Palace for the Planet – and how you can help

We're feeling... Green All Over! Trees are the ultimate carbon capture and storage machines... and we’ve planted 111 trees at our Academy, with more to come. Tree-mendous. Solar power produces no emissions during generation itself and has a smaller carbon footprint from 'cradle-to-grave' than fossil fuels. That’s why we’re installing solar panels at the Academy in the spring, enabling us to create our own sustainable energy source. Another reason to enjoy sunny south London. Our energy supplier generates electricity from 100% renewable sources. That's electric. Club staff have taken part in Environmental Awareness training, with our Under-16s squad also taking part in a workshop this week. Plus, the Foundation are delivering a ‘Protect the Planet’ education programme in six local schools. Education, education, education... In 2023, we donated 846kg of food (2,014 meals) to City Harvest – a food charity who redistribute food to those in need.

Did you know? Joel Ward, Rob Holding and Jean- Philippe Mateta drive electric cars, and charge their batteries at the club’s EV charging points. The floodlights at Selhurst Park are 100% LED, and our concourse lighting is nearly all LED. Our new screens use significantly less energy than the old panels. Our Macron kits are made using Eco-Fabric which is a 100% polyester sourced from recycled plastic and certified Global Recycled Standard by ICEA.

Beer matters. Selhurst Park beers Carlsberg and San Miguel are vegan, meaning no animal products are used in their production (which isn’t always the case with beer!). We also save around 8,250 litres of water per year through new Beer Saver line-cleaning technology in the Main Stand and Red & Blue bars. Tonight, we are trialling paper beer cups in a selection of bars. Our waste never goes to landfill. Waste is separated into general, dry mixed recycling, glass, and even grass – enabling our waste management company to maximise recycling opportunities. Do us a favour though, and pop your rubbish in the right bin.

At the Academy, leftover food is also separated for collection. Food waste goes to an 'anaerobic digestion facility', where it creates gas for the national grid and fertiliser for farmland. Our first-team and U21s' main team coach is now powered by Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (also known as renewable diesel), which boasts 90% lower net CO2 emissions than diesel. You can do your bit... Fan travel is the largest contributor to the carbon footprint of sporting events, so please consider this when travelling to matches. This guidance is not particularly helpful tonight, granted, given yet another train strike. But when they’re back in service, please do travel by train – and better still, book your tickets through our partner Train Hugger who plant a tree for every booking made. It won’t cost you a penny more. There are 20 bicycle racks outside the Fanzone for fans to use, first-come, first-served. But if they’re full, our helpful team at the Information Hub will find somewhere else for you to store your bike! Winner, winner.... veggie dinner Food is the focus of this year’s game-wide ‘Green Football Weekend’ which we’re proud to support. This is because research found that vegan diets resulted in 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution and land use than diets in which more than 100g of meat a day was eaten. Vegan diets also cut the destruction of wildlife by 66% and water use by 54%, a study found. There are plenty of vegan and vegetarian options on offer at Selhurst Park (shown below).

In our Premium Hospitality areas, we offer Redefine Meat products – whose reimagined pulled pork and steak are entirely vegan, and are sensationally tasty! And in our bid to further reduce food waste, you can grab yourself a bargain after the game – with all remaining hot food sold at a 50% discount in the concourses. But if you are an avid meat-eater, rest assured our pies and burgers are locally produced. Our pies come from 30 miles away in Kent, whilst our burgers are made by a Croydon butcher. And all the potatoes used for chips are grown in the UK.

We are thankful to our suppliers who have helped support today's initiatives, in particular Redefine Meat for their outstanding vegan products in premium hospitality and Carlsberg for supporting us on a trial of paper beer cups in a selection of concourse bars.

Find out more about what we’re up to at cpfc.co.uk/planet.