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There are clubs that treat sustainability like a third-kit launch: wheeled out once a year, photographed nicely, quietly forgotten. And then there is Real Betis, who have spent the last four years turning environmental responsibility into something closer to an obsession. Not a bolt-on, not a branding exercise, but a cultural shift that has nudged Spanish football – often resistant to change at the best of times – into uncomfortable but necessary conversations.

Forever Green was officially launched in March 2021, in the middle of a pandemic that had already exposed football’s fragility and excesses. While other clubs were busy announcing NFT partnerships and cryptocurrency sleeve sponsors, Betis went in the opposite direction, unveiling an environmental sustainability platform with a simple premise: football, with its reach and influence, had a responsibility to act.

The timing mattered. La Liga had plenty of clubs talking about sustainability in vague, CSR-shaped terms, but none with a coherent, public-facing strategy. Betis, under the stewardship of president Angel Haro and backed by a board willing to invest long-term, chose to make Forever Green a pillar of the club’s identity rather than a side project.

Four years on, it is hard to argue that they have not followed through on that.

The first year set the tone. Forever Green launched with “50 actions with 50 partners”, a deliberately ambitious framework that brought together companies, NGOs, institutions and universities to tackle everything from renewable energy to waste reduction. Some initiatives were modest – recycling improvements at the Benito Villamarin, energy-efficiency audits – while others were more eye-catching, like partnerships designed to reduce staff commuting emissions.

One of the most visible saw Betis staff provided with electric scooters, a small but symbolic intervention that reinforced the idea that sustainability was not just for matchdays or marketing campaigns.

Crucially, Forever Green was not confined to Seville. Betis positioned the project as an open platform, inviting other clubs, leagues and organisations to collaborate. In 2022, they partnered with Roma to share best practices on sustainability, a cross-border link-up that underlined Betis’ desire to lead rather than simply participate. It was a reminder that environmental issues, unlike local rivalries, do not respect national boundaries.

If Forever Green needed a visual shorthand, it arrived in kit form. In 2024, Betis and Hummel unveiled a special Forever Green shirt that looked like something dredged from the ocean floor – in a good way. Made using Evo by Fulgar, a yarn partially derived from castor oil, the kit was marketed as a symbol of circularity and innovation. Earlier iterations of Forever Green kits had already experimented with recycled plastics and sustainable fibres, but this release leaned heavily into storytelling, reinforcing Betis’ message that football apparel could be both desirable and responsible.

Perhaps even more striking was the goalkeeper kit produced using a material derived from seaweed, developed to reduce reliance on petroleum-based textiles. It was a detail that could easily have been lost in the noise of modern kit culture, but instead it became emblematic of Betis’ approach: sustainability not as aesthetic compromise, but as technical challenge.

Beyond shirts, the Benito Villamarin itself has become a testing ground. Seats made partially from recycled fishing nets, initiatives to reduce single-use plastics on matchdays and improved waste separation have all been folded into a broader plan to modernise the stadium with sustainability in mind. Betis have also committed to measuring and offsetting emissions linked to European travel, acknowledging the uncomfortable truth that football’s carbon footprint extends far beyond the turnstiles.

What sets Forever Green apart is not just scale, but consistency. By the project’s third anniversary in 2024, Betis had worked with more than 170 partners and delivered hundreds of actions across environmental awareness, education and innovation. Importantly, they have been willing to publish sustainability reports and subject themselves to scrutiny, a rarity in an industry more comfortable celebrating net spend than net zero targets.

The presence of Hector Bellerin has added credibility and urgency. Already known for his environmental activism before returning to Betis in 2021, Bellerin became a natural ambassador for Forever Green. He has spoken openly about football’s environmental impact, pushed for behavioural change within dressing rooms and used his platform to connect the club’s initiatives with wider social movements.

In an era when player activism is often sanitised or discouraged, Betis have allowed – even encouraged – Bellerin to be outspoken, understanding that authenticity cannot be manufactured.

That authenticity is how Forever Green has avoided accusations of greenwashing. Not every initiative has been revolutionary and Betis are hardly a carbon-neutral utopia. They still fly across Europe, still sell merchandise, still exist within a commercial ecosystem that rewards growth over restraint. But they have been unusually honest about those contradictions, framing Forever Green as a process rather than a destination.

The broader impact is starting to show. La Liga has increased its own focus on sustainability, and other Spanish clubs have followed Betis’ lead with more structured environmental strategies. While Betis remain an outlier in terms of ambition, the gap is narrowing. And that, arguably, is part of the point.

Football fans might rightly feel cynical about grand claims and glossy campaigns. Forever Green, though, feels different. It is messy, ongoing and occasionally uncomfortable – which is precisely why it works.

In a sport that too often mistakes tradition for inertia, Real Betis have shown that being green does not mean being boring. Sometimes it means seaweed kits, e-scooters and a willingness to admit that football, like the planet it depends on, needs to change.