The Green Apple International Environment Awards were launched in 1994 by The Green Organisation, and have become well established as one of the most popular environmental campaigns in the world.

The annual awards, which were held at The House of Commons on Monday 21 November, recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world.

The Alliance was awarded the Transport, Freight and Highways Environmental Improvement Sector Award for environmental best practise, following the success of its Green Champion campaign that has seen the Alliance commit to leaving the local environment in a better condition than when it arrived, and to provide a biodiversity net gain (BNG) of 10% - the first major rail infrastructure project in the UK to commit to this standard.

The efforts of the Alliance are already starting to bear fruit, with ongoing surveys indicating increases in flora and fauna across the project’s ecological compensation sites, including pillwort, a member of the fern family, and Deptford pink, a protected species that as appeared around the edges of grassland, along with bats, badgers, great crested newts, reptiles and otters.

Alliance director, Mark Cuzner, said "Congratulations to our environment and sustainability team, and everyone else who has contributed to our efforts to ensure the project achieves its environmental commitments."

“Awards such as this demonstrate that our strategy, approach and implementation is recognised as best practice."