Arsenal FC And Octopus Energy Plant First Trees For Colney Wood

Arsenal’s first-team players Hector Bellerin, Petr Cech and Aaron Ramsey joined forces with local children at the London Colney training centre to plant the first 100 trees to launch Colney Wood.  When completed, the wood will have 500 trees around the Hertfordshire base.

The sustainable grounds were developed alongside the club’s renewable energy partner Octopus Energy and will stand as a commitment of both organisations doing their part towards global sustainability and creating better air quality for the next generation and local communities.

The wood builds on the success of last year’s Octopus Energy schools tree planting programme, which Arsenal supported, where nearly 2,000 trees were planted across 50 UK schools.

The north London club switched to green electricity with Octopus Energy in 2017. Being the first Premier League club to ‘go green’ has led to a saving of 7m kilograms of CO2 no longer being pumped into the atmosphere - enough to fill Emirates Stadium more than 3.9 times.

Other club sustainability initiatives includes its water recycling system installed at the training ground in London Colney. This system takes the water that runs from the pitches and recycles it  further irrigation. Read more about the Gunners’ initiatives on www.arsenal.com.

Greg Jackson, CEO Octopus Energy, said: “Octopus Energy is delighted to continue our partnership with the very first Premier League side to make the move to 100% renewable energy. It’s fitting to plant Colney Wood and be able to extend carbon offsetting at Arsenal FC with Bellerin, Cech and Ramsey, planting alongside the next generation.”

Michael Lloyd, Arsenal Deputy Stadium Manager, said: “At Arsenal we are working on a number of initiatives to lessen our environmental impact, and we are delighted to be working with Octopus Energy to plant these trees. It’s a great initiative and another small step towards cleaner air whilst also improving the local environment for future generations.”