Blues Go Green for Climate Change

Chelsea Football Club helped launch a major campaign to tackle climate change for London. It was announced at a ceremony at City Hall that Chelsea FC was one of the first companies to sign up to the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone’s, Green500 scheme. The initiative welcomes any big business who wants to make a genuine commitment to helping the environment by reducing their carbon emissions, irrespective of their starting point Livingstone said: “‘The London green organisations programme will motivate, support and reward organisations to reduce their carbon footprint. “This is a world first, and places London at the forefront of government and business working together to cut carbon emissions. The impressive range of companies who have already signed up to the Green500 shows that leading businesses want to take a lead in helping to prevent climate change, and recognise that it increasingly makes commercial sense to do so. “These programmes are open to all, with the only requirement being a genuine commitment to stop climate change before it is too late.” Each company will be assessed and given realistic agreed targets within the day to day needs of their business. Chelsea’s Communications and Public Affairs Director, Simon Greenberg, said: “As a responsible business, Chelsea wants to make a genuine contribution to the environment as it is such an important issue for the future and that is why this scheme is ideal. “It will take into account everyday requirements of our business but identify areas where we can make changes. We are not going to stop flying by plane, or travel by coach to matches, or tell individuals to stop driving a particular car. That is just unrealistic, not just for us, but for many businesses. “However that does not mean we cannot make a contribution in other areas. If we all do that it could have a real impact collectively.” Under the scheme each company’s carbon use will be assessed by a leading company in the field of energy efficiency. An agreed action plan and annual targets to reduce carbon footprint will follow the assessment with awards being given for meeting those targets. Other companies who helped launch the scheme were Marks & Spencer, Ikea, Tesco, John Lewis and BSkyB.