Partnerships
Local actions have global impact & global actions have local impacts.
So we are partnering with groups and organisations here in Bristol and across the globe to share knowledge, swap ideas and partner to achieve change.
Project Whitebeam Success
Since launching in the summer of 2022, Project Whitebeam has already won multiple national awards, while Bristol City was ranked as the Championship’s most sustainable club in the Sport Positive sustainability league and achieved GreenCode Accreditation in the EFL Green Clubs scheme. This shows that we’ve made a good start, but we still have a long way to go.
Here are a few highlights from Project Whitebeam so far:
GreenCode Accreditation
Bristol City became the first club to earn GreenCode Accreditation in the EFL Green Clubs scheme. GreenCode is an environmental accreditation company which assesses clubs across 26 environmental and sustainability criteria, with 76 points required to gain GreenCode accreditation.
Following a recent audit, Bristol City achieved a score of 80, making the club the first to earn GreenCode Accreditation since the launch of the EFL Green Clubs Scheme in 2021. EFL Green Clubs sees clubs initially assessed on their operations, before being given bespoke guidance and practical advice on how to implement change in their environmental operations.
Climate Action Award
Bristol City claimed the inaugural Climate Action Award at the 2022 Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) Awards, the largest supporter-led awards in the country, for the club’s work on the group-wide sustainability initiative Project Whitebeam.
Peter Smith, Project Manager at Bristol Sport, said: “It’s wonderful to have our work recognised on a national level, especially by the FSA. Fans, staff, and partners need to collaborate and our work with Pledgeball has already seen us come together to make positive change. We’re aware that we have a long way to go but change is already proving to be positive in many ways.”
EFL Sport Positive League
Bristol City has been ranked the Championship’s most environmentally sustainable club in the 2022 EFL Sport Positive League. The club scored 22 points out of a possible 24 across 11 categories with only Forest Green Rovers ranking higher across all 72 EFL clubs.
Club Director, Gavin Marshall said “We’re pleased to be among the clubs leading change across football. We recognise that we have an impact and are working hard to mitigate that across a number of key areas. Sport clearly has a long way to go but it feels like clubs are finally waking up to the challenge.”
Green Club of the Year Award
Bristol City was named Green Club of the Year at the EFL Awards, beating 71 other EFL clubs. The Robins were recognised as a result of their sustainability strategy, Project Whitebeam, in partnership with Bristol Bears, Bristol Flyers, Ashton Gate and Bristol Sport.
The club is a signatory to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and one of only four EFL Clubs who also have Race to Zero targets of cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 50% by 2030 and being net zero by 2040. City was shortlisted for the Green Club of the Year Award alongside Reading and Northampton Town.
The English Football League (EFL) also awarded Bristol City and Ashton Gate the ‘Last Mile Award, 2023’ for the best supporter travel plan of the 72 EFL clubs. The award comes after EFL representatives visited two Bristol City games during the 2022/23 season and rated travel to Ashton Gate as 10/10 for both visits.
Pledgeball League
The 2022/23 Pledgeball league campaign came to a nail-biting finish with Bristol City FC storming past Leeds United, Manchester United, Charlton, Norwich City and Stoke City in the final few weeks of the season.
Leeds United had dominated the top of the table following the Green Football Weekend campaign but they could not hold off Robins Fans who pledged to save a massive 1,009,131kg of CO²e per year! This is the equivalent of taking 225 cars off the road.
Bristol City Women were also victorious! Not only did they top the FA Women’s Championship table, securing promotion to the Barclays Women’s Super League, but they also topped the Pledgeball League table. Fans pledged to save 209,404kg of CO²e, the equivalent of taking 47 cars off the road.
BASIS Sustainable Sport Awards
Bristol Sport’s Project Whitebeam was shortlisted at the 2022 BASIS Sustainable Sport Awards in the Events Strategy category for the sporting group’s work to reduce the impact of food on the environment.
Project Whitebeam was shortlisted alongside Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Southampton FC for the award, which ultimately went to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games for ‘Creating a Carbon Neutral Legacy’.
