Who’s doing it?

Bristol’s leading sports clubs have joined forces under a wide-ranging environmental sustainability initiative.

‘Project Whitebeam’ encompasses Bristol Sport’s three affiliated entities based at Ashton Gate stadium – Bristol City (EFL Championship), Bristol Bears (Premiership Rugby) and Bristol Flyers (British Basketball).

What are they doing?

Under the initiative, all three clubs have signed up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. 

Committing to reducing GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2040, Project Whitebeam will also help address waste, water, biodiversity and air quality considerations.

Key aims

Building on existing sustainability actions at Ashton Gate, the project will focus upon:

• Minimising consumption 
• Reducing, re-using and recycling waste 
• Promoting sustainable travel to supporters, staff and visitors 
• Sustainable supplier procurement
• Using sport’s power to promote environmentally friendly behaviour

Partnerships with Bristol Green Capital Partnership, Pledgeball, Tusk and Bristol One City are all aimed at sharing knowledge, swapping ideas and collaborating to achieve this change.

Why are they doing it?

Not only is acting responsibly ‘the right thing to do’, but Bristol Sport points to the underlying business reality and opportunity:

“Looking ahead it’s also critical to our business model.” 

“We don’t know exactly what regulations, taxes and rules will be implemented in the future but we can be certain that all businesses will need to adapt.”

“By starting the hard work now we’re protecting the clubs’ futures.”

Why is this significant?

Bristol’s core platform, with its key sports and clubs, offers a ready, collaborative advantage.

But successful delivery of Project Whitebeam should inspire other ‘sports-sharing’ venues, cities and towns to pursue this connected vision for sustainability.

In the UK alone, the likes of Coventry, Swansea, Brentford, Wigan, Hull, Huddersfield etc could all consider a similar style initiative, with shared social and environmental goals.

Want to know more?

If you want to know more, you can check out the full scope of Project Whitebeam. 

To learn about sustainability and sport in general, you can also get in touch with us at info@impact3zero.com.