Croke Park's Sustainability Journey to Net Zero: Values, Strategy and Practice

Abstract

This thesis documents the sustainability journey of Irelands largest stadium the 82,300 capacity Croke Park to Net Zero. The paper charts the history of the GAA and Croke Park and explores the importance of values in setting strategy. The paper discusses how values are central in formulating an ethical decision framework. The paper details the evolution of capitalism to the present-day expressing concerns as to the systematic instability of neoliberal capitalism. Stakeholder Theory is presented as a viable alternative. The paper demonstrates that the impact of the unrelenting consumption of fossil fuels is contributing to climate change. Climate change is explored in detail and the impact on food supply, water, resource depletion is discussed. The Sustainability Balanced scorecard is presented as a framework for businesses to incorporate sustainable activities into strategy formulation and management. The thesis concludes with a detailed examination of incorporating sustainable practice into the management of a multimillion-euro venue. The journey to net zero is explained with reference to comprehensive data sets covering food and beverage and fan travel. A detailed explanation is provided as to how the data is used in derivation of the stadiums Scope 1,2 and 3 emissions is presented. Key words. GAA, Croke Park, Ethical Decision Making, Neoliberal capitalism, Stakeholder Theory, Sustainable Balanced Scorecard, Climate Change, Sustainability, Net Zero, Carbon Footprint relating to Food and Beverage and Fan Travel, Stadium Mitigation Strategies, Data Sets