European Tour Green Drive is a strengthened commitment and approach towards priority issues such as climate change; biodiversity loss; air and ocean pollution; and sustainable and ethical procurement.
The co-ordinated plan was launched on World Environment Day, June 5, 2021 as part of Golf for Good - the European Tour’s overarching Corporate Social Responsibility programme - and coincides with the UN Decade of Action
The European Tour’s partnership with GEO ensures the Green Drive aims are effective, and that results can be tracked closely to establish baseline figures and to quantify impacts over the coming years.
The Green Drive approach to climate action is directly aligned to The Paris Agreement and the UN Sport for Climate Framework. All carbon calculations are in line with the UN Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and offsetting will be carried out using GEO’s Sustainable Golf Climate Projects that are in turn fully accredited by The Gold Standard, and which are designed to also ensure additional contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The key aims of the European Tour’s Green Drive are to: Lead by Example by integrating best practices into core operations, owned events and procurement, establishing Tour wide policies and tools, and activating new partnerships; to Support and Share by providing guidance and examples of best practice, fostering a growing community of collective action and results; and to Promote and Inspire by raising awareness, inspiring others and establishing a credible leadership position for golf in sustainable sport.
Implementation will encompass all aspects of the business including operations, partnerships, technology, tournaments, TV production and venues across the Tour community, which typically involves staging, promoting and sanctioning over 100 tournaments in over 30 countries each year over the European Tour, European Challenge Tour and Legends Tour.
The Green Drive extends to European Golf Design, the golf course design company of the European Tour, and the ethos will be encompassed within projects for new courses and redesigning existing member and resort courses to host tournaments and The Ryder Cup.
