Cúl Green is an initiative aimed at making Ireland's largest sports stadium, Croke Park, carbon-neutral. Cúl Green means Green Goal in Irish and it was launched in May 2008 and involves the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB) putting in place a state of the art environmental-improvement programme covering the stadium's electricity, waste and water management systems.
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Supported by the fans
A total of 2.2 million people attended Croke Park in 2007, making it the biggest venue in Ireland and the new sustainability plan extends to fans' activities in reducing the environmental impact of their travel to and from the stadium. People can make energy saving pledges at www.culgreen.ie. The Cúl Green website won Green Project of the Year Award at the 2008 Inspired IT Awards. and a 2009 eGovernment Award for marketing.
Environmental targets
The Cúl Green plan sets ambitious environmental targets for Croke Park, dramatically reducing the carbon footprint at Ireland's most popular sporting venue over the next six years. The new project in the immediate term will cut Croke Park's annual 4,500 tonnes carbon emissions output by more than two-thirds.
ESB are providing expertise in environmental management as a specialist from the company has joined the Croke Park team to achieve internationally recognised best-practice environmental standards at the stadium.
The Cúl Green project is supported and audited by the Carbon Reduction (CRed) Programme which was set up in 2003 by the University of East Anglia's environmental scientists. Its purpose is to support, monitor and evaluate progress towards a lower carbon future. CRed supports a range of community-based projects such as the Cúl Green initiative.