We have been working to reduce our environmental impacts at Wembley Stadium since 2007. The Live Earth event which we hosted on July 7 2007 (7.7.7) was a great opportunity to show what Wembley Stadium can do to support artists, audiences and concert promoters in reducing the environmental impact of events.
Wembley Stadium’s Green Team is responsible for setting our environmental strategy and making sure that we aim for best practice. The Green Team has responsibility for reducing our carbon footprint and managing our impacts in five priority areas: Energy & Water, Waste, Transport and Procurement (what we buy) as well as communicating to our stakeholders, including visitors, clients, local community and staff.
Energy
Wembley Stadium is powered by 100% green energy. Since 2007 we have reduced electricity use and related carbon emissions by 28%! This has been achieved by everyone at the Stadium working together to ensure electrical systems and equipment are used as efficiently as possible. All non-essential lighting is switched off on non-event days, including the Arch.
Waste
Thanks to our ‘waste recycling and recovery programme’, Wembley Stadium is now a ‘zero waste to landfill’ venue. This means that all stadium-generated event and operational waste is now recycled (made into new products) or recovered (converted into electricity that is returned to the national grid). We are currently achieving a recycling rate of approximately 76%; our target is to achieve a long term 80% recycling rate.
Water
Wembley Stadium’s water consumption is, unsurprisingly, greatest on event days when up to 90,000 people use our facilities. On non-event days, maintenance activities such as cleaning, jet-washing and watering the pitch consume a significant amount of water. The Green Team continues to work on a number of water-saving initiatives around the Stadium.
Transport
As a ‘public transport venue’ Wembley Stadium benefits from three major stations and five train /underground lines. Our Green Travel Plan aims to reduce the number of people travelling to the stadium by car and encourage alternative means of travel which have less environmental impact
We encourage all our visitors to use public transport when visiting Wembley.
Achievements
We are delighted about the progress we have made to date:
* Achieving a Platinum Award in the Mayor’s 2010 Green500 Awards (surpassing our 2009 silver award)
* Achieving the Carbon Trust Standard for early action on energy efficiency
* Achieving a 2 Star Industry Green certification for venues
Carbon Trust Footprinting Exhibition
Wembley Stadium, part of The FA Group, was one of 14 companies invited by the Carbon Trust to exhibit at the world's first Carbon Footprinting Gallery in London. The exhibition was held at the Future Gallery to celebrate pioneering companies that are shaping the future of carbon footprinting.
The Stadium Business Awards 2012
Wembley Stadium won the international Sustainability Award at The Stadium Business Awards 2012. “We are delighted to receive 'The Stadium Business Awards' Sustainability Award which is evidence of all the hard work Wembley’s Green Team has put into improving our environmental performance since 2007.” - Greg Gillin, Group FM and Stadium Operations Director
“Environmental sustainability is a core business objective for Wembley and we are delighted to have achieved the London Mayor’s Platinum Green500 award and the Industry Green mark for venues in recognition of our efforts. As with all organisations we have more to achieve, but we are proud to be making real, quantifiable progress"
- Roger Maslin, Managing Director
“Since the start of Wembley’s ‘greening’ activities in 2007, we have made good progress to manage our environmental impacts. We have implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS) at the Stadium to help us achieve our objectives and targets in a robust and consistent manner.
Our visitors, staff, partners, suppliers and the local community remain integral to our success: all your ideas, feedback and efforts are vital to continually improving our environmental performance over time”
- Greg Gillin, Group Services Director