Blinksportsnews247Peter Smith, the Head of Sustainability and Climate Change at Bristol City, credits an episode of Blue Planet 2 for starting the Club on the route to being the second EFL team to receive GreenCode recognition.
In order to identify, quantify, and lessen their environmental impact, Bristol City, the Bristol Bears, the Bristol Flyers, Ashton Gate Stadium, and Bristol Sport collaborated to create Project Whitebeam, which was inspired by the same occasion in 2018.
Bristol City is currently one of just two EFL Green Clubs with GreenCode recognition, the other being Forest Green Rovers, which is regarded as the greenest football club globally, not just in England
The EFL’s environmental sustainability effort, known as Green Clubs, was launched in 2021 and is open to Club participation on a voluntary basis. The Green Clubs programme currently has 54 members, consisting of 51 Clubs and 3 Club Community Organisations, demonstrating the desire to truly impact football.
In order to help Clubs enhance their environmental performance, the programme provides them with customised one-on-one consulting sessions from GreenCode as well as an online resource portal that includes webinars and training opportunities.
Although obtaining GreenCode accreditation is a difficult process, Smith thinks it is quite doable and points to Forest Green Rovers as an example that other Clubs could emulate.
“I think that’s right; it’s a very thorough process with a high bar,” he remarks. “Getting the complete accreditation ought to be a challenging task. However, I would point out that clubs are not incapable of accomplishing this. I believe we’ve demonstrated that Clubs can advance fairly quickly in a brief amount of time.
Although most of what Forest Green is doing is quite ambitious, most Clubs could easily accomplish it. They are an ordinary club with ordinary supporters and players, and they have set the standard and made the path for others to follow.
In addition to being accredited by GreenCode, Bristol City has won additional accolades for their environmental efforts, including the Football Supporters’ Association Climate Action Award, the EFL Green Club of the Year in 2023, and Sport Positive’s ranking as the Championship’s most sustainable club.
While conceding that his club, football, and the larger sporting community still have a long way to go, Smith is naturally proud of their accomplishments. “It lights the fire under our feet to keep going,” he continues.
While it’s excellent for us to be among the leaders in this area right now and that other Clubs are following suit, we are fully aware that there are still areas we need to improve on.
Since it’s likely to make the biggest impact, we want everyone to be in the pack rather than one of the select few Clubs breaking out ahead of the others.
It will have a far greater impact if 92 Clubs and 92 sets of fans band together and motivate sport to change on this.
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