How Sports Are Helping the Environment
Pro and college leagues from across the world are working to reduce their carbon footprint.
Stadiums and ballparks are greener than ever thanks to solar panels, wind turbines and recycling bins.
And league initiatives are getting innovative to save the planet.
These are the best ways sports are helping the environment.
25. Planting Trees
Sport: All
Teams involved: All
What they are doing: Teams beautify their communities by planting trees.
Why it matters: Because all life comes from trees.
Every major pro team heads out into the community to plant trees, almost every season.
Although this action seems like a blatant attempt at positive public relations, trees help in myriad ways, including absorbing carbon dioxide, cleaning the air and providing oxygen.
24. Arena/Stadium Recycling
Sport: All
Teams involved: All
What they are doing: Teams are offering recycling bins inside stadiums in addition to garbage pickup.
Why it matters: Recycling, or turning trash into new products, is such a simple and effortless move.
Collecting and processing old materials can benefit anyone's community and the environment by reducing waste and conserving resources.
Considering what sports stadiums looked like at the turn of this century, having recycling bins in every stadium and arena is major progress.
23. Green Fireworks
Sport: Minor League Baseball
Teams involved: Lake Elsinore Storm
What they are doing: The California-based Minor League Baseball team led the way with "Goin' Green" weekend.
Why it matters: Fireworks are fun to watch, but those shows in the sky release harmful pollutants that can have negative effects on people and wildlife.
The Lake Elsinore Storm took an eco-friendly approach to pyrotechnics by trying out green fireworks, which are devoid of a specific toxin that pollutes lakes.
The display in California, which has been ravaged by environmental disasters, was part of a promotion to educate people on the benefits of "green" initiatives.
22. Farm-Raised Food
Sport: MLB
Teams involved: San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox
What they are doing: Teams source their food options from gardens and farms.
Why it matters: There’s no better way to get fresh food than to grow it yourself.
Major League Baseball teams have invested in gardens and farms to both source concession items and make their communities greener.
This approach reduces our carbon footprint and provides many other benefits for health, society and the planet.
21. Green Glove Recognition
Sport: MLB
Teams involved: All
What they are doing: Major League Baseball awards a Green Glove Award to clubs that achieve excellence in sustainability.
Why it matters: Major League Baseball is setting the bar high by making sustainability a competition.
The team that diverts the highest percentage of waste earns the coveted Green Glove Award.
Since 2008, the San Francisco Giants have won the honor 10 times in the past 11 seasons with many green initiatives.
20. The Last Hockey Game
Sport: Hockey
Teams involved: Hockey stars, athletes and celebrities
What they are doing: The United Nations is hosting a special hockey game on the North Pole.
Why it matters: Ice in the Artic is disappearing at a rapid pace.
Hockey and the United Nations are teaming up to create awareness for this dire situation. In April 2020, the North Pole will host a hockey game in hopes of showcasing how that region has been disproportionally affected by the planet’s warming.
Russian hockey legend Slava Fetisov is spearheading the initiative.
19. Light Choices
Sports: All
Teams involved: Many
What they are doing: Teams have changed their lighting for LEDs.
Why it matters: LED lights cut down on electrical consumption.
Almost every arena and stadium that has earned LEED certification has made the switch from halogen lights to LEDs.
LEDs last longer, are more cost-efficient and shine brighter.
18. Donating Food
Sport: Many
Teams involved: Many
What they are doing: Teams donate leftover food to pantries.
Why it matters: Food waste has an adverse environmental impact, and there are many less-fortunate people who are craving a good meal.
Enter major sports programs, like the University of Oregon, who started the trend of donating leftover concessions to nonprofit organizations and shelters.
“There are people who don’t have livable-wage jobs in the area," Alicia Hines, the food resource developer for Food for Lane County told NCAA.org in 2013. "Having a prepared meal where they can heat it and eat it is a good gift for them."
17. Composting
Sport: College football
Teams involved: Ohio State University
What they are doing: Teams aim to eliminate waste by buying sustainable food holders.
Why it matters: Ohio State has been one of the gold standards among NCAA programs in terms of sustainability.
The school has achieved zero waste for its football games by setting up waste stations where food waste can be composted and used to make more rich soil.
