Drinks company to plant trees in Scotland for every UK professional football game scoring nil-nil

A drinks company has vowed to plant 50 trees in Scotland every time a professional football game in the UK finishes 0-0 in a bid to help the country meet its net-zero targets.
Planting will take place in thre areas at Talla and Gameshope. Picture shows Forest Green Rovers Chairman Dale Vince and Hannah Dingley - the first woman to become academy manager of a Football League club  - symbolically planting the first tree of the campaign on the ground’s pitch. Picture: InnocentPlanting will take place in thre areas at Talla and Gameshope. Picture shows Forest Green Rovers Chairman Dale Vince and Hannah Dingley - the first woman to become academy manager of a Football League club  - symbolically planting the first tree of the campaign on the ground’s pitch. Picture: Innocent
Planting will take place in thre areas at Talla and Gameshope. Picture shows Forest Green Rovers Chairman Dale Vince and Hannah Dingley - the first woman to become academy manager of a Football League club - symbolically planting the first tree of the campaign on the ground’s pitch. Picture: Innocent

Innocent, which sponsors League 2 side Forest Green Rovers, plans to plant the trees in three different areas in Talla and Gameshope, located in the Scottish Borders.

The tree species include: Sessile Oak, Downy Birch, Wych Elm, Aspen, Alder, Rowan, Bird Cherry, Holly, Hazel Hawthorn Juniper, Goat, Grey, Eared, Bay and montane willows, dwarf birch, Elder and Blackthorn.

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The project is running in partnership with One Tree Planted, a non-profit charity which plants trees in countries all over the world.

Innocent’s initiative will take into account results across the English Premier League, Championship, League 1 and League 2, as well as the Scottish Premier League, Scottish Championship, Scottish League 1, Scottish League 2 and the Women's Super League.

The drinks company has already committed to planting 6,550 trees so far as there have been 131 0-0 draws across these leagues in this football season. It is expected that the figure will hit 10,000 trees by the end of the season.

To launch the tree planting pledge announced today, Forest Green Rovers Chairman Dale Vince was joined by players Kane Wilson and Nicky Cadden, as well as Hannah Dingley - the first woman to become academy manager of a Football League club as they planted the first tree of the campaign on the ground’s pitch.

The tree has since been moved to a permanent location for it to grow to its full potential over the coming years.

Innocent’s UK Marketing Director, Anna Bateson said: “Our sponsorship of Forest Green Rovers is about more than renaming the ground. We want to show how businesses from different fields can come together to lead the way on sustainability. We decided that for every game that nets zero, we’d make sure that the environment is the winner.”

Dale Vince, chairman of Forest Green Rovers said, ““Nil-nil is a score line with no winners or losers. But not anymore. With 50 trees being planted for every goalless draw in professional football in Britain, there will be a winner. As an environmentalist I’m keen on that and with our own league so tight right now - I’ll be willing our rivals to nil-nil results with added reason.”

The Talla and Gameshope Native Woodland Restoration project in Scotland, which Innocent’s initiative will support, covers 1832ha of hill ground in the central Southern Uplands Hills of Scotland.

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The tree planting project aims to restore native woodlands to an area where, according to One Tree Planted, deforestation occurred centuries ago.

The environment charity runs in a partnership with Borders Forest Trust (BFT) to encourage tree planting.

In the last 25 years, BFT has planted nearly two million trees throughout the south of Scotland, with more than 200,000 of these planted by volunteers.

Progress of Innocent’s tree planting project can be monitored by tracking a totaliser on Forest Green Rovers’ and the drinks company’s social media pages.

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