supply electricity utility company in the UK to get ISO14001 awarded across all of its operations. Many companies seek the accreditation for just one aspect of their business.

An Environmental Management System provides a framework for managing environmental impacts so they become efficient and more integrated into overall business operations. (MB)