Torben Kastrup - tkp@dgu.org
Roskilde Golf Club (RoGK) is one of 185 in Denmark.
Over the years, RoGK has been very active in working with environmental issues. Two years ago we decided to apply the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as our reference frame, however, realizing that SDG is more than just environmental work, the SDGs had to be introduced in the entire organization as a joint responsibility.
The rationale for this was that we, as members, our staff and the course itself, as well as its surroundings, were not an isolated island in the sea, but an integrated part of the local community. Hence, it was mandatory to regard RoGK in a holistic approach building on the three pillars of sustainable development (socio-cultural, financial, and environmental).
Initially it was realized that not all of the SDGs were relevant for RoGK, therefore goals 1, 2, 9, 10 and 16 were excluded from our work. As the first task, we defined baselines for the single goals, e.g., consumption of water and energy, use of pesticides and fertilizers, production of garbage, CO2-emission from machines and transportation, equity between men and women in committees, the use of information, and biodiversity on the course.
The baselines are crucial in order to define goals for our work both short and long-term.
Examples of short-term goals: establishment of flowerfields on the course for better biodiversity (insects), and a new facility for garbage sorting for increased recycling.
Examples of long term goals: solar panels for sustainable energy production, rainwater collection for the club-washing stations, creation of a new 9-hole course without the use of chemicals.
To manage the above successfully, SDG n. 17 (Partnerships for the goals) has been extremely useful. RoGK’s external partners are many and proof of the fact that a golf club is a part of society and we as players have to adopt our responsibility for a better and sustainable world.