Europa Press: Real Betis Balompié has entered the European Union’s EMAS Registry for its environmental management system.
Disclaimer: This article has been translated using artificial intelligence and may not be entirely accurate. If there are any inconsistencies, please refer to the original version in Español.
Real Betis Balompié has become “the first Spanish football club and the second in Europe” to register with the European Union’s (EU) EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) Register, managed in Andalusia by the General Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change through the Andalusian Climate Change Office.
This recognition “confirms that the Verdiblanca entity has an environmental management and audit system that allows it to evaluate, manage, and improve its sustainability performance, in addition to publicly communicating the results through an environmental declaration,” according to a statement released Monday by the football club itself.
In addition to registering on the EMAS Register, Real Betis previously obtained ISO 14001 certification, an internationally recognized standard that establishes a framework for organizations to develop an externally verified environmental management system.
According to the Green and White club, EMAS represents “a further step toward environmental excellence” by requiring the preparation of an environmental declaration, a public report that “transparently details the entity’s policy, objectives, and results in terms of environmental sustainability.”
In this way, Real Betis joins FC Porto, the first European club to appear on the EMAS Register. According to the club, this registration has been made possible thanks to its participation in the European “Free Kicks” project, co-financed by the EU and coordinated by the Scoula Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa (Italy).
This initiative promotes the circular economy and environmental sustainability in football organizations and drives football’s transition toward the goals of the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan.
In this context, the certificate means that “an independent entity recognizes our environmental management, in compliance with the standards of sustainability, one of the club’s fundamental pillars,” according to Enrique Castillo, Director of Operations at Real Betis Balompié.
The efficiency of this management system, which “has a consolidated environmental policy and requires a commitment to continuous improvement,” is reflected in the various sustainable actions implemented at the Rafael Gordillo Sports City.
This has been emphasized by the Verdiblanca club, which detailed that the process of implementing all these measures has lasted an entire season and has involved “numerous club departments,” with the implementation of various procedures for natural resource management, environmental training, supplier selection, emergencies, and communications, among others.
In this regard, Fausto Scaldaferri, head of the Green and White club’s Environmental Management System, highlighted the main challenges for achieving this designation as “the integration of environmental issues and the involvement of suppliers in a sector, football, where sustainability is still something new and little known.”
INNOVATIVE MEASURES
As Real Betis also highlights, the Rafael Gordillo Sports City incorporates “multiple sustainable and innovative measures that promote more efficient and environmentally friendly management,” such as a rainwater collection system (rainwater and drainage water are collected in a pond and reused for irrigation, avoiding the use of public water resources); the replacement of rubber with cork on artificial fields, eliminating microplastics and reducing turf temperature, thereby reducing water usage; and a smart lighting system, which “allows light output to be remotely reduced when not needed.”
Also noteworthy is the bioclimatic design of the main building, which “minimizes sun exposure and reduces the need for cooling in summer”; exclusive use of aerothermal energy for hot water production, “completely avoiding the use of natural gas”; electric mobility, with “100% electric vehicles, a charging station, and its own photovoltaic plant for their supply”; and grazing with goats and sheep, which act as “biomowers,” “reducing the use of polluting machinery and providing natural fertilizer.”
Real Betis claims that, by obtaining the EMAS, “it has consolidated its position as one of the leading clubs in sustainability within the sector, with the aim of serving as an example for other sports entities, especially in a context where football has significant social power and where this type of action can have a multiplying effect on environmental awareness.”
In this sense, the organization “is working on new steps and projects to continue advancing its environmental commitment, convinced that sustainability must be one of the strategic pillars of football’s future.”
Read the original article in Spanish here.
