How Can Sports Events Help with the Environment?
Under the threat of the world climate crisis, do you know sports industry is playing a significant role? Olympic Games usually generate around 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, Men’s World Cup in 2018 ended up around 2.1 million tons of carbon dioxide, 2016 Rio Olympic Games had a big environmental impact that the highly polluted water caused health hazard and about 4 million tons of greenhouse gases emission, and 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia recalled as an environmental disaster that generated around 520,000 tons of carbon dioxide which did not include the offset emission.
As a powerful community, sports bring people from all over the world together. When big sports events are held in places, big carbon emissions cannot be neglected toward sustainability development. The way sports events operate is connected and based on things we do in daily life. Talking about sustainable sports events there are various aspects we need to consider:
1) Green building operations comes the first because there has to be a space offered for the event to happen, which can include (temporary) office building, stadium, and other sports venues. Are these buildings LEED certified? Or do they meet the sustainable standards of energy efficiency, water usage, building materials, air quality, etc.?
2) Sports equipment and sportswear, two indicators that are closely tied to players, staff, and spectators, can make big contribution. Whether those equipment energy-saving or not? Are sports equipment and sportswear made of sustainable materials? Are they durable? Does the whole supply chain meet the sustainable standard?
3) Energy and water use throughout the whole event can be the key factor affecting the sustainable goal. How is the energy generated? Does it involve any renewable energy like wind or solar? How is the efficiency of water use? Does lighting utilize LED lights, sensor lights, or other energy-efficient lights? What are some sustainable solutions in terms of heating and cooling system?
4) Food & beverage is another big area in sports events. Organizers should offer sustainable utensils made of biodegradable or recyclable materials for all food and beverage services. In terms of health and wellness factor, focusing on the proportion of healthy food options versus fast food is also important. And whether the ingredients organic or not? Do they qualify certain standards? Where are food resources from? Are they seasonal food? Are they locally produced?
5) Waste management, one of the most significant sections in climate action, definitely needs to be taken care of. Wastes are generated all the time from everywhere that has put our landscape in danger, especially under the situation that garbage classification has not be popularized and standardized in most places in the world. During the whole event, making sure there are trash cans for different purposes is a big move for waste management. Are there volunteers to clean out the trash and help with the waste sorting? Is food compost included? Are there any exceeded food donation programs where the event can donate exceeded food to poverty areas?
6) Transportation, another area that cannot be underestimated, brings a big carbon emission. Transportation can be that players, spectators and other attendees travel from other places to the event, and all other necessary traveling during the event. Therefore, organizers should consider options of event public transportation like shuttles and sharing bikes and encourage people to use public transportation or walk if they live close by.
7) Today, the world is experiencing the pandemic which has given everyone hard times, so “how can sports events ensure to offer players, spectators, and staff a safe environment not only now but also in the future” became the number one priority. Are there protocols that people can follow to stay safe? Are there certain rules or regulations that event organizers can follow to be able to create a healthy environment? Do people get tested often? How does the event control the flow of people? Is the number of people attending the event limited?
8) Education and publicity of climate change can effectively promote the development of sustainable sports events. Are there plans to train staff about environmental sustainability? Are there accesses for players and spectators to learn about environmental protection and make actions during the event? How can people raise their awareness toward environmental protection through the event? How can the event organizers make people get involved in climate action?
9) Finally, the event organizers need plans and strategies for climate resilience. Accidents can happen at any time, so having backup plans is the key to prevent the tragedy. Are there plans when extreme weathers come? Are buildings and venues built for the severe weathers? Does the organization train staff to be able to handle different contingencies and make sure the safety of players and spectators as well?
Each one of the above factors can affect and decide how sports events be sustainable, so a comprehensive plan is required to achieve the goal. As the concept of “Green Sports” has been paid more and more attention during the past decade, a lot of sports leading organizations have started their journey of sports sustainability.
