The Green Blue is a joint environmental awareness programme created by the Royal Yachting Association and British Marine, established in 2005.

"It is great to be supporting the Green Blue Sustainability challenge. Instilling awareness at all levels concerning our environment and the impact we have on the world is the most important thing right now. For Rooster, as a technical clothing sportswear manufacturer, sustainability is not only at the heart of our product developments, but also at the core of our company through social, economic and environmental practices to best shape our future." - Luke Morrison, Managing Director at Rooster.

What is the University Sustainability Challenge?

The Green Blue University Sailing Sustainability Challenge (USSC) is an annual competition designed to encourage and recognise University Sailing Clubs (USC) from across the UK that are taking action to reduce their environmental impact.

Each year, USCs from across the UK demonstrate to the wider sailing community the environmental best practice that all sailing clubs and their members can adopt for a more sustainable future. USCs undertake as many sustainable actions as they can throughout the academic year following set criteria as they progress through the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Award Levels. Some of the actions include, introducing an Environmental Policy at their sailing venue, encouraging members to join The Green Blue’s Boating Pledge, and participating in the Single-Use Plastic Free Accreditation.

All USCs that successfully complete their Award Level are invited to the Awards Ceremony at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show where they are entered into a cash prize draw supported by Challenge sponsors, Rooster.

The Challenge is now in its eighth year and is supported by the representative body for university sailing in the UK, the British University Sailing Association (BUSA). 

“The Green Blue University Challenge is deemed highly important to everyone who is a part of BUSA. It is a great initiative and year on year it has gained increasing participation from University Sailing Clubs, all striving to achieve the next level award and instil lasting sustainable values within their clubs. The ocean is our playground and therefore is it vital we work to create a sustainable sport. Sport as a whole is an enormous part of millions of peoples lives and it makes sense to use our shared passions to create a platform to initiate change and become more sustainable. At universities sports communities are large, and excitingly sustainability in sport is just starting to be addressed, it is great to be able to take part in a challenge that brings our clubs ahead of the curve.” -Hebe Hemming – Vice chair of BUSA

To see what participating university sailing clubs have done in past challenges and cheer on the University Sailing Clubs through the current challenge see below:

Search #GreenBlueUniChallenge

Or Follow:

@TheGreenBlue on Twitter and Facebook 

@the_green_blue on Instagram.

More about the Green Blue Organisation and what else they are involved in can be found here