Course of the Week: Sentosa GC becomes world’s first carbon neutral golf club

Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore said its the first carbon-neutral golf club in the world as it offset 5,000 tonnes of CO2. The club said it offset 5,000 tonnes of CO2 as part of a sustainability initiative.

Rhizophora stylosa, a vulnerable mangrove listed under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, along the edge of The Serapong’s holes 4 and 6. (Photo: Sentosa GC)

Since April 2021, the club said it, with the support of its members, set aside $1 from every round of golf to procure high-quality carbon credits from the Katingan Mentaya Project in Indonesia and the Cordillera Azul National Park project in Peru.

“We are proud to see that Sentosa Golf Club has achieved/become the world’s first carbon neutral golf club,” Andrew Johnson, general manager and director of agronomy at Sentosa GC, said. “Ever since we began to share the importance of our sustainability journey back in 2018, we have always been focused on becoming an industry leader and inspiring others to follow suit by implementing eco-friendly initiatives to help reduce our overall carbon footprint.”

The Tanjong course at Sentosa GC hosted the 15th edition of the HSBC Women’s World Championship. (Photo: Sentosa GC)

Sentosa Golf Club’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality are part of its commitment to the UN Sports for Climate Action Race to Zero initiative, as well as the Sentosa Carbon Neutral Network’s sustainability campaign “Game On.”

The club was also the first in Asia to introduce carbon products in the form of biochar into its agronomy program. Other initiatives include a new irrigation system and equipment to help reduce of scope 1-3 carbon.

“Hopefully this is just the beginning and more clubs around the world will commit to becoming carbon neutral in the near future,” Johnson said