Madam, – I note that Croke Park is carbon neutral a year ahead of schedule (Page 4, May 4th). So much the better, as its practice in rural Ireland is the opposite. It is selling grounds on the edges of towns for development and building new facilities quite some distance outside. As few rural Irish roads are conducive to comfortable walking, these new facilities will have to be reached by carbon-producing motor vehicles.
So much for green rectitude. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – How can the GAA legitimately claim that Croke Park is a “carbon-neutral” stadium in saving some 4,500 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, yet fail to acknowledge the many tens of thousands of tonnes of CO2 that were produced in the manufacture of the cement, concrete, glass, steel and other materials used to build the stadium? What measures did the GAA take during construction to minimise the carbon footprint of the construction materials?
Even with the Cúl Green initiative, the net carbon footprint of the Croke Park venue remains tens of thousands of tonnes of CO2 in deficit. Only when the carbon footprint of the materials used to build Croke Park is neutralised can the GAA legitimately claim to have a truly carbon-neutral stadium. Anything else is greenwash. – Yours, etc,