Green By Name and Nature

John Greeves visits the first carbon neutral and vegan football club in history

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It's a wonder how a small football club like Forest Green Rovers, with just seven seasons experience in the English Football League (EFL), can be recognised as a world leader when it comes to bringing eco-thinking and technology to a new level. Recognised by the United Nations as the world's first carbon neutral football club, this amazing little club, tucked away in the quaint Cotswolds town of Nailsworth is undertaking a green revolution, which is gathering momentum year by year.

The club has a long and varied history. Founded more than 130 years in 1889, the team currently plays in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. The club initially played its football at The Lawn Ground but moved to its present ground, The New Lawn Ground, in 2006, which was built to Football League standards and was only 400 metres away from the former ground.

Four years later, the club faced mounting debt and was on the edge of folding, before it was taken over by entrepreneur Dale Vince to become the world's first carbon neutral football club. Vince's wealth came from Ecotricity, a renewable energy supplier that he had developed from the windmills erected in the 1990s. He also created Nemesis, a Lotus Exige chassis, modified with electric motors and batteries, in which he broke the UK speed record for electric cars in 2012.

Forest Green Rovers' performances on the pitch certainly improved after Vince's takeover. From teetering on the edge of relegation to the sixth tier of the English football pyramid, the club joined a professional league for the first time in 2017 when it was promoted to EFL League Two. This saw Nailsworth become the smallest town in England ever to host an EFL club. Ending the 2021-22 season as EFL League Two champions, they spent a season in League One before back-to-back relegations saw them drop into the National League, where they remain today.