Creating a sustainable Fan Zone at Nottingham Forest FC
As Nottingham Forest Football Club’s sustainability partner, E.ON Next has recently worked with the club to open a brand-new climate-positive Fan Zone at The City Ground. Environmental responsibility is at the heart of the venue, which boasts a suite of sustainability credentials.
E.ON Next is supporting Nottingham Forest in becoming more sustainable with the launch of the Fan Zone, which can play host to up to 1,000 supporters on game days.
Featuring a state-of-the-art flexible solar canopy covering the main stage, a giant screen and seating area, the canopy is expected to generate and store around 12,000kh of electricity every year. This comfortably delivers more power than is required to run the facility and saves an estimated 2,472 kg of CO2 each year.
"Sustainability in this day and age is not about compromise, it's about making all of our lives, and society, better. At E.ON Next, we’re trying to change not just what we do, but how we do it and by working closely with Nottingham Forest we can make sure we take those steps together.”
Solar energy is the UK’s fastest growing renewable energy solution, and E.ON Next is dedicated to supporting and enabling this growth. The Fan Zone will benefit from the renewable technology that harnesses the power of the sun to generate electricity, further highlighting the power of solar energy and reminding fans that they could consider integrating solar panels onto their homes.
We’re really pleased to be recognised for our work with Nottingham Forest in the latest Sport Positive Premier League Report. The report highlights what steps Premier League clubs are taking to be more sustainable and we’re committed to continuing to help Nottingham Forest progress in their sustainability journey.
What are the other sustainable elements of the Fan Zone?
Open for an extended period before and after matches, the Fan Zone is a unique hub for Nottingham Forest supporters to gather for music and refreshments. Some of its sustainability highlights include:
- An on-site solar battery storage unit which will capture the sun’s energy on days the Fan Zone is not open to use when needed
- Repurposed containers which house a host of local street food vendors and Carling-branded bars, delivering refreshments in reusable cups
- Biodiversity planting, together with the use of recycled timber fencing and planters
Turning footsteps into forests
As part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability and our partnership with Nottingham Forest, we joined forces with Treekly, which helps turn our footsteps into forests. For each day the E.ON community tracks 5,000 steps, we committed to planting a tree.
So far, more than 2,300 people have taken part and taken a staggering 504 million steps – that’s enough to cover 10x around the world. Together with Treekly, this has allowed us to plant an incredible 37,170 mangrove trees in Kenya. For scale, that’s enough trees to fill 9 football pitches, offsetting 9600 tonnes of carbon.
We power progress
E.ON, one of Nottingham’s largest employers, is continuing to raise awareness of the climate crisis and has been working closely with the community to reduce its impact on the planet.
Alongside collaborating with Nottingham Forest since the 2021/22 season, E.ON has also partnered with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) to deliver a 15-year energy efficiency programme. The goal is to enable NUH to deliver on its ambitious environmental targets and improve staff and patient comfort.
We’re looking forward to seeing the fans enjoy their new fan zone in the upcoming 2024/2025 season!
Find out more about the partnership between Nottingham Forest and E.ON Next here.