BID Better Bankside’s Southwark Climate Collective (SCC) programme has been shortlisted, from hundreds of entries, for ‘Behaviour Change Campaign of the Year,’ by the 2026 UK Green Business Awards, recognising three years of work supporting over 200 Southwark SMEs embed sustainability into their everyday operations.
Organised by green economy publisher BusinessGreen, the awards celebrate the very best of the UK’s pioneering green initiatives and campaigns, culminating in a gala dinner on Wednesday’s 24 June 2026 at London’s The Brewery.
SCC stood out for its pioneering work identifying and addressing an important gap in the UK’s drive towards decarbonisation and sustainability – the lack of practical support for the UK’s SMEs, a category accounting for around 90 percent of the UK’s business population, and an estimated 40 percent of the UK’s non-domestic emissions.
Using its deep understanding of the needs of its 800 business members, most of whom are SMEs, the Business Improvement District (BID) Better Bankside has designed a programme which seeks to closely understand the barriers faced by SMEs and develop a blueprint, starting in Southwark, which can be rolled out across the UK.
Since launching in October 2023, SCC has supported over 200 Southwark businesses, spanning multiple business sectors and including iconic organisations such as Shakespeare’s Globe and Southwark Cathedral, to overcome the practical barriers that often prevent climate action – including limited time, lack of in-house expertise and difficulty navigating complex sustainability requirements.
· Since 2024, SCC has supported over 200 Southwark businesses providing bespoke technical knowledge, resources and training to enable behaviour change and delivering action on growth, becoming more sustainable and decarbonising their operations.
· Over 150 businesses received expert-led training sessions targeting knowledge areas most needed to start. Many SMEs are aware that becoming more sustainable and decarbonising their operations is a good thing, but developing a business case for this and identifying the behaviour changes needed to take action is key.
· 140 SMEs have been provided with bespoke technical audits and action plans covering waste, recycling, energy use, supply chains, logistics and freight. This critical work enabled businesses to capture and articulate their individual starting point, implement behaviour change needed and more effectively monitor and report progress.
· During 2025/26, 24 Southwark businesses have each been provided with 20 hours of bespoke 1 to 1 expert consultancy. The scope of this support was co-designed with businesses directly addressing commercial need as well as improving sustainability and reducing carbon. This focused on three key areas of expertise:
o Marketing and communications
o Reducing and reporting emissions
o Accreditations e.g. ISO, B Corp
Gideon Taylor, Director of Place at Better Bankside, said: “We are thrilled that SCC has been recognised in the UK Green Business Awards’ shortlist. It is testament to what we have seen happen through the programme – that when SMEs are given the right kind of support they take meaningful climate action.
“The Southwark Climate Collective is proof that SMEs are not only willing to act on sustainability, they can deliver, real, measurable impact once the barriers are removed. Our ambition is to roll the programme out across the UK, delivering a scalable model that can be adopted by other Business Improvement Districts, local authorities and policymakers to accelerate SME-led decarbonisation nationwide.”
James Murray, Editor-in-Chief of BusinessGreen said; “Everyone who has made it through as a finalist should be hugely proud of their achievements, and we look forward to showcasing and celebrating your work at the UK Green Business Awards in June.”
