The new initiative ‘Sustainability In Sport’ will be unveiled at Old Trafford tomorrow (May 24), before Mr Neville’s testimonial game against Italian giants Juventus.

All the electricity used during the game will be matched by electricity generated by green energy firm Ecotricity’s 52 windmills across the UK, to effectively make it a ‘wind-powered’ game.

Sustainability In Sport is a new partnership supported by Mr Neville and Dale Vince, the founder of Ecotricity, with the aim of taking the eco message into the world of sport.

Mr Neville said: “I have recognised in the last two to three years the need to make personal changes in my life and reducing my environmental impact is going to be a five year transition for me and my family, but with planning permission for my new eco home being granted and my association with wind turbines, I’m on track to complete this journey.

“I believe sport crosses all boundaries and plays a significant role in many people’s lives. From my perspective we have to look at the effect sport has had on other issues over the last twenty years to see that when sport comes together with society, positive actions can happen.

“Sustainability in Sport and I are looking forward to working on this initiative with Dale and Ecotricity who are pioneers in this arena and that for me personally makes it very exciting.

Mr Vince OBE added: “It’s a new frontier and a new audience. And even better we’re going to fund it with another partnership with Gary – with the income from a series of small scale wind projects, which we are going to develop together.

“Wind energy and football hand-in-hand – I don’t think there’s anything you could dream up that fits more perfectly for me than this.”

The match will be shown live on Sky Sports from 7pm.

Luke Walsh

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