"Sometimes you tread in water that hasn’t been treaded before," Corey Hawkey, Ohio State sustainability coordinator told NCAA.org in 2013. "We worked together from the very beginning and set up a leadership team. … It’s a team effort."
16. Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI)
Sport: All
Teams involved: All
What they are doing: SandSI leverages sports influencers to promote healthy, sustainable and just communities.
Why it matters: Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI) wants to accelerate sustainability through sports.
The nonprofit supports the United Nations sustainable development goals and works with some of the world’s most influential sports figures, teams and groups to take climate action.
15. Plastic Bans
Sport: English Premier League, London Marathon, Rugby
Teams involved: Tottenham Hotspur
What they are doing: Teams ban plastics from arenas and stadiums.
Why it matters: Plastic hurts the economy and environment.
Tottenham Hotspur has banned plastic drinking straws from its venue. The Twickenham rugby facility has rolled out a reusable cup infrastructure. And the London Marathon made compostable cups for the participants to drink from while racing on the course.
Plastic is difficult to recycle, so banning plastic is a positive step.
14. Using Wind Power
Sport: MLB, NFL
Teams involved: Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Indians
What they are doing: Teams have installed wind turbines to generate power.
Why it matters: Wind energy is a low-cost, inexhaustible resource that has many advantages.
The Eagles’ turbines are visible from outside Lincoln Financial Field, but the Indians were the first team to install wind power when they did so at Progressive Field in early 2012.
In 2016, the Indians became the first team to power their ballpark entirely on wind energy from those turbines.
13. Sustainable Jerseys
Sport: NHL/MLS
Teams involved: All NHL and MLS
What they are doing: Adidas offers jerseys made from recycled plastic.
Why it matters: Plastic is damaging the planet in multiple ways, from not being biodegradable to using fossil fuels (e.g., burning oil) to make cheap plastic.
But adidas is leading the charge by recycling polyester, nylon and other common materials — while avoiding toxic substances — in their shoes and apparel.
They created a Parley jersey, first unveiled for the 2019 NHL All-Star Game and made completely of recycled ocean plastic, to be a "symbol of change in the movement to protect the oceans."
12. Sustainable Fan Apparel
Sport: All
Teams involved: All
What they are doing: Brands are making appareal from recycled materials.
Why it matters: On-field apparel leads to fan apparel these days, and other than adidas, 47 Brand ('47) has taken the lead in sustainability, showing how doing social good makes business sense.
The Boston-based outfitter, which creates apparel for all major pro sports, boasts a hat made from recycled plastic bottles.
Aside from that, '"47 encourages suppliers to make progressive improvements in the environmental performance of their operations and mitigate any negative impact on the environment."
11. Yankees Join Climate Change Fight
Sport: Baseball
Teams involved: New York Yankees
What they are doing: The Yankees became the first North American franchise to join the United Nations Sports for Climate Action.
Why it matters: The Yankees are the gold standard for success in North American sports, and now they’re leading the way by joining the United Nations' climate initiatives.
"I welcome the announcement by the Yankees to join the Sports for Climate Action," said Antonio Guterres, the United Nation secretary-general, in April 2019. "With their rich winning tradition, the Yankees bring a new level of leadership to global efforts to tackle climate change."
The UN plan launched in 2018 to raise awareness and take climate action.
10. Infrastructure Upgrades for Green Travel
Sport: All sports
Teams involved: All
What they are doing: Stadiums, arenas and ballparks are making it easier for mass transit and green travel.
Why it matters: The traditional transportation model of driving to games, parking in lots and enjoying the event needs an update. With new venues and urban development, many pro sports teams are making it easier to bike or train to games.
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey opened a train line where fans from New York can take mass transit to games.
Many MLB parks, including Nationals Park, Oracle Park and T-Mobile Park, have bike parking, and Fenway Park even has free valet parking for fans who want to bike to games.
9. Driving Cleaner
Sport: Formula One
Teams involved: All
What they are doing: Formula One changed its engine restrictions to become more green.
Why it matters: Cars are the No. 1 polluter of the environment.
Leave it to the worldwide leader in car racing to be on the cutting edge of sustainability.
