2026 Sustainability Awards Trophy
Sustainability Awards

KnowBe4

Recognized in Sustainability Leadership Award (Organization)
🏆 Award Winner · Sustainability Leadership Award (Organization)

Congratulations from the entire Business Intelligence Group team and the judges who scored your nomination. Here’s everything you need to make the most of your win.

Embargo lifts: Tuesday, August 4, 2026 at 9:00 AM EST

Your Winner Kit

Everything you need to maximize your win.

Your press release is written, social content is designed, and your assets are ready. Work through this page in order.

Step 01 — Action Required
📋
Review the Press Release
BIG is distributing an official announcement for all winners. Your only task: verify your name appears correctly. We publish on August 4 at 9 AM.
Review now ›
Step 02
🏔
Download Your Logos & Badges
Royalty-free winner logos in EPS, PNG, and SVG. No cost, no expiration date. Add them to your website, email signature, and press materials.
Get assets ›
Step 03
📱
Post Your Social Kit
Company post, employee post, branded image, and custom video — all written and designed. Hold until August 4 at 9 AM EST, then post everything.
See the kit ›
Step 04 — Included Free
📜
Claim Your Digital Certificate
A permanently hosted, verifiable Verix credential at no charge. Add it to LinkedIn, embed on your website, or put it in email signatures.
Get certified ›
Step 05 — Available on Request
🏆
Request Your Trophy
We don’t auto-produce a trophy for every winner — request yours below and we’ll create and ship it.
Request now ›
Bonus — Free
🎙
Be on the Podcast
20 minutes with Russ Fordyce on The Winners’ Circle. Distributed to thousands on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and more.
Book a slot ›
Your Timeline

What happens, and when.

✓
Now
You received this winner kit
Your press release, social assets, logos, and digital certificate are ready and waiting.
!
Before July 31, 2026 — Action Required
Review the BIG press release
Open the press release in Google Docs and verify your name appears correctly. Leave a comment if anything needs correcting. If we don’t hear back, we publish as written.
★
Tuesday, August 4, 2026 at 9:00 AM EST
Winners go public — post everything
BIG publishes the announcement. Simultaneously post your social kit, send the employee announcement, and distribute your own press release through your channels.
●
On request
Trophy ships if you request it
Nothing is produced automatically. Request your trophy any time and it ships approximately a few weeks after you request it.
●
Anytime
Certificate, logos, and podcast
No hard deadline — but the sooner you claim them, the sooner they work for you.
Step 01 — Action Required Before July 31, 2026

Two press releases. Two different jobs.

BIG publishes its own official announcement for all winners. You also have a customizable template to distribute through your own channels. Here’s what to do with each.

⚠️
Embargo: Do not publish until Tuesday, August 4, 2026 at 9:00 AM EST
This protects all winners and ensures maximum coordinated impact. Do not post, share, or distribute anything about your award before the embargo lifts — including internally to your own employees.
📋
Action Required
The BIG Official Press Release
This is BIG’s press release — distributed under our letterhead through our channels. Your only task is to verify that your name appears correctly. The award category language is not editable. Leave a Google Docs comment if anything is wrong. If we don’t hear back before July 31, 2026, we publish as written.
Open in Google Docs — Check Your Name ›
📄
Yours to Use
Your Press Release Template
This is for your PR team, wire service, or news page. Download it, fill in your company details, spokesperson quote, and any metrics you want to include — then distribute through your own channels on August 4.
Download and Customize Your Template ›
🌐
Winners Announcement Page
All 2026 Sustainability Awards winners in one place. Goes live August 4 at 9 AM EST. This link will not be active until August 4 at 9:00 AM EST — do not share it before then. Once live, link to this from your social posts, your press release, and your website news page for maximum reach and credibility.
View Announcement Page ›
💬
Russ Fordyce Quote
Use this in your own press release template or share with your PR agency. Ready to paste.
“KnowBe4 brings the same 'extreme ownership' mindset to the planet that it brings to cybersecurity. Four consecutive years of emissions reductions, a real cut in per-employee waste, and more than 57,000 trees planted show sustainability treated as a discipline, not a slogan.”
— Russ Fordyce, Chief Recognition Officer, Business Intelligence Group
Step 02

Your winner logos and badges.

