From left: Chairman of Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority J.D.K Wikramaratne, CEO The Carbon Consulting Company, Sanith De S Wijeyeratne, 
Deputy Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Sri Lanka  Ajith P. Perera, German Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Dr. Jürgen Morhard and Daniel Schreiber - Country Desk Officer GIZ Country Office Sri Lanka/Maldives 

PR Wire, Sri Lanka’s first ever CarbonNeutral Public Relations firm, recently partnered with international development specialists Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), to unveil a new competition to the Sri Lankan public - The Green Energy Champion (GEC). 
GEC seeks to find the best idea involving the use of renewable energy, where the winners will walk away with EUR 30000 (Rs. 4.7 million). 

Applicants are encouraged to visit www.greenenergychampion.lk and submit their concepts that improve energy efficiency and/or harness the use of renewable energy to the benefit of the wider community. Community based organisations (CBOs), schools, household groups, & Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Groups are encouraged to apply before 31st May 2016.

In going a step further, PR Wire made a conscientious decision to ensure that the entire competition is conducted in an environmentally friendly manner, and GIZ too were enthusiastic to get on board. 
To this effect, the event organisers joined hands with The Carbon Consulting Company (CCC) in order to nullify the event’s impact on the environment by making the launch event a “CarbonNeutral® event”, certified by Natural Capital Partners of the UK. The awards ceremony will also be made CarbonNeutral®, and this is achieved through reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated as a result of the event to net zero, by purchasing registered carbon offsets via the international marketplace.

Daniel Schreiber - Country Desk Officer GIZ Country Office Sri Lanka/Maldives  commented, “A project that seeks to advance clean forms of energy and energy efficiency needs to be aware of its own carbon footprint. This is why GIZ as the implementing agency of the Green Energy Champion wants to walk the talk. Sustainable event management and purchasing registered carbon offsets helps us to reduce any negative environmental impacts of the campaign and competition to a minimum”. Ashan Kumar, Managing Director of PR Wire commented, “As a PR firm that places a high focus on sustainability, we are constantly trying to work together with ideas that would enhance the value of our clients and our client’s projects.

The Green Energy Champion initiative gives us the perfect opportunity to encourage local communities to pursue a more sustainable approach for their energy requirements. In addition, we’re happy to be hosting this as a CarbonNeutral event, since it shows that we’re mitigating our environmental footprint as we begin the search for the first ever Green Energy Champion of Sri Lanka”.
In addition, CEO of CCC, Sanith De S Wijeyeratne remarked “We’re thrilled to be partnering with PRWire, a long-time client of ours, in making this a CarbonNeutral event. It’s truly heartening that local companies such as PRWire are working with partners from the international community to reach out to the Sri Lankan public in spreading awareness about Renewable Energy and encouraging its use over fossil fuel energy, and the fact that Ashan has made it a CarbonNeutral event is the icing on the cake! On behalf of my team at CCC, we wish the organising committee the best in this endeavour.