Soccer and Environmental Sustainability
Within the situation where the world is facing a climate crisis, more and more people started thinking about environmental protection. Soccer, the world's biggest sport, brings a huge amount of people together while having a significant environmental impact. Evidence shows that the total environmental impact from tourism in the World Cup equals 8 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions. People from worldwide travel to the event by plane, car, ship, train and all transportation happened during the event which can generate a lot of greenhouse gases. Whenever a soccer event is happening, especially like the World Cup and Olympic Games, a huge flow of people brings environmental issues that cannot be ignored. Besides fans and players’ traveling, issues like energy and water use for all facilities, supply chain, and waste management all can generate a significant amount of carbon emission.
Energy & Water
Energy and water use is always the essential indicator of sustainability. Energy includes all the uses in electricity and heat & cooling system. To maintain the quality of the field, the stadium also uses high-powered lighting to ensure grass gets enough lights and is heated from underground in the cold weather. Therefore, renewable energy is going to change the “game”. Within such a high demand of energy use in soccer, utilizing renewable energy can reduce a significant amount of carbon emission. On the other hand, the grass on the field needs to be watered regularly to keep it moisturized, and all the other water usage should be counted. Therefore, improving water efficiency became a big win.
Sustainable Construction
The main venue for soccer is the stadium, so controlling the amount of carbon emission during the construction or lifetime of the building use became important. In terms of energy and water use, construction takes the most responsibility. Stadium designers should consider the water efficiency and resource of the energy used in the stadium, whether it is generated by solar, wind, or renewable energy mixed with conventional energy. Also, designers need to make sure to choose more sustainable building materials that are low safety hazards, recycled materials, heat insulation, resilient to severe weathers, etc... Today, there are many great examples of the green stadium, according to Cascadia Sport System:
· Amsterdam Arena This stadium is home to the Ajax football club and has installed some of the most sustainable green incentives in the world. The stadium is powered by a wind turbine and 4,200 solar panels.
· Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Home to the Atlanta Falcons football team, this U.S. stadium received a platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificate. The stadium consumes almost 30% less than the average energy consumption for arenas, and 47% less water.
· Levi’s Stadium – This U.S. stadium in Santa Clara, California holds multiple LEED certifications. It was also recognized recently by the White House for its devotion to fighting climate change and environmental awareness in the sport. It has a 27,000 square foot solar-paneled green roof, and the stadium locally sources organic food; 78% of the food vendors are within 150 miles of the stadium.
· Golden 1 Center – Home to Sacramento Kings, this U.S. stadium was recognized as the world’s greenest and most environmentally friendly sports facility in 2017. The structure is in the top 3% of the highest-performing green buildings in the world. The stadium’s water consumption is 45% less than the California code requirements. During construction, 95% of demolition equipment was recycled.
Supply Chain
Due to the property of polyester, soccer clothing is mostly made from polyester which is a petroleum-based material. My previous article “Green Your Sportswear” has talked about different sustainable textile options for sportswear such as bamboo, organic cotton, coffee-reinforced fabrics, recycled materials, and so on. Not only materials, how sustainable the manufacturing process is should also be considered in the supply chain, which includes energy & water use and labor management. The soccer ball is another big part, how to choose eco-friendly materials to make soccer balls is the key point to make a sustainable supply chain.
Food & Beverage
Food & Beverage is a huge part of a soccer event because they are such a necessary thing for people to enjoy the game. There are a lot of restaurants around or inside of the stadium, and the operation of these restaurants indicates how sustainable a soccer event is. Are there various healthy options for fans to choose from? Where is the food resource from? Are they from local areas? are they produced within sustainable methods? What materials are utensils made from? Are they recyclable, reusable, or decomposable? Event organizers should include all these elements into consideration for a sustainable soccer event.
Waste Management
A huge amount of people brings up the consumption meaning more wastes are generated, and how to manage wastes is another key in environmental sustainability. Not only items spectators buy in the stadium, but also items that they bring into the stadium can eventually become wastes. One stadium usually can accommodate at least 100,000 people while there is a big sports event, so it is not hard to imagine how much wastes can be generated in total. Therefore, event planners should consider the environmental impacts from items that are used during the event. Reducing single-use plastics for utensils, packages, and all other items that might use plastics and having a good system for waste sorting became two crucial parts in waste management. Usually, sports events have volunteers that focus on waste management (waste sorting), which contributes to carbon reduction. According to EPA, about 75% of trash can be recycled, but not even 30% is recycled. If waste sorting is properly executed, we can save a lot of energy used for processing wastes.
The event organizer should also include a comprehensive sustainability plan for soccer events and general soccer use, especially if the financial situation allows to do so. There are a lot of clubs and teams that are unable to execute the sustainability plan due to the limited financial resources, but it does not mean that they do not want to be part of the climate action. Because sustainable materials are usually more expensive, especially in the construction process, many organizers choose the cost-effective way instead meaning not as sustainable. However, there are also other ways to reduce carbon emission such as waste sorting, reducing single-use plastics, purchasing energy-efficient facilities which a lot of them can be cost-effective in a long run. 2022 FIFA World Cup, they plan to have the first carbon-neutral FIFA World CupTM and to achieve sustainability certification under GSAG (Global Sustainability Assessment System) that focuses on environmental performance, waste reuse at the construction site, recycling, and responsible disposal which are all based on a circular economy concept. Now, big sports entities are taking the leadership role to help with sustainability development toward climate action, and we will need more people to join in and make actual moves.