Meet the Mayo man turning Connacht GAA green
Kurt Reinhardt of Connacht GAA was one of ten Climate Ambassadors honoured by An Taisce recently.
An Taisce’s annual Climate Ambassador Awards brings together citizens who are passionate about protecting the planet and rewards their local efforts to reduce the impact of climate change in Ireland.
From Mayo to Meath and Donegal to Dublin, the awards brought together inspiring changemakers hailing from communities, clubs, businesses, schools and colleges from all over Ireland whose collective achievement in 2024 was nothing short of outstanding.
Among the 10 who were honoured as overall winners on the night was Connacht GAA employee Kurt Reinhart, who went above and beyond as a Climate Ambassador for An Taisce in 2024. Kurt, from Ballyhaunis, was one of 148 Climate Ambassadors who were trained by An Taisce’s Climate Action Team earlier this year, and together they delivered 658 climate actions, directly engaging over 265,000 people.
Kurt Reinhardt was described at the awards as an excellent example of a citizen driving climate action in both their place of employment and community. During his time with Connacht GAA, Kurt has used innovative initiatives to increase sustainability and created a blueprint for climate action that can be adopted in GAA clubs and communities across Ireland. Tree planting has been a major focus, with over 10,000 trees planted, and 2024 also saw a ban on single-use plastics at the centre.
The Connacht GAA Recycling and Waste Plan, a three-year initiative developed with MyWaste, was adopted to drive waste reduction. The provincial body also had successful Climate Action Fund applications for Sligo GAA and Leitrim GAA, resulting in new infrastructure like bike racks, water fountains, and solar panels.
The Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence is home to the world's largest Air Dome, which is not only powered by solar energy but in a landmark project in the country, is now exporting solar energy with the first category B export licence to go live in Ireland. Kurt Reinhardt negotiated a €2m partnership with Pinergy which will guarantee renewable power supply to clubs at below market price across Connacht from Lacken Wind Farm in Sligo. Connacht GAA was also recently honoured as Ireland's top Sustainable Energy Community at the national awards.
“The Climate Ambassador programme gave me the confidence, education and tools to go out into the community in an effort to transfer knowledge, promote and sow the seeds of change,” explained Kurt Reinhardt upon receiving his award. “From there, hopefully, our communities can begin to take their own positive steps and actions to impact the thematic areas for the good of our future generations.”
Throughout the year, the Climate Ambassadors engaged their networks with biodiversity, circular fashion, education, nature restoration, youth communications, sustainable travel, sustainable energy, tree planting, rewilding, flood prevention, degrowth, food waste, and environmental advocacy. In addition to their impressive impact and extensive list of achievements, the awardees were also commended for uniting communities, boosting neighbourhood bonds, building trust, bridging generational gaps, and raising hope for the future.
