{"id":36980,"date":"2020-04-27T12:53:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T12:53:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-06-19T11:26:25","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T11:26:25","slug":"11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A novelty football <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=30_50J94m84\">song<\/a> surfaces before every major international competition that in English combines meat pies, sausage rolls and scoring goals with rhythmic predictability. In Nailsworth, a picturesque parish of scarcely 5,000 inhabitants nestled in the valleys of southwest England, local team Forest Green Rovers has severed the connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fgr.co.uk\/\">Forest Green<\/a>, who compete in League Two \u2013 England\u2019s fourth tier \u2013 have challenged convention and even earned plaudits from the UN on the way to becoming the world\u2019s first fully vegan, carbon neutral football club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI like to think of it as serendipity,\u201d chairman Dale Vince says of his involvement with the club, unbothered by the sleet lashing the East Stand at the New Lawn, Forest Green\u2019s largely solar-powered stadium. Bright hoardings promoting dairy-free cheese, an oat-based milk alternative and Ecotricity, the renewable energy company Vince founded in 1995, skirt its organic pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chairman Dale Vince, Forest Green Rovers\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n_25P0xTlF0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The story of Vince, 58, who left school at 15 and lived itinerantly for years in a van with a wind turbine, is part of local folklore. He installed his first turbine on the hills overlooking the New Lawn in 1996. Only in 2010, as the 125-year-old club faced relegation from a regional league and financial ruin, did Vince, by then a millionaire, begin a formal association. He soon undertook to neutralise the club\u2019s carbon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI had to bring all of our learnings in energy, transport and food, our ethics and our sustainable approach to actually create a green football club,\u201d he tells China Dialogue.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Forest Green: the vegan football team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A meat ban seemed a logical early move. The livestock sector is responsible for about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fao.org\/news\/story\/en\/item\/197623\/icode\/\">15%<\/a> of all planet-warming gases released into the atmosphere via human activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;2015, Forest Green replaced their beef burgers with vegetarian equivalents, upsetting a minority of fans. But Vince says the carnivores\u2019 distaste didn\u2019t last: \u201cThey came, they tried it, they loved it. Our attendances have quadrupled in that time, our food sales gone up fivefold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_vegan_pizza.jpg\" data-srcset=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_vegan_pizza-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_vegan_pizza.jpg 2400w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2400px\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Jade Crawford, head chef at Forest Green Rovers, prepares a vegan pizza (Image: Chris Davy\/China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_vegan_pizza.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"3 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1600\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2400\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Forest Green\u2019s status has also risen sharply, in both football and media terms. Never has the club played in a higher league, and Vince aims to take it to the Championship, one step below the Premier League. The local council recently&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/zaha-hadid-architects-timber-football-stadium-approved-at-second-attempt\/10045805.article\">approved<\/a>&nbsp;a new 5,000-seater stadium, the Eco Park, a state-of-the-art timber construction designed by world famous architects Zaha Hadid. Vince says it will be \u201cthe world\u2019s greenest stadium\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Long-time Forest Green fan Katie Hyde, 40, says the lack of beef burgers was the first major change she remembers on Vince taking over: \u201cIt\u2019s a culture thing. It\u2019s people\u2019s mindsets\u2026 we\u2019re all a bit stuck in our ways.\u201d But she has since embraced the culinary overhaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advertising revenue at Forest Green is also up: \u201cWe\u2019ve never had so many companies want to sponsor us,\u201d Vince says, gesturing at brands such as soy-based food producer Quorn, whose TV commercials in the 1990s featured Manchester United icon Ryan Giggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-pull-quote block--pull-quote\"><div class=\"block--pull-quote__wrapper\"><blockquote class=\"block--pull-quote__quote\"><em>A lot of people haven\u2019t grasped the urgency. We have ten years and if we don\u2019t start now it\u2019s just going to get harder<\/em><\/blockquote><cite class=\"block--pull-quote__cite\">Dale Vince<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Premier League team&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chelseafc.com\/en\/news\/2020\/01\/21\/first-fully-vegan-kiosk-in-the-premier-league-opens-at-stamford-\">Chelsea<\/a>&nbsp;recently introduced an entirely vegan menu at one of its kiosks. But elsewhere at English grounds, animal-based snacks, such as those supplied by 56-year-old manufacturer Pukka Pies, have long been ubiquitous. Pukka Pies also sponsors professional clubs, including Oldham Athletic, where the \u201cmeat pie, sausage roll\u201d song originates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meat prohibition extends beyond serving supporters at Forest Green, who Vince says are only expected to suppress a taste for animal products for two hours once or twice a fortnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for players, none can eat or bring meat on club premises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For club captain Joe Mills, 30, it has been a rewarding learning curve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Captain Joe Mills, Forest Green Rovers\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RA_YS-ok-zc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen you come into football, it\u2019s all chicken and eggs,\u201d he says. But Mills is one of a handful of players to fully convert to veganism. He belies the stereotype of the arrogant, uncaring footballer: \u201cIf we are able to leave the planet in a better state than when we came onto it, then why shouldn\u2019t we?