BPA renew partnerships with EDF Energy

EDF have a longstanding history of supporting the Paralympic Movement that dates back to 1992. 15 Mar 2013

Great Britain's Ellie Simmonds is part of the Team EDF.

ⒸGetty Images

By IPC

“The London 2012 Games were an inspiration to us all at EDF and we are proud to be able to continue to support the BPA on the road to Rio."

The British Paralympic Association (BPA) announced this week that EDF Energy will renew their sponsorship of the organisation and ParalympicsGB, building on their successful relationship that began with the energy company’s London 2012 Games sponsorship.

EDF Energy become the fourth commercial partner to be signed by the BPA for the next four years, and the second to be announced in just two weeks following the recent announcement that business advisory firm Deloitte will also renew their successful partnership. EDF Energy and Deloitte join BT and Sainsbury’s as Official Partners of the BPA and ParalympicsGB.

The partnership will provide support for ParalympicsGB at the Winter Paralympics in Sochi next year, as well as the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. In addition to the deal with the BPA, EDF Energy has shown their commitment to supporting the Paralympic Movement in the UK through the continuation of “Team EDF” their successful ambassador programme through which they support individual Paralympic athletes as they prepare for the Games.

Tim Hollingsworth, Chief Executive of the BPA, said: “This is a very exciting announcement for the BPA because EDF Energy has been a fantastic supporter of the team for several years. Their Green Team initiative for London and their fundraising have had a genuine impact on our organisation and we can’t wait to start working together on plans for the future.

“We are delighted that there has been so much interest from the London 2012 partners in continuing on the journey to Rio with us and this shows how the Movement has developed and the value companies see in associating with it. Without the support of our partners and our charitable work, we could not take a ParalympicsGB team to the Games so their backing is absolutely critical to our potential successes over the next four year cycle.”

Vincent de Rivaz, Chief Executive of EDF Energy, said: “The London 2012 Games were an inspiration to us all at EDF and we are proud to be able to continue to support the BPA on the road to Rio.

“EDF Energy employees got fully behind our charitable partnership with the BPA and raised over £650,000 which exceeded the fund raising target we set ourselves three years ago. And we’re delighted to have helped the BPA with the ‘Greening the Team’ initiative - with their 2012 training camps becoming the first events of their kind to receive a gold accreditation for sustainability from the Council for Responsible Sport.”

EDF have a longstanding history of supporting the Paralympic Movement, having supported the French National Paralympic Committee since 1992.

The announcement was made to EDF Energy employees at a celebration in London on Wednesday evening where the BPA thanked the employees for their fundraising and support throughout the charity partnership over the last three years.