Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore continues to lead the way in sustainability when it became the world’s first golf club to join the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action Initiative last week.
Already highly regarded for its approach to environmental sustainability, the 36-hole club, set on Sentosa Island alongside a diverse array of leisure experiences, took this significant step following its collaboration with international sustainable golf non-profit organisation GEO Foundation.
The UN’s Sports for Climate Action Initiative aims to support and guide sports organisations and their communities on a path to achieving the global climate goals set out by world leaders in the Paris Agreement. Sentosa Golf Club joins an already impressive list of sporting organisations to have signed on including the New York Yankees, La Liga, Sky Sports and the All England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon).
All participants in the Sports for Climate Action Initiative commit to a set of five agreed principles and incorporating them into their strategy, policies, and procedures, as well as communicating them to their wider sporting community.
The initiative also provides sports organisations with a forum to pursue climate action in a consistent and supportive manner. It also aims to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase well below 2 degrees Celsius, as well as strengthening the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
“Becoming the first ever golf club to join the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Initiative is a tremendous honour for everyone associated with Sentosa Golf Club,” said Andrew Johnston, the club’s general manager & director of agronomy.
“We have already taken great strides with our sustainability programme in the last two years and are therefore extremely excited to be joining this initiative. We believe it is the right step for us as a club to continue on our journey to tackle climate change throughout the world and the game of golf,” he added.
Sentosa Golf Club also recently announced a new partnership with GEO Foundation, where the club’s future sustainability work will be guided and supported by GEO’s sustainable golf agenda.
Sentosa Golf Club’s green commitment was brought to the world’s attention with the launch of its #KeepItGreen campaign at the SMBC Singapore Open in January 2018. It has seen a number of key environmental features implemented at the club, such as the creation of its own bee colonies; using rechargeable lithium batteries in its golf carts; banning single use plastics from the golf course and replacing them with water stations; as well as building its own sustainable herb garden.
In January 2020, the club unveiled a new sustainability campaign, GAME ON, also at the SMBC Singapore Open, designed to unite the global golf community in addressing the growing concerns of climate change.
The campaign is closely aligned with The R&A’s 2030 Golf Course Initiative that considers the impacts, both positive and negative, of the changing climate, resource constraints and regulation on course condition and playability.
For more information, log on to www.sentosagolf.com
