‘The Blues Go Green’: Montrose Community Trust Leads the way in Football’s Fight Against Climate Change
Green’s the goal. Photo by Chaos Soccer Gear on Unsplash
With over 100 world leaders set to descend upon Glasgow ahead of the COP26 climate conference in November, the Montrose Community Trust have utilised their platform within football to reduce carbon emissions within the local area.
As part of the ‘Keep Scotland Beautiful’ Climate Challenge Fund, the charity launched several innovative initiatives such as: the Kit & Boot recycling project; the use of reusable drinks bottles; the ‘Links Park Environmental Trail’ education programme; and an active travel project with the ambition of reducing their overall output of CO2 emissions.
Peter Davidson, Chief Executive of the Montrose Community Trust and Director of Montrose Football Club, said:
“We received significant funding a few years ago to deliver a project that we called ‘Tackling Carbon’, and this was used in the context of football to deliver a vast range of green projects.
“The kit and boot recycling project had the main aim of stopping discarded clothing from going to a landfill whilst providing children in low-income families with access to perfectly good and usable kit.
“We had an ‘active travel project’ to encourage kids to cycle or walk as opposed to travelling less than one-mile journeys in a car, and on top of all of that we run an education program called the ‘Links Park environmental trail’, which looked to raise environmental knowledge, attainment, and achievement in these areas.”
Despite the strict financial constraints of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Montrose CT have continued to progress their desire for lower carbon emissions and the success of their initiatives have been noted in the end of year climate challenge report.
“In total, I would suggest [we have rehoused] somewhere in the region of 1200 pairs of boots over a four-year period which saved just over a thousand tons of CO2e.The football strip recycling project saved over 811 tons, and the reusable drinks project saved around 757 tons.
“So, collectively if you weigh all of that up, it is quite hard hitting as a small project,” said Paul
Additionally, by reducing the number of cars travelling to the stadium, the CT saved 7200 motorised miles and 9800 kWh of energy in domestic housing.
The success of the community Trust has defined how powerful a role football can play in tackling climate change, and Peter firmly believes that the sport could be a key motivator in inspiring younger and older fans into being eco-friendlier in the future.
“I definitely think it could be a key to behaviour change. If your local football club is doing it, then more often than not, the local football fan will want to get behind their team and follow their advice.
“Football has a huge role to play, and it should be involved in that all agency approach to try and change their ways.
“Whether you like or loathe football, there’s no denying it’s a powerful tool, and it has the ability to reach, engage and positively influence people in a way like no other. So, why shouldn’t football be using that appeal, that power and that popularity to good use in what is a climate crisis in this minute in time?”