More about Start…

Start (www.startuk.org) is a national initiative by The Prince's Charities Foundation to promote and celebrate sustainable living. HRH is touring the country, visiting community groups and examples of sustainable behaviour, as well as three national Start festivals, to help show how we can all make positive changes to our lifestyles.

The Prince’s Start initiative builds on the work of the charity Business in the Community, of which HRH has been President for 25 years.  Over that time, BITC has been working with businesses to develop partnerships which create, promote and support sustainable communities. The Royal Tour will showcase these successful partnerships, which support HRH’s aim for Start, which is to inform and inspire people to make a difference through simple, practical actions.

Start is the consumer-facing phase in The Prince’s Mayday Network, convened by BITC, which was created in 2007 as a result of HRH’s call to action to business to take action on climate change. It has since become a year-round movement of almost 2,800 businesses progressing along the low carbon, resource efficient journey towards a sustainable future. It is aimed at inspiring and supporting individuals as well as businesses to understand what a sustainable future looks like, that it is a better future, and how they might start moving towards it.

Without the innovation and leadership of businesses in the Mayday Network, the sustainable products and services that we will all need in order to ‘Start’ this new way of living would not exist. In many places things are already underway to help us in the simplest of ways.

Start is a Public/Private/NGO partnership which has been created in response to research which shows that when it comes to dealing with issues like climate change and sustainability, people are confused and are looking for information and advice. 

It is all about exploring what is possible: from the cheapest and simplest to the most complex and futuristic; from quick fixes to long-term solutions. So far, a number of leading businesses have signed up to the initiative including B&Q, Virgin Money, Marks and Spencer, Asda, EDF Energy, Addison Lee, IBM UK & Ireland and BT Group plc.

It is also about understanding how businesses can influence their consumers to be more sustainable. To do this, Marketers from M&S, B&Q, Unilever, EDF Energy, Waitrose and Cadbury are collaborating with BITC to share their consumer insights in order to come up with practical solutions to engage and influence consumers to be more sustainable. 

The week-long tour will culminate in ‘A Garden Party to Make A Difference’ in the gardens of Clarence House, Lancaster House and Marlborough House from the 8th to the 19th September 2010.

Visit The Prince of Wales’s website to find out more about the START Tour.