Royalty-free, no expiration date, no cost to use — ever. Add them to your website, email signature, press materials, and anywhere you promote this win.

2026 Sustainability Awards Logo
Award Winner Logo ⬇ PNG ⬇ SVG ⬇ EPS
2026 Sustainability Awards Trophy
Trophy Image ⬇ PNG

Where to use these: Website footer, news page, email signatures, press kits, proposal covers, LinkedIn banners, trade show displays. Royalty-free. No expiration. No cost. Use them everywhere and permanently.

Step 03

Your social kit. Copy, paste, post.

A branded company post, employee post, custom social image, and a promotional video — all written and designed. Hold until August 4 at 9 AM EST, then post everything at once.

💡 Pro tip: Upload the video natively to LinkedIn — don’t just share a link. Native video gets 3–5× the organic reach. Forward the employee post to your whole team and ask everyone to post it from their personal LinkedIn profiles at exactly 9 AM on August 4. Coordinated posting dramatically amplifies the algorithm boost.

Tag us — we comment and like back.
When you tag or mention BIG in your posts, we do our best to engage with every one. When we comment and like, LinkedIn promotes your post further across both our networks.
Step 04 — Included Free

Your digital certificate is waiting.

A permanently hosted, verifiable credential powered by Verix. One is included free. Additional certificates are $49 each — one for every person who helped earn this.

Why digital certificates matter.
A digital certificate is a permanently hosted credential your team members can add to their LinkedIn work history, embed on your website, or include in their email signatures. It’s verifiable by anyone who clicks it — prospects, recruiters, clients. Every person who contributed to this win deserves one.
  • Permanently hosted at a unique, shareable URL
  • One-click “Add to LinkedIn Profile” — appears on work history
  • Embeddable badge for websites, bios, and email signatures
  • Verifiable by anyone who clicks the link
  • 1 included free — additional certificates are $49 each
  • Get one for every person who contributed to this win
See a Sample Certificate ›
Complete Certificate Form ›
Past winners on The Winners’ Circle podcast — book your slot below.
Step 05 — Available on Request
2026 Sustainability Awards Trophy

Want a trophy? Just ask.

In keeping with the spirit of this program, we don’t auto-produce a physical trophy for every winner. If you’d like one, request it below and we’ll create and ship it to you.

On request only — more sustainable that way.
We only produce a trophy when a winner actually wants one — it cuts down on unnecessary manufacturing and shipping. Nothing ships unless you ask for it. Use the form below to request your custom-engraved trophy, correct the inscription, or update your shipping address.
  • Nothing produced or shipped automatically — request it when you’re ready
  • Custom engraved with your name, category, and year
  • Professional award-grade construction
  • Outside the US? We’ll need a FedEx or UPS account number to cover shipping, or you can arrange pickup
  • Get one for each office where clients and prospects visit
⏱️ Ships approximately a few weeks after you request it — nothing goes into production until you submit the form. Double-check the inscription below before requesting.
Trophy Inscription — Verify This Is Correct
KnowBe4
Sustainability Leadership Award
Winner
Line 1KnowBe4
Line 2Sustainability Leadership Award
Line 3Winner
Shipping Address on File
Ship toLael Giebel
CompanyKnowBe4
Address33 N Garden Ave, Suite 1200 Clearwater, FL, 33755
CountryUnited States

Want a trophy, or need to correct the inscription or shipping address? Use the form below.

Request Your Trophy ›
Step 06

Your team deserves to hear it from you first.

Send the CEO letter and forward the employee social post on the morning of August 4 — before the embargo lifts at 9 AM so your team hears it from you, not the news.

