What is Cúl Green?
Cúl Green is an exciting joint initiative between the GAA and ESB, aimed at making Croke Park a carbon-neutral stadium. The GAA and the ESB are playing their part by putting in place a state of the art environmental-improvement programme covering the stadium's electricity, waste and water management systems.
To succeed Cúl Green needs your help. Through this website you can show your support by committing to energy saving activities such as switching off lights when you leave a room, taking public transport instead of taking the car, not overfilling your kettle.
Ambitious 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.
ISO14001 certification is a key objective of the Cúl Green initiative. Croke Park achieved a major milestone in the Cúl Green Initiative in May by gaining ISO14001 certification for the Environmental Management System (EMS) at the Stadium. The certification was granted following an independent external EMS audit by SGS Ireland Ltd.
A total of 2.2 million people attended Croke Park last year, making it the biggest venue in Ireland and the new sustainability plan will extend to fans' activities in reducing the environmental impact of their travel to and from the stadium.
Environmental Expertise
ESB are providing expertise in environmental management as a specialist from the company has joined the Croke Park team for 12 months to achieve internationally-recognised best-practice environmental standards at the stadium. The GAA President, Mr Nickey Brennan, said that ESB's track record on energy efficiency, respect for the environment and on delivery of major projects, makes it an excellent sustainability partner for the organisation:
"Both ESB and the GAA have a national presence and tradition of service and support for the community. This initiative will set a standard of responsibility towards the environment for all our supporters and is a showcase for what can be achieved through the active participation and behaviour of our fans".
ESB Chief Executive, Padraig McManus, said Cúl Green will increase awareness about sustainability and climate change across, not just the GAA family, but a far wider supporting public, adding that:
"ESB's recently announced €22 Billion capital spend included ambitious carbon-reduction targets for the company, leading to an ESB that is net-zero carbon by 2035. Initiatives such as the Croke Park Cúl Green environmental project is a natural progression for ESB in pursuit of this radical climate-change agenda".
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. To date around 50,000 people and 150 organisations have signed up to CRed making 150,000 carbon reduction pledges.
Contact Us
Since the launch of Cúl Green the initiative has won two Awards. In February 2009 it won the Marketing Award at the eGovernment Awards and in October 2008 it won the Green IT Project Award at the Inspired IT Awards. The Awards are recognition of the commitment from ESB, the GAA and all at Croke Park plus the continued support of the fans who have played their part by making carbon saving pledges.
Contact Us
If you would like to contact us please send an email to info@culgreen.ie and we will do our best to reply within 36 hours.
Useful Links
Further information about climate change can be found at the following websites:
Partner Websites
Partner Environmental Policies
Further Information on What You Can Do
Climate Change Publications and Websites