Ascot Racecourse
UN’S Sports For Climate Action Framework
Ascot Racecourse has become a signatory of the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action Framework.
The Sports for Climate Action initiative unites global sporting organisations to lead the contribution of sport on tackling climate change as the community collectively strives to be a driver of change as the world moves to a future of low-carbon emissions.
This great news comes as Ascot Racecourse also announced it operated the Village Enclosure, situated in the centre of the racecourse, as a net zero carbon emissions area at Royal Ascot 2023. The Village Enclosure hosts up to 10,000 racegoers each day it is open across the Royal Ascot race meeting.
The Framework
Being a signatory to the framework brings a commitment to the below core aims and principles:
Reducing the overall climate impact from sports
Promoting greater environmental responsibility
Using Ascot’s platforms to educate for climate action
Advocating for climate action through communications
Promoting sustainable and responsible consumption
The Village Enclosure
Alongside this and following the success of the racecourse’s first ever net zero restaurant – NEUTRO – in the Village Enclosure at the 2022 Royal Meeting, Ascot focused on the whole enclosure this year and sought to reduce, mitigate, and avoid carbon emissions. The objectives were to change operations, collect data, analyse performance, educate, and understand how the business could roll out this net zero approach further across the racecourse in the future.
The Actions in Place
The actions in place included: generating electricity from solar power; storing off peak energy in batteries; close monitoring of water usage; 50% of all food on menus plant-based; procuring and serving locally sourced British food and beverage; all cutlery and crockery compostable; organic cleaning materials and recycled paper materials used; furniture and temporary builds constructed from vintage, hired and refurbished materials; staff employed as locally as possible with their journeys by train; electric vehicles or car share.
Zero General Waste
The aim was to have no general waste produced by attendees of the Village Enclosure, with all glass and plastics being collected and recycled and all other materials being compostable. Waste collection was solely made by electric vehicles.
For the residual carbon emissions which could not be fully reduced, an offset programme was in place which followed the internationally recognised UK Woodland Carbon Code. This involved each tonne of emitted CO2e being offset through woodland creation projects.
Re-Use & Recycling
Throughout the year, Ascot continues to operate its RE-CUP initiative, where more than half a million cups are washed and reused annually. Ascot has also partnered with multiple sustainability schemes such as closed-loop recycling which means that all plastic packaging and waste cardboard are recycled into other reusable materials and products, contributing to the venue achieving 0% waste to landfill since 2019.
Championing Nature
Wildflower meadows have been established within the Ascot estate and beehives have been installed on the Heath inside the racecourse, where reservoirs continue to collect rainwater from the Grandstand roof to be reused on the track and grounds.
Jonathan Parker, Managing Director of 1711 by Ascot – Ascot’s catering division, said:
“Taking Ascot Racecourse on this sustainability journey is already reaping many rewards and signing up to the UN’s Sports For Climate Action Framework demonstrates our commitment for enacting positive change in our sport, community, and wider sporting world as we join many global brands in this pledge. An enormous amount of research and planning has gone into this year’s net zero Village Enclosure at Royal Ascot as we build towards a sustainable future. True sustainability goes much further than recycling so we have adopted a sustainable approach that interrogates every aspect of the way we do business.”
www.ascot.com/royalascot #RoyalAscot
Watch this fantastic video from the Ascot team explaining all about their sustainability initiatives
Some of our team’s pics from around Royal Ascot 2023