CEO Letter to Employees
Team, I'm proud to share some exciting news with all of you. KnowBe4 has been named a winner in the 2026 Sustainability Awards, recognized in the category of Sustainability Leadership Award by the Business Intelligence Group. This is a meaningful moment for our company. Awards are nice, but what matters more is what this recognition represents. The judges recognized us for exactly what this team has been building: "KnowBe4 applies "extreme ownership" to both cybersecurity and our planet." This recognition celebrates the work of everyone who helped make it possible. Every one of you has played a role in this. Whether you are building, sourcing, engineering, operating, reporting, or supporting our work, you helped make this happen. Recognition like this does not come from one initiative, one report, or one department. It comes from consistency, collaboration, and a shared belief that doing right by the planet and doing right by the business are not in conflict. What makes me especially proud is that this award recognizes more than a program. It recognizes execution, accountability, and trust. In a field full of pledges, we have stayed focused on building sustainability work that is measurable, credible, and genuinely valuable. That is a credit to the standard this team holds every day. We should take a moment to celebrate this. You earned it. If you want to see the full list of this year's winners, the complete 2026 Sustainability Awards announcement is here: https://www.bintelligence.com/posts/57-sustainability-award-winners-prove-esg-now-means-results-not-promises At the same time, this is also a reminder that we are only getting started. The work ahead of us is enormous, and this recognition tells us we are on the right path. It also challenges us to keep pushing, keep measuring, and keep building with the same ambition and discipline that got us here. Thank you for your work, your creativity, and your commitment to our mission. I could not be prouder of what this team has accomplished, and I'm even more excited about what comes next. Congratulations to all of you. Lael Giebel KnowBe4
Add your signature and any personal details. Send on the morning of August 4 before 9 AM EST so your team hears it directly from leadership first.
🔗
Employee Social Post
The pre-written employee post in your social kit is ready for your whole team. Forward it and ask everyone to post it from their personal LinkedIn profiles at 9 AM on August 4. The more people who post at the same time, the more LinkedIn amplifies the reach.
Go to Social Kit ›
👑
Amplify on Announcement Day
When your company announcement goes live on August 4, encourage your whole team to like, comment, and share it immediately. Every employee engagement in the first hour signals LinkedIn to promote the post further across your combined networks. This is free reach.
Follow BIG on LinkedIn ›
Bonus — Completely Free

20 minutes in front of thousands
of business leaders. Free.

The Winners’ Circle is BIG’s podcast for award winners to share their story. It’s the highest-leverage 20 minutes you can spend with this recognition — and it costs you nothing.

Your story deserves more than a press release.
Sit down with Russ Fordyce for a focused 20-minute conversation about the work behind your award: what you built, why it matters, and what’s next. We produce and edit everything. You just show up.
Past winners have seen direct business inquiries, speaking invitations, and recruiting interest trace back to a single episode. The ROI on 20 minutes is real — and it lives on the internet permanently. For team awards, we can support multiple guests on the same episode.
5
Platforms distributed
20
Minutes of your time
∞
Shelf life online
$0
Cost to winners
🎵 Spotify 🎙 Apple Podcasts ▶ YouTube 📻 Amazon Music 🔊 iHeart Radio
Book Your Podcast Slot
Slots fill fast — book early to secure your preferred date
Sample Episode
Full archive at bintelligence.com/podcast
🎤 Suggested Guest
Lael Giebel
KnowBe4
Based on your nomination, Lael Giebel is a natural fit to share the story behind this recognition. Any senior leader with direct knowledge of the work is welcome. For team awards, we can support multiple guests.
Judge Feedback

What the judges said about your nomination.

Your submission was scored by a panel of senior industry professionals. Read this carefully — share it with your leadership team and the people who built this work.

