Ingeo™ Earth Month Closes with 2011 Leader of Change Nomination from the Foundation for Social Change and United Nations Office for Partnerships

MINNETONKA, MN--(Korea Newswire)--Ingeo™ Earth Month 2011 closed with NatureWorks nominated as a Leader of Change, a prestigious award instituted by the Foundation for Social Change and the United Nations Office for Partnerships.

The award recognizes visionary executives of companies, financial institutions, and advocacy groups that have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to the pursuit of sustainability whereby environmental and social performance are embedded in the competitive strategy of the organization. The 2011 Leader of Change award ceremony will take place on October 6 at the annual “Global Conference for Social Change: Turning Social Responsibility into Business Opportunity” in New York City.

“We’ve nominated NatureWorks as a 2011 Leader of Change because the organization embodies a compelling sustainability proof point,” explains Louise M. Guido, CEO Foundation for Social Change. “NatureWorks is not a longstanding, conventional company that decided to ‘go green,’ this is a company actually founded – just 10 years ago – on the simple principle of selling sustainable performance products, giving contemporary industry a new way to do business, and offering today’s consumer a new choice. And, as their Ingeo Earth Month project demonstrates, the early bet on environmental performance is clearly paying off.”

The 2011 Ingeo Earth Month program took the Ingeo Innovation Gallery, a showcase of the latest in low-carbon-footprint consumer products, to three locations in the United States (New York, Minneapolis, and Boulder) and to stops in Europe (Interpack) and Asia (Chinaplas). Inspired by the United Nations Earth Day, Ingeo Earth Month – in its seventh edition in 2011– has grown over the past seven years, reflecting the importance of showcasing product innovation through the practical application in everyday consumer products of plastics and fibers made from plants.

The traveling Ingeo Innovation Galleries, and its world-known ambassador brands, have succeeded in creating visibility and interest around a theme ─ responsible product innovation ─ sometimes seen as just another green-inspired theory, rather than a real and present, practical business strategy. Today, there are hundreds of products being made with Ingeo, from plastic cups to iPhone covers, and the Ingeo Innovation Gallery represents a selection of this fast-emerging business sector.

“This year’s Ingeo Earth Month celebration has been the most successful to date,” says Marc Verbruggen, NatureWorks president and chief executive officer. “We created real interest and awareness around innovative and sustainable product innovation and have gathered the support of a number of leading organizations in the field, including LOHAS, Climate Action, and European Bioplastics. We’d like to sincerely thank everyone that has worked to ensure that projects like Ingeo Earth Month grow more successful every year. We are honored by the Foundation of Social Change and United Nations Office for Partnerships nomination as a 2011 Leader of Change.”

NatureWorks is already working on its next key events – the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) climate change conference (COP 17) in November, and the third edition of the Innovation Takes Root conference in February 2012.

About NatureWorks
NatureWorks LLC is a company dedicated to meeting the world’s needs today without compromising the earth’s ability to meet the needs of tomorrow. NatureWorks LLC is the first company to offer a family of commercially available, low-carbon-footprint Ingeo biopolymers derived from 100 percent annually renewable resources with performance and economics that compete with oil-based plastics and fibers. For more information, visit www.natureworksllc.com.

Ingeo™ and the Ingeo™ logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of NatureWorks LLC in the USA and other countries.

About the United Nations Office for Partnerships
The United Nations Office for Partnerships serves as a gateway for collaboration between the private sector and foundations, and the United Nations family. It promotes new partnerships and alliances in furtherance of the Millennium Development Goals and provides support to new initiatives of the Secretary-General.

<Global Conference for Social Change and Women & Girls Education Summit>
October 5-6, 2011
One United Nations Plaza | 1st Avenue at 44th Street | Millennium UN Plaza Hotel | New York, NY 10017

Website: http://www.natureworksllc.com

This is a news release distributed by Korea Newswire on behalf of this company.