Companies from the UK, Belgium, Germany and Spain have won the 2010 European Business Awards for the Environment. The awards recognise "the best of the best" businesses that have already succeeded in competitions at national level.

The winners were announced by European Environment Commissioner Janez Potodnik at an awards ceremony during the annual Green Week conference in Brussels.

The awards are given in four categories and recognise European businesses that make a particular contribution to sustainable development by combining innovation, economic viability, environmental concern and social responsibility. The winners were chosen from 141 entries from 24 EU and candidate countries.

This is the highest number of entries since the European Business Awards for the Environment were launched in 1987 and reflects the growing interest of businesses in sustainability and their understanding of today's environmental challenges.

The results are as follows:

Management Award

This award is for companies with outstanding strategic vision and management systems which enable them to continuously improve their contribution to sustainable development.

Winner: The Findus Group, UK, "Fish for life" project for supporting sustainable fisheries.

Fish for Life is a programme promoting a long-term sustainable future for seafood. Started by Young\u2019s Seafood, it is now also applied across Europe by Findus, its parent group. This initiative sets a benchmark for responsible fishery management, promoting and sharing best practices both locally and internationally, with strong involvement of employees and other stakeholders.

Product Award

This award is for companies that have developed a new product or service that makes an outstanding contribution to sustainable development.

Winner: EnergyICT, Belgium, for the implementation of the advanced energy management system, EIServer, at British retailer Tesco.

The sophisticated EIServer system incorporates all the vital functions necessary for efficient energy management, enabling Tesco to reduce energy consumption by 20% across all its UK stores.

Process Award

This award is for companies that have developed and applied a new production technology that makes an outstanding contribution to sustainable development.

Winner: Zenergy Power GmbH and Bueltmann GmbH, Germany for a project for cutting energy consumption by 50% using magnetic billet heating based on superconducting technology.

This application of superconductor technology allows a significant increase in energy efficiency in one of the most power-intensive processes in metals manufacturing with a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions. The first use of superconductor technology in an industrial production process enables copper and aluminium billets to be heated using 50% less energy, yielding higher productivity

International Co-operation Award

This award is for companies that have developed an international partnership for the sharing of knowledge and technology leading to sustainable growth in developing countries.

Winner: Ferrovial, Spain for its project: "Maji ni Uhai" (Water is life) water supply and sanitation in the Serengeti district in Tanzania. This project is the result of an innovative collaboration between infrastructure group Ferrovial and the NGO AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation) to combat poverty by providing access to safe water for 50 000 people in the Serengeti district, Tanzania.