Green was the colour at Stamford Bridge on Thursday as Chelsea was both host and award recipient at an evening for environmentally conscious London businesses and organisations.

The occasion was the first ever Green500 and Better Buildings Partnership awards.

The Green500, the Mayor of London's flagship energy efficiency programme which has already saved nearly 120,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, is designed to target 500 of the organisations with the greatest carbon-saving potential.

Therefore it is focusing on large businesses and public sector organisations in London to help deliver the Mayor's target to cut the city's emissions by 60 per cent by 2025, and stimulate a low carbon economy. Chelsea was one of the first 10 members and the first football club involved.

In recognition of the strides we made over the past year, which included energy saving initiatives at Stamford Bridge and Cobham but also encouragement to our supporters to make their own pledges, Chelsea received a Green500 Silver Award, handed over by Mayor Boris Johnson.

Awards were presented to a wide variety of organisations in the museum at Stamford Bridge with Peter Kenyon beginning the evening with a keynote speech.

Having accepted Chelsea's award, our chief executive told Chelseafc.com:

'We set ourselves targets and we have been working towards them. We were the first football club in the Green500, and we want to keep our leadership position both as a business and a football club.

'Green500 is a great initiative because it is practical and it recognises the day-to-day running of a business. We have some big objectives and targets, as Chelsea always does, and we are looking forward to achieving those both on and off the field next season. For instance next season we will be establishing a car share initiative for our supporters travelling to games.

'Green500 for Chelsea is two-fold. It is internal in terms of what we can do as a football club, in the offices and elsewhere, and then it is broadened to educating and making people aware.

'When you look at how many people we can influence, whether that is 42,000 who come to our stadium or 1.3 million who go on our website every week, that suddenly becomes a very big initiative, and that is what is exciting about Chelsea's involvement in Green500.

'I'd say to our fans who haven't already done so, please get involved. You can make a real difference.'

Click here for information on making a pledge.

Mayor Johnson, who followed Kenyon's speech with one of his own, introduced by strains of 'Simply the Best,' explained that over the last year the 200 members had reduced carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to taking 100 double decker buses off London's streets. It is an amount that would fill 8.3 billion footballs.

'Green500 is an idea that is about encouraging companies to compete with each other to be the greenest,' he told Chelsea TV.

'Chelsea have an amazing scheme to do all sorts of things like reducing the temperature in their washing machines when they are washing their kit, and they have saved so much CO₂.

'Football is the world's most powerful social worker,' he added. 'It keeps people from getting involved in crime, it keeps them healthy, it makes them optimistic. It is a wonderful thing to encourage people into sport.'

'We are determined to use our name and the power that football has to make a difference, particularly in our communities.' stated Kenyon in his speech. He set Chelsea a target of a further reduction of 10 per cent CO₂ emissions over the next two years.

'Our policy is not about telling people to affect a total lifestyle change but to encourage fans and staff to make a change in their daily routine. That is what will make a collective change to our environment.'

Click here to read Chelsea's full environmental policy.

Click here for the Green500 website.