Olympic Games
Olympic Games, as the world largest multi-sport event, brings a huge amount of people to attend as well as a nonnegligible GHG emission. However, IOC has been putting significant efforts toward environmental sustainability. 2012 London Olympics was the first Olympic Games that measured carbon footprint and achieved zero waste mission throughout the whole event. London 2012 also won gold in the Environmental and Sustainability category of the 6th International Sports Event Management awards, and it later became the international standard for global event operation. London 2012 was inspired by “One Planet Living” and focused on carbon emission, energy, waste, and food four main sections, and below are some major achievements according to Olympic organization:
“Games organizers saved the equivalent of 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide thanks to their sustainable practices, while 100% of Games operations waste was diverted from landfill, with 62% of that waste being reused, recycled or composted. Additionally, 99% of the waste from installing and decommissioning the Games venues was reused or recycled.”
Tokyo 2020 which has been postponed to 2021 has put sustainability at the first place and set the slogan “Be Better, Together, For the planet and the people”. There are five main themes will be covered during the event which are “climate change”, “resource management”, “natural environment and biodiversity”, “human rights, labor, and fair business practices”, “involvement, cooperation and communications”. 2020 Tokyo Olympic targets at zero carbon and zero waste and will set a model applied for future Olympic events. Learn more at: https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/sustainability/
FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup, as the world biggest sporting event, can cause a great environmental impact due to the heavy flow of fans and all other attendees. FIFA has been working on their sustainability mission through three main areas which are human and social development, enhancing local economic development, and protecting the environment. Specifically talking about environment section, the World Cup in 2018 focused on “waste management and recycling”, “sustainable stadiums”, “carbon management and climate change”, and “biodiversity conservation and environmental protection”, and it ended with 343,000 tons of carbon emission which was much less than what they predicted 2.1 million tons.
For the coming 2022 FIFA World Cup, which targets at fully carbon-neutral, their efforts toward environmental protection will be putting on sustainable building, air pollution, GHG emissions, sustainable procurement, waste generation, and water production and use. Learn more about 2022 sustainability strategy at:
The US Open
The USTA, which hosts more than 700,000 fans during the U.S. Open each year, has started their green initiatives since 2008 and was one of the first leading roles to sign the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework in North America. The USTA has received the Environmental Leadership Award from the Green Sports Alliance and made an impactful contribution in climate action from aspects of recycling and composting, construction and sitewide, food and service ware, transportation, paper procurement, fan awareness, sponsor engagement, the U.S. Open merchandise, and social responsibility. Here are some achievements:
1) The USTA helps the world save over 3 tons of firewood and 6 tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
2) In 2018, the USTA gained their third LEED certification for Armstrong Stadium which received LEED Silver status.
3) Over 12,000 gallons of food grease from the U.S. Open kitchens will be converted to biodiesel fuel.
Learn more the USTA achievements at their Green Initiatives page: https://www.usopen.org/en_US/about/green_initiatives.html
Wimbledon
Wimbledon has started thinking about their environmental impacts since 2009 and along with the All England lawn tennis and Croquet Club signed the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. In 2019, Wimbledon achieved using 100% renewable electricity for the first time, and the organization has set the future target of environmental protection. 2030 sustainability goal is the ambition that Wimbledon made to help with climate change, which focuses on emission reduction, resource efficiency, biodiversity, and inspiring wider actions. Learn more about Wimbledon’s sustainability mission at: https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/atoz/sustainability.html
Not only these major sports events, college-level sports events also have a considerable impact on earth environment. Today, many universities have also been taking actions on their initiatives of environmental sustainability and the engagement of students and faculties. It is grateful to see more and more people began to unite and work for the same goal. To be able to dig deeper in sports sustainability, the power of innovations and solidarity is the key. The directors of sports events have to be aware of all environmental factors and involve them in the sustainability strategy. The link below is a good source to learn about the relationship between sports industry and the environment and how sports can save the environment:
https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/Game-Changer-report.pdf