Biffaward, Pilkington, The Co-operative Bank and BNFL were all supporters of Evolve and the programme was developed in partnership with The Northwest Business Leadership Team and has been shaped by a steering committee chaired by Derek Norman. The steering committee includes experts from United Utilities, The Co-operative Bank, Manchester Airport, The Environment Agency, Local Authorities, NHS Northwest Executive and Business in the Environment.

The downloadable booklet below represents a gallery of the first 15 organisations to complete the Evolve process.

Teams from each of the organisations assessed their performance within a range of areas which included: management processes (environmental policy, environmental management system and management systems and people); measurement and reporting of environmental and social performance (environmental objectives and targets, social objectives and targets and reviewing environmental and social performance); promoting the awareness of sustainable development (internally – within the organisation, externally – organisations within the supply chain, and externally – people and groups within the community); developing partnerships (product stewardship, links with the community and impact on society).

This first phase of Evolve was launched by the Minister for the Environment, Michael Meacher, on Friday 19 November 1999.