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mills echoes elite footballers including Arsenal\u2019s environmentally conscious fullback&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/av\/football\/49280359\">Hector Beller\u00edn<\/a>, who has also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2019\/sep\/28\/hector-bellerin-meets-romesh-ranganathan-footballer-doesnt-have-to-be-alpha-male\">adopted<\/a>&nbsp;a plant-based diet. Mills says other Premier League footballers have approached him for tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forest Green\u2019s fitness coach and nutritionist Tom Heulin says the performance advantages of veganism are clear: \u201cPlant-based food is much quicker to digest when you\u2019re playing sport and exercising.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Nutritionist_Tom_Huelin.jpg\" data-srcset=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Nutritionist_Tom_Huelin-1024x682.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Nutritionist_Tom_Huelin.jpg 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2000px\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Nutritionist Tom Huelin sets up pre-match drills (Image: Chris Davy\/China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Nutritionist_Tom_Huelin.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"3 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1333\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2000\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The club doesn\u2019t enforce veganism outside its grounds but always promotes the benefits. Its efforts have not gone unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A vegan circus?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s matchday at Forest Green and French and Swiss TV crews tour the facilities,&nbsp;sampling&nbsp;the locally sourced cuisine. For a lower league club, the media operation is impressively slick. But at no point does anyone \u201cpreach\u201d veganism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Opposition supporters have hurled accusations of \u201ctree-hugger\u201d (along with ham sandwiches and inflatable pigs) at players during games, according to fan Joe Hill, 36. But disparaging Forest Green as whimsical nature lovers doesn\u2019t hurt Hill, who, prior to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/51962751\">postponement<\/a>&nbsp;of the league due to coronavirus, was most concerned with the club\u2019s form, injury list and proposed move to the Eco Park some 20 km away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat you get is: \u2018Forest green fans eat all the grass. That\u2019s why there\u2019s no grass on the pitch. Because all the vegans have eaten it,\u2019\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Jack_Aitchison.jpg\" data-srcset=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Jack_Aitchison-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Jack_Aitchison.jpg 2400w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2400px\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Forest Green\u2019s Jack Aitchison in action against Port\u00a0Vale (Image: Chris Davy\/China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Jack_Aitchison.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"3 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1600\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2400\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>These taunts, however light-hearted, feel outmoded as popular attitudes towards veganism and sustainability warm. Meanwhile, the UN has given Forest Green&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/unfccc.int\/climate-action\/momentum-for-change\/climate-neutral-now\/creating-the-greenest-football-club-in-the-world-forest-green-rovers\">special recognition<\/a>. Vince is now an ambassador for the UN\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/unfccc.int\/climate-action\/momentum-for-change\/climate-neutral-now\/creating-the-greenest-football-club-in-the-world-forest-green-rovers\">Sport for Climate Action<\/a>&nbsp;initiative, targeting fan bases with messages about low-carbon living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of Hill\u2019s friends and fellow Forest Green fans (\u201cthe ones you wouldn\u2019t expect\u201d) have become vegan or vegetarians. The message is getting through.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Groundsman Adam Witchell, who feeds the grass a chemical-free diet, perhaps best exemplifies the club\u2019s incremental and un-sanctimonious approach.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUnder the soil there are a lot of microbes, we try to feed them little and often to keep them busy and active. The more they eat and excrete will help the roots go down,\u201d he says, explaining that deeper roots enhance grass\u2019s capacity to store carbon below the surface.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Groundsman Adam Witchell, Forest Green Rovers\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MRDJincJTC8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Witchell likens the effects of using chemical plant feed to those of steroids on the human body: \u201cIf you then miss out [a dose], your body will wilt. And that\u2019s when infection comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there is a downside to omitting chemical products, it\u2019s that pre-season weeding can be painstakingly slow: \u201cIt takes about a week, with four of us on our hands and knees \u2013 with just a fork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Witchell constantly reviews operations and seeks to make small gains. He now recycles water, uses grass cuttings in eco-friendly handwash in the club\u2019s toilets, and plans seed deliveries long in advance to cut packaging and transport.