Formula One restricted its engines from 2.4-liter V8s to the 1.6-liter V6 hybrid variety that limits the pollution emitted in 2014.
8. NASCAR Goes Green
Sport: NASCAR
Teams involved: All
What they are doing: NASCAR changed its fuel to biofuel.
Why it matters: Fuel is a huge contributor to climate change, and without fuel, NASCAR would not exist.
The sport took the initiative to impact the climate by switching to biofuel in 2011.
NASCAR says the switch reduced emissions by 20 percent while also increasing horsepower and performance.
7. Green Ice Rinks
Sport: NCAA hockey, NHL
Teams involved: Bentley University, Carolina Hurricanes, others
What they are doing: Hockey rinks use state-of-the-art technology to mitigate the sport’s environmental impact.
Why it matters: Hockey might be the sport most adversely affected by climate change, but the people involved in the sport are trying to help stem the tide of global warming.
Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, built the first LEED Platinum arena — the most environmentally sustainable in the United States — and the NHL has one of the strongest green initiatives in professional sports, pushing for LED lights inside arenas and eliminating synthetic refrigerants for the rinks themselves.
PNC Arena, the home of the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina, was the first NHL venue to unveil LED lights in 2014, and the league continues to innovate for the next generation.
6. Reusing Water
Sport: Many
Teams involved: Many
What they are doing: Reusing and repurposing water to limit water waste.
Why it matters: Making playing surfaces look pristine takes a lot of water, and that water doesn’t have to go to waste.
Venues, such as golf courses, have used grasses that require less water and employ irrigation systems that use less energy.
Recycling water can prevent water shortages and reduce pollution.
5. Pocono Gives Back
Sport: NASCAR
What they are doing: Pocono Raceway is one of the most environmentally conscious stadiums in sports.
Why it matters: Auto racing has a big environmental impact, so Pocono Raceway took steps to leave "green" footprints.
The Pennsylvania racetrack has not only changed the game in terms of solar-powered stadiums. It also gives back to its local community.
The solar panels on the racetrack’s roof offset more than 2,300 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, and they also power almost 300 private homes near the facility.
4. The 'Green' Super Bowl
Sport: NFL
Teams involved: Many
What they are doing: The NFL is seeking to turn the Super Bowl into the greenest event in the world.
Why it matters: The Super Bowl is the world’s largest sporting event, and the NFL is using its platform to fight climate change.
The Super Bowl environmental program seeks to reduce greenhouse gases, reuse materials and develop solid waste management.
At the same time, it promotes sustainability through the repurposing of materials and encourages donations of books, food and sports equipment.
3. Solar Stadiums
Sport: NFL, MLB
Teams involved: New York Giants, New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Boston Red Sox
What they are doing: Some NFL and MLB teams use solar panels to become more energy efficient.
Why it matters: NFL stadiums are often rightly criticized for their exorbitant price tags, but many of the best new venues also are setting a new standard in sustainability.
Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Eagles, boasts 11,000 solar panels and 14 wind turbines that have reduced energy bills by 33 percent, according to the U.S. Office of Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Even crusty old Fenway Park earned LEED certification, and the park has run on solar — the cheapest option for clean energy — since 2008. The effort has helped reduce Fenway's electricity consumption by 12 percent since 2014.
2. Sustainable Arenas
Sport: NBA
Teams involved: Sacramento Kings
What they are doing: The Kings hit LEED Platinum certification.
Why it matters: California is known for its progressive climate policy, and the state capital is taking the lead with its basketball arena.
The Golden 1 Credit Union Center became the first LEED Platinum-certified arena in the world.
According to Greenbiz.com, the Sacramento Kings' home court uses solar panels for all of its power and keeps out 2,000 tons of greenhouse-gas emissions.
1. Recycled Stadium
Sport: Soccer
Teams involved: FIFA World Cup teams
What they are doing: A soccer stadium for the 2022 World Cup is being made entirely out of reused shipping containers.
Why it matters: The Qatar World Cup has been criticized, but a 40,000-seat stadium made entirely out of repurposed shipping containers will be one of its prime venues.
The stadium can be taken apart and repackaged and reused, according to USA Today.
"The prefabricated modular structure makes it possible to use less materials and emissions," Fei Wang, project manager of the project told USA Today in 2018.