The English football team aims to reduce transportation emissions and is planning to create a stadium out of wood that will be powered by solar panels and vegan meals.
Last season, the world's greenest football club won a promotion to England's League One thanks to a plant-based diet and a zero-emission team transport.
The world's first and only vegan football team, appropriately named Forest Green Rovers, was also the first to be recognized by the UN as carbon neutral. But what has truly delighted fans was securing a promotion to League One in April, after just its fifth season as an English Football League team.
The Nailsworth, Gloucestershire-based club has solar panels and an organic, pesticide-free field. Match days see fans tuck into plant-based grub, such as veggie pies, sausage rolls and burgers.
The team's distinctive zebra-striped uniform is constructed from recyclable plastic and used coffee grounds, and vegan apple crumble, Quorn log roasts, and falafel delivery meals fuel its training schedule.
In order to encourage supporters to take public transportation or walk to games, Forest Green has launched a campaign to start the new season. It has partnered with the Bolt mobility platform to encourage fans to use the club's YuMuuv health app to track their steps on game days.
Participants will have a chance to win prizes like season tickets in a drawing. According to research, employing games with rewards to promote good change is effective. Football as a catalyst for improvement
Already, Forest Green has reduced its own transportation-related emissions. The players traveled in a zero-emission car for their away game against Bristol Rovers that resulted in promotion—a first for a club in the globe.
The £325,000, 48-seat electric coach was rented specifically for the event, but the club, which is run by Ecotricity entrepreneur Dale Vince, has now purchased a Renault Master E-Tech minibus that will be used to transport its youth and women's teams between practice facilities.
With a 0-0 draw against Bristol, the "Green Devils" sealed their League One dream, but their electrifying ambition doesn't stop there. The Stroud district council approved a plan for a 5,000-seat, timber stadium in 2019. It was created by the internationally famous firm Zaha Hadid Architects, and has received a thumbs up from the English Football League.
The council is taking into consideration updated proposals for a larger project that will include club training facilities, parkland, a biodiversity scheme, office space, and a green tech business park.
If the project is approved, New Lawn in Forest Green will be used for the creation of low-carbon dwellings.
According to Vince of Sky Sports, the materials used to build stadiums account for 75% of their carbon footprint throughout the course of their lives. "It's not about the energy they take to operate; it's ingrained from day one. As a result, since the Romans invented concrete, our stadium will have the lowest carbon footprint worldwide.
Environmental protection and sustainability are increasingly becoming the focus of society. After the EU passed various laws aimed at preventing plastic waste, more and more sectors of the economy are reorienting themselves and trying to operate more sustainably. Soccer clubs have also become aware of their responsibility as part of a sustainable thinking global society and are now trying to act in a more environmentally friendly way and to lead the way as good role models for soccer fans and society as a whole.
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