Private Judge Feedback
🔒 For internal use only — not for public distribution. These are the individual score notes from each judge. BIG judges are senior practitioners in their fields. Their observations are worth reading carefully and using to sharpen future submissions and your external storytelling.
Judge 1
KnowBe4 has built something most corporate sustainability programs never achieve. A genuine culture where employees across 12 countries actually want to participate. The 15th anniversary story, the banner tote bags, the weekly farm delivery of coffee grounds. These are not corporate initiatives. They are habits. The transparency about self-measured unaudited metrics is appreciated and honest. The next step is independent verification, ideally through a formal ESG report. That third-party validation would transform a deeply credible culture story into a fully defensible sustainability leadership case. The Scope 3 roadmap in progress is exactly the right next priority.
Judge 2
The emphasis on grassroots actions and deep employee engagement is excellent and clearly shapes a strong internal culture. To elevate the nomination to a truly competitive tier, the organization should transition away from self-measured estimations and move toward independently audited ESG data. Explicitly outlining how the data center operations and upcoming Scope 3 supply chain strategies will be evaluated would ground the high-level goals in concrete transparency.
Judge 3
I would point out several possible improvements in the description. The emissions claim "exceeded our 25% renewable target" doesn't actually show the baseline, thus making it hard to compare against others. Another point to consider, is that talent attraction framing reads more like an employer branding rather than environmental outcome.
Judge 4
This is a strong and engaging nomination, especially in how it connects employee culture with everyday sustainability action. The examples are practical and memorable, which makes the story easy to follow. To make it stronger, I would add more audited or independently verified results and a few clearer year-over-year environmental metrics, especially around emissions and resource reduction. That would make the impact feel even more rigorous and award-ready.
Judge 5
It is awesome to see over 700 employees out cleaning beaches—that is a massive win for company culture! To take things to the next level, the focus needs to shift from office habits to real corporate transparency, especially when it comes to the massive energy footprint of tech data centers. Moving away from self-measured estimates and publishing an independently audited, formal ESG report would give your 4-year emissions drop serious credibility and set a massive example for the tech sector.
Judge 6
I liked how KnowBe4 connected sustainability with employee engagement and everyday operational practices. The examples around waste reduction, recycling, biodiversity, and the EarthBe4 initiative helped demonstrate that sustainability is part of the company culture.

The story would be even stronger with additional transparency around measurement methods, independent validation of results, a formal ESG report, and more details on Scope 3 emissions and long-term sustainability goals.
Judge 7
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Stay Recognized

Don’t stop at one award.

BIG runs 12 programs each year — each one a fresh opportunity. Add upcoming deadlines to your calendar and nominate again next cycle.

ProgramDeadlineAnnouncesStatus📅 Google📅 Outlook
Sustainability Awards Closed Aug 4 ✦ Your award Add › Add ›
BIG Awards for Business Oct 9 Nov 24 ● Open Add › Add ›
BIG Innovation Awards Nov 13 Dec 16 ● Open Add › Add ›
Best Places to Work Dec 11 Feb 23, 2027 ● Open Add › Add ›
AI Excellence Awards Feb 5, 2027 Mar 9, 2027 ● Open Add › Add ›
Excellence in Customer Service Awards Mar 5, 2027 Apr 6, 2027 ● Open Add › Add ›
Fortress Cybersecurity Awards Apr 16, 2027 May 18, 2027 ● Open Add › Add ›
The Sammy May 14, 2027 Jun 15, 2027 ● Open Add › Add ›
Stratus Award for Cloud Computing Aug 6, 2027 Sep 7, 2027 ● Open Add › Add ›
Herizon Awards Sep 10, 2027 Oct 12, 2027 ● Open Add › Add ›
BIG Awards for Business Oct 15, 2027 Nov 18, 2027 ● Open Add › Add ›
Recognition as a Service · Business Intelligence Group
Your awards. Your upside. Zero work.
A branded award program with your name on it — and none of your time in it.

You just experienced what a BIG award program delivers for a winner. Recognition as a Service is BIG’s done-for-you, branded award program — built for influencers who want to monetize an audience, associations that want a member benefit without staff work, and B2B companies that want customers to become approved case studies and advocates.

2012
Running award programs ever since
12
Annual programs operated today
4,000+
Volunteer judges recruited
300–500
Judges on a typical program
You have an audience
Make it pay
Sponsorships rent you out one post at a time. Your own awards season pays you back — entry revenue, a year of content, real authority.
That’s me ›
You have members
Make them stay
Awards are the benefit members brag about — and renew for. Run under your brand, by us. Your staff lifts nothing.
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You have customers
Make them talk
Every winner steps forward as an approved case study, reference, and advocate — ten assets per nomination.
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Let’s Chat ›
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