Sustainability in Sport Award
Arsenal Football Club
Arsenal acknowledges the need to action to reduce the environmental impact caused by its activities. From water to waste to energy, Arsenal have been actively working to be more efficient and create less negative impact.
By working with various club partners, including Octopus Energy and Camden Town Brewery, Arsenal have been able to use their expertise and to work together to take positive steps together. With Octopus, the club is now powered by 100% renewable energy and the re-usable cup project has seen 20,000 single use cups removed from the waste stream for every game at Emirates Stadium. A water recycling system at the training ground helps to save over 8,000,000 litres of water each year.
A 3Mw battery installed within the stadium is another first step towards great energy efficiency, along with continued investment in upgrading lighting to help reduce the peak demand of the stadium.
A comprehensive waste management programme has helped us to increase our recycling by hand sorting all matchday waste.
Formula E
Air pollution is the single largest environmental risk to health today. There are more toxic carbon dioxide particles in our atmosphere than at any other time in human history, causing more premature deaths across the world each year compared to smoking cigarettes. Electric mobility is one of the best ways to tackle this issue.
With sustainability deeply rooted in our DNA, the ABB FIA Formula E Championship aims to transfer technologies from racetrack to road, and inspire innovations for an electric, low carbon future.
We aim to break down the 3 barriers to the global uptake of electric vehicles:
1. Perception – proving electric cars are high-performing and efficient.
2. Technology – removing range anxiety and showcasing lifespan and longevity.
3. Infrastructure – increasing the number and speed of charging stations.
As a business with a higher purpose, we’re committed to doing better and preventing the causes of climate change.
In 2018, Formula E became the first motorsport championship to achieve third party ISO20121 certification. This helps us manage our events in a sustainable way, promoting social inclusivity, economic prosperity and environmental protection.
Helsinki International Horse Show – International Equestrian Federation (FEI)
The organisers of the Helsinki International Horse Show, which hosts the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Qualifier, are working hard to make the event the most ecological equestrian competition in the world. And they are doing so in a number of innovative ways, including the use of horse manure to generate all of the event’s electricity needs.
In 2015, the event became the first in the world to use electricity generated fully from horse manure. The 2019 edition saw over 100 tons of manure from 370 horses used to create over 150 megawatt hours of energy, which powered everything from the lights and scoreboards in the arena to cellphone charging stations. All the surplus energy generated was sent back into the national grid to help heat homes in the Finnish capital.
As the global governing body for equestrian sport, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) is proud of all the excellent eco-friendly activities being undertaken around the world by our partners. We salute especially the organisers of the Helsinki International Horse Show for their unwavering commitment to the environment and for continually striving to find and incorporate innovative new solutions into their practices.
The Football Association
Wembley Stadium is one of the most iconic venues in the world attracting the biggest events in sport, music and entertainment and attracting than two million visitors per year.
As a result, Wembley plays a central role in The FA Group’s dedicated sustainability efforts, which are driven by FAST, The FA Group’s dedicated Sustainability Team comprising a group of passionate employees from across the business keen to continuously improve the way that we work.
From almost 28,000 tickets donated to the local community in the last year, to recycling 70% of all waste and reprocessing the remaining 30% to provide heat and hot water to 48,000 local homes, the organisation is dedicated to devising and implementing change, becoming an industry leader and inspiring the wider sports industry to rethink its approach.
A priority since its reopening in 2007, the stadium has focused its environmental and social activity over the last 12 months with the aim of achieving ISO20121 – the highest standard of sustainability recognised by the International Organisation for Standardization – which it duly achieved in August 2019, currently the only stadium in the UK to hold this certification.
SAILGP – Powered by NatureTM
SailGP – Powered by NatureTM has integrated sustainability into its operational heart delivering beyond best practice and a clear focus on winning the race to zero carbon. During Season 1, events continually delivered measurable improvements, including 80% carbon emission reduction in from temporary power, 75% reduction in food waste, food donation programme providing 2,559 meals to local non-profits in USA; 76,800 disposable tableware items avoided in Cowes and Marseille.
In June, SailGP signed the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework setting an ambitious goal of Net Zero carbon by 2025. We were the first league to achieve all participating teams signing this. We were instrumental in developing the World Sailing Special Event Charter becoming the first Special Event to commit and activate across the Charter.
In August we launched our community/youth programme “Inspire”, with 37 getting on the water and 27 work experience opportunities for young people.
Our innovation projects tackle the challenge of non-fossil fuelled support boats, Season 2 will see the announcement of three innovation partnerships around temporary power provision and end of life for our race boats. The Race boats are rebuilt America’s Cup boats utilising recycled carbon fibre in the production process reducing embodied carbon.
World Sailing
World Sailing is the international federation for all sailing disciplines, it has an ambitious, innovative sustainability strategy which is aligned to 12 of the UN SDGs. The strategy and work to date seeks to address sustainable development holistically across the sport in a number of areas.
World Sailing uses its sphere of influence utilising events, athletes, regulation and innovation to ensure the sport of sailing continually improves in all areas of sustainability.
The long term strategy with 56 varied targets with multiple milestones was unanimously supported by 145 sailing nations in May 2018.
In the two years since being agreed, World Sailing have formed multiple strategic partnerships with UN Agencies and NGOs and has taken a leading role in international sport to encourage, advise and mentor other sport federations in adopting sustainable practises.
