Leadership / 04.20.22

As Sports Venues Go Zero-Carbon and Zero-Waste, the Race for Sustainability Has Become a 'Forever Journey'

Access Staff

Sport Techie (04/19/22) Lemire, Joe

Experts at SportTechie's State of the Industry conference stressed that making sports venues sustainable is essential to business, and not just an altruistic gesture. The National Hockey League's Omar Mitchell highlighted the league's food recovery program, light-emitting diodes installed in most arenas and the recent launch of the certified zero-carbon Climate Pledge Arena as necessary steps. "This is about continuous process improvement. This is about business optimization," he said. Mitchell continued that scaling the same smart home technology to optimize HVAC, refrigeration and dehumidification systems for hockey rinks could significantly slash energy consumption. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks are awaiting final certification to make State Farm Arena the National Basketball Association's (NBA) first zero-waste venue. Sofi Armenakian, the team's director of operations and sustainability, said measuring everything was a priority, while including fans in the process is essential. "We operate at a certain standard, regardless of what the event is, but the real change is going to happen when we are able to influence change in the way we practice in what we do and fans taking that back into their communities back into their schools and into their workplaces," she explained. Allen Hershkowitz, sustainability advisor to the NBA and the New York Yankees, also said accountability must be facilitated through a sports franchise and the league.

Read the full story from Sport Techie. 

Tags: News , Leadership , Sustainability