Wellington International recently announced a partnership with Megan Fellows of Carbon Hoofprint to oversee a newly created focus on sustainability at the Winter Equestrian Festival. Together, they will develop a shared vision to make the world-class facility and organization an industry leader in environmental initiatives.
This collaboration and renewed focus on sustainability will support Wellington International’s goal to set a higher standard by elevating the athlete and spectator experience to new heights as one of the most sustainable and purpose-driven equestrian sport venues in the world. Wellington International’s partnership with Fellows, who is a sustainability expert and lifelong equestrian, will allow her to work hand-in-hand with WEF’s teams and leadership to study the organization’s current operations and co-develop a sustainability strategy for the show to lead the equestrian world in environmental impact.
“We are excited to be the first show taking major steps in the industry to truly make sustainability a main business priority moving forward,” said Michael Stone, president of Wellington International. “As a team and a community, we care about our impact and know we have a duty as a leader in the sport to encourage these types of changes in order for us to be resilient and match with the highest standards and levels of integrity of our sport and community.”
Fellows’ previous roles working for the globally recognized environmental brands of National Geographic and Greentown Labs, the world’s largest climate technology startup incubator, have built a strong foundation and passion for sustainability that she is enthusiastic to bring to Wellington International and the larger equestrian community.
“Sustainability for a unique facility like Wellington International is no easy task, and I am beyond excited for the opportunity to combine my experience working in sustainability with my passion for horses in a place that means so much to me, and where I believe has so much potential to do good,” Fellows said. “For me, it goes beyond what we can do at Wellington International and extends into who we can inspire to go out and do more for the world. It’s an opportunity to enact real change.”
In addition to priorities around energy, water and waste, one of the most innovative projects underway is looking into manure utilization that would turn hundreds of thousands of tons of horse waste into natural gas or hydrogen, a project that would be the first of its kind in North America.
“I have been extremely pleased in working with Wellington International so far, whose team has already been so eager and collaborative in working toward solutions, and I admire their commitment to making major change,” Fellows said. “Not just the fluffy stuff, but real change. If we can do it at Wellington International, the most well-known and prestigious equestrian venue in the world, we should be able to pave the way to set new standards to do it everywhere.”
As part of the initiative, Fellows will use the 2023 season to perform a comprehensive review and look to the community for further support and input.
