Vegan football club now carbon neutral

An English football team is the world’s first professional sports team to be certified carbon-neutral by the United Nations.

Forest Green Rovers, known as the “Green Devils”, in English football’s fourth tier has adopted a number of environmentally-friendly measures, from using electric vehicles to vegan-only meals for players, staff and fans.

The club’s 2000-seat stadium in Nailsworth is fully powered by renewable energy, about 20% of it solar, Associated Press reports.

It even has a solar-powered lawnmower dubbed “The Mowbot”.

Chairman Dale Vince, who also owns a renewable energy company, took charge in 2010 and helped reshape club policies, saying football clubs can influence change by setting an example.

The UN’s Climate Neutral Now initiative encourages all parts of society to take action against climate change. Applicants must measure their greenhouse gas emissions, then reduce them.

Forest Green Rovers’ plant-based menu was granted a vegan trademark by the Vegan Society last year. The team claims to be the world’s first fully-vegan football club.

Vince says to meet UN certification the club had to offset carbon emissions it couldn’t reduce by donating to a UN renewable energy project, in this case an Indian project.