COP26 Net Zero Award for Acton Based Company


VMI.TV lauded for actions taken to cut its greenhouse gas emissions


VMI.TV's Managing Director Barry Bassett

A camera rental company with a base in Acton has been crowned a Hero of Net Zero at COP26 awards ceremony.

The Together For Our Planet campaign has selected VMI.TV as a winner because of its original and creative actions taken to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions

The company, which also operates from Bristol, received its award at an event hosted by Intuit at the COP26 international climate change summit in Glasgow.

More than 160 businesses entered the competition, making a commitment at the UK Business Climate Hub to achieve net zero by 2050, in line with the Government’s own climate commitment.

The rental firm won in the small business category by demonstrating a range of measures taken on their journey to net zero, including installing solar panels and insulation, purchasing electric vans and recycling and reusing, sending no waste to landfill in 15 months.

They won an exclusive prize package worth over £4,500 from competition partners BT, NatWest and SSE.

Barry Bassett, Managing Director, VMI.TV said, “We are incredibly flattered and really pleased that our efforts are being recognised, as this will spread the word more widely about the benefits of companies making decarbonising efforts.

“I was inspired and energised from attending a seven-week sustainability course and persuaded the Managers and Directors at VMI.TV to buy-in to a net-zero plan, after which we signed up to the SME Climate Commitment.”

VMI.TV won over the competition judges for taking responsibility for their sectors environmental impact, spreading the sustainability message as founding members of the Bectu's-Film-For-Future group.

The business rents cameras to the UK TV industry supporting projects like ITV’s Midsomer Murders, BBC’s Blue Planet 3 series and Netflix’s The Surgeon’s Cut.

The panel of expert judges included the government’s Net Zero Business Champion Andrew Griffith. He presented VMI.TV and other Heroes of Net Zero finalists with awards and celebrate their green achievements at COP26 at the Scottish Event Campus.

The Heroes of Net Zero competition is part of the government’s Together for Our Planet campaign, run by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

UK Net Zero Business Champion, Andrew Griffith said, “I am delighted to be celebrating The Heroes of Net Zero today at our special COP26 event. Representing a diverse range of industries and locations, the finalists spotlight the actions that UK businesses of any size can take to cut their own emissions and help us build back better.”


Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

November 3, 2021