Scottish Football Outlines Sustainability Commitment
The Scottish FA and Scottish Professional Football League have outlined their commitment to playing their part in creating a more sustainable national game.
With world leaders gathered in Glasgow for Cop26 this week, the two governing bodies have pledged to put the home of Scottish football and the headquarters of the respective organisations, Hampden Park, at the forefront of measures to reduce the impact on the environment.
As the governing body, the Scottish FA has recently published its best practice guidelines, Environmental Sustainability in Scottish Football, and will commit to even more stringent measures as part of its new strategy, The Power of Scottish Football, over the next decade.
With the growing climate crisis there is a need to implement measures to ensure sustainability throughout society. In 2016 FIFA became the first international sports organisations to join the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action and the two organisations will utilise the framework to help clubs – and their people – consider their impact, showcase the journey others have undertaken and ultimately strive to create sustainable organisations that work with their communities to achieve the best possible results.
In line with the vision for Sustainable Glasgow they will contribute to making Glasgow one of Europe’s most sustainable cities and Hampden Park will be the most sustainable stadia in Scotland.
The Scottish FA has made significant improvements to the stadium as part of its co-hosting of UEFA EURO 2020 which have included:
– Upgrading floodlights to a new interactive and energy-efficient LED system.
– Upgrading all internal and external lighting to low energy LED
– Ongoing commitment to zero waste in landfill with our partners Zero Waste Scotland.
– Commitment to separating all office waste at source.
– Enhancement of active travel commitment, including new bike shelters and parking provision.
– EV charging points in the stadium car park.
– Transport Group formed to increase public transport provision, including additional train services and express bus services to and from the city centre.
– Vegan food counters and more sustainable packaging in the stadium bowl, with locally sourced suppliers to our new café men
– E-ticketing platform replacing manual ticket printing.
In support of Scotland’s world-leading climate change targets, they have set out to reduce carbon emissions from energy, waste and water (currently 2802 tonnes of CO2e) by 10% by the end of this year. To help achieve this they will continue to:
Send zero waste direct to landfill
Achieve awards for environmental excellence
Support all those that come through our gates to make healthy food choices
Assist all stadium users and visitors in choosing active travel for their journeys
Make improvements to our grounds to enhance biodiversity
Reduce operating costs by improving stadium infrastructure
Champion behavioural change to promote sustainability at our stadium
Engage with the community to share Hampden as a community asset
Deliver an accessible stadium that embraces our diverse spectators’ and visitors’ individual requirements
Image: scottishfa.co.uk