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transport challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2019, the 20 players shortlisted for the Ballon d\u2019Or prize, which honours the best footballer of the year, were responsible for emitting some&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/uk.reuters.com\/article\/us-soccer-environment\/worlds-top-20-players-caused-505-tonnes-of-co2-emissions-study-idUKKBN1Y01M1\">505 tonnes<\/a>&nbsp;of carbon via travel that year, equivalent to burning around 20 tonnes of coal, according to researchers at the University of Manchester.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brazilian internationals Marquinhos (110,787 km) and Roberto Firmino (97,907 km) travelled furthest. Private jets contributed heavily to players\u2019 footprints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Vince says many of Forest Green\u2019s lessons are transferable to teams in bigger countries, he is pragmatic about the travel challenges they and their fans currently face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important not to worry about what you can\u2019t do, but focus on tackling the things you can. Across energy, transport and food, there\u2019s a lot that every club can do,\u201d he says, identifying the potential of Chinese-pioneered&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate-energy\/21995-latin-american-cities-finally-embrace-chinese-electric-buses\/\">electric buses<\/a>&nbsp;to precipitate a sustainable transport future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forest Green\u2019s car park is equipped with charging stations for electric vehicles. And the club also compensates for carbon emitted by fans travelling to games by factoring an offset scheme into ticket prices. Proceeds are re-invested in carbon mitigation elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-story-image block--story-image\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><div class=\"block--story-image__column\"><div class=\"block--story-image__image\"><img class=\"lazy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Electric_vehicle_charging_points.jpg\" data-srcset=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Electric_vehicle_charging_points-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Electric_vehicle_charging_points.jpg 2400w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 768px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, 2400px\"\/><\/div><div class=\"block--story-image__content\"><div itemprop=\"caption\" class=\"block--story-image__caption\">Electric vehicle charging points outside the entrance to Forest Green\u2019s stadium (Image: Chris Davy\/China Dialogue)<\/div><\/div><\/div><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"http:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Forest_Green_Rovers_Electric_vehicle_charging_points.jpg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2 MB\"\/><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"1600\"\/><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"2400\"\/><meta itemprop=\"author\"\/><meta itemprop=\"representativeOfPage\" content=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Vince dismisses claims that the transition to a cleaner economy is necessarily expensive: \u201cThere are some things you have to buy, like solar panels\u2026 but then you save on your energy bills every year for 20 years,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s swapping capital investment for operational expenditure. It\u2019s just a different way of looking at things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Urgency and resistance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Vince is a highly successful businessman with a simple message. In the microcosm of Forest Green Rovers, a seamless green transition feels imminent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what\u2019s holding it up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vince&nbsp;believes \u201cbusinesses don\u2019t want to make the change, members of the public are resistant to change and politicians don\u2019t want to force big change on voters. There\u2019s resistance in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA lot of people haven\u2019t grasped the urgency. We have ten years and if we don\u2019t start now it\u2019s just going to get harder,\u201d he says, nodding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u2019s landmark&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/sr15\/\">2018 study<\/a>&nbsp;urging immediate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chairman Dale Vince, Forest Green Rovers\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sLDCP-xjc2w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With sport and other areas of UK culture including&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate-energy\/29925-fast-fashion-a-passing-trend\/\">fashion<\/a>&nbsp;and music festivals \u201conly just getting started\u201d in efforts to curb carbon emissions, they should share experiences before the country hosts&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/unfccc.int\/news\/cop26-postponed\">postponed<\/a>&nbsp;international climate talks, known as COP26, Vince says.