Greening the games

Sporting events around the world are getting more eco-conscious
Grace Chua Straits Times 31 May 10;

THE JP Morgan Corporate Challenge charity run earlier this month raised money for a museum and a children's charity.

And in recycling the plastic bottles for runners' drinks and siting itself near an MRT station, the run also pushed for a third cause: the environment.

In doing so, it joined sports events worldwide which, in recent years, have been trying to shrink their environmental footprint.

For instance, by using hydroelectric power and building energy-efficient stadiums and rinks, this year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver more than halved its carbon dioxide emissions from those at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City.

The upcoming World Cup in South Africa is also going climate-neutral by buying carbon offsets for an estimated 2,171,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Since 1994, sustainability has officially been the third pillar of the Olympics, after sport and culture.

Sporting events can have huge environmental impact as throngs of spectators and participants travel to far-flung venues, use energy for heating or cooling - all generating waste in the process.

Environment expert Andrea Collins of the Cardiff University in Wales said there is no standardised method for calculating the environmental costs of an event as carbon footprinting is a new area of research. But, she said, several factors should be taken into account.

Transport to and from events is one - driving a private car emits more carbon dioxide than taