2025 Community Impact Award Winners - Fulham Reach Boat Club
Fulham Reach Boat Club’s Environmental Action programme demonstrated how grassroots sport can bring together environmental stewardship, community engagement and education. Rooted in the River Thames, the initiative embedded sustainability into the club’s rowing programmes through citizen science, river cleanups and investment in low carbon technology, creating a model that other grassroots clubs could follow.
The programme was established to strengthen the connection between community sport and the natural environment. Its aims included reducing the club’s operational footprint by introducing electric coaching launches, improving the health of the Thames through clean-ups and water quality monitoring, and equipping young people and underrepresented communities with the skills and confidence to take environmental action.
Between 2024-2025, 424 volunteers removed more than 2.1 tonnes of waste from the River Thames through 25 organised clean ups. School pupils became citizen scientists, carrying out water quality testing for nitrates, phosphates and E. coli. The open data collected contributed to wider work monitoring sewage pollution, while young people also had opportunities to trial innovative technologies such as the WasteShark autonomous waste collection vessel.
The club also invested in practical carbon reduction measures by introducing an electric coaching launch and installing a community charging pontoon. Alongside reducing the club’s own emissions, the charging infrastructure encouraged other river users to consider switching to electric vessels by reducing concerns around charging availability. Once the coaching fleet is fully converted, the initiative is expected to avoid up to 14,000kg of carbon emissions each year.
The programme delivered significant community benefits alongside its environmental outcomes. More than 1,000 state school pupils engaged with environmental activities each year, while free holiday programmes introduced young people from low income families to rowing and nature. Participants reported a stronger connection with the river and greater awareness of the importance of protecting it, with 93% of surveyed young people agreeing that the Thames needed safeguarding and 87% reporting improved wellbeing through rowing.
Fulham Reach Boat Club’s work was recognised by the wider sport sector. The programme was referenced in Sport England’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy and British Rowing’s environmental guidance, while receiving recognition from World Rowing, the Sport and Recreation Alliance and national media. By embedding sustainability into coaching, events and community outreach, the initiative demonstrated how grassroots sport could deliver meaningful environmental improvements while inspiring wider environmental and social action.
BASIS Principles demonstrated: Energy and Emissions; Waste Management; Water and Effluents; Biodiversity and Habitats; Engagement and Education; Economy and Community.