<br><br>His message to world leaders ahead of the next round of negotiations, which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate-energy\/32219-uns-cop25-climate-summit-in-madrid-ends-in-failure\/\">broke down<\/a>&nbsp;in Madrid in December, is characteristically clear:<br><br>\u201cWe have renewable energy. We have the possibility to electrify transport, and we need to move from eating animals to eating plants. If we can do that, we solve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article was originally published on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate-energy\/34778-inside-forest-green-worlds-first-carbon-neutral-vegan-football-club\/\">Di\u00e1logo Chino<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>English club Forest Green Rovers has an encouragingly simple message for sports teams worldwide on lowering carbon emissions, reports Rob Soutar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50000004,"featured_media":60831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761],"tags":[513,585],"hashtags":[],"country":[50040729],"class_list":["post-36980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","tag-carbon-emissions","tag-renewables","country-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"English club Forest Green Rovers has an encouragingly simple message for sports teams worldwide on lowering carbon emissions, reports Rob Soutar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"English club Forest Green Rovers has an encouragingly simple message for sports teams worldwide on lowering carbon emissions, reports Rob Soutar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dialogue Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-27T12:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-19T11:26:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Soutar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robert Soutar\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/999e65e486f4bbe1b4f2c5ffaed92bdd\"},\"headline\":\"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-27T12:53:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-19T11:26:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/\"},\"wordCount\":1734,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Carbon emissions\",\"Renewables\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Climate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/\",\"name\":\"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club | Dialogue Earth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-27T12:53:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-19T11:26:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"English club Forest Green Rovers has an encouragingly simple message for sports teams worldwide on lowering carbon emissions, reports Rob Soutar\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club.jpg\",\"width\":2400,\"height\":1600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Dialogue Earth\",\"description\":\"Global climate and environment news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png\",\"width\":256,\"height\":256,\"caption\":\"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DialogueEarth_\",\"\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DialogueEarth.English\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dialogue.earth\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dialogueearth\/\"],\"publishingPrinciples\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/about\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/999e65e486f4bbe1b4f2c5ffaed92bdd\",\"name\":\"Robert Soutar\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/dc_rob\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/dc_rob\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club | Dialogue Earth","description":"English club Forest Green Rovers has an encouragingly simple message for sports teams worldwide on lowering carbon emissions, reports Rob Soutar","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club","og_description":"English club Forest Green Rovers has an encouragingly simple message for sports teams worldwide on lowering carbon emissions, reports Rob Soutar","og_url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/","og_site_name":"Dialogue Earth","article_published_time":"2020-04-27T12:53:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-06-19T11:26:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club-1024x683.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Robert Soutar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/"},"author":{"name":"Robert Soutar","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/999e65e486f4bbe1b4f2c5ffaed92bdd"},"headline":"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club","datePublished":"2020-04-27T12:53:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-19T11:26:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/"},"wordCount":1734,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club.jpg","keywords":["Carbon emissions","Renewables"],"articleSection":["Climate"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/","name":"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club | Dialogue Earth","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-27T12:53:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-19T11:26:25+00:00","description":"English club Forest Green Rovers has an encouragingly simple message for sports teams worldwide on lowering carbon emissions, reports Rob Soutar","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Forest_Green_Rovers_worlds_first_carbon_neutral_football_club.jpg","width":2400,"height":1600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/11980-inside-the-world-s-first-carbon-neutral-football-club\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Inside the world\u2019s first carbon neutral football club"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/","name":"Dialogue Earth","description":"Global climate and environment news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization","name":"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Dialogue-Earth-Symbol-Logo_Black-Text.png","width":256,"height":256,"caption":"\u5bf9\u8bdd\u5730\u7403"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/DialogueEarth_","","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DialogueEarth.English","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dialogue.earth\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/dialogueearth\/"],"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/about\/"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/999e65e486f4bbe1b4f2c5ffaed92bdd","name":"Robert Soutar","url":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/dc_rob\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/author\/dc_rob\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50000004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64785,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36980\/revisions\/64785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36980"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=36980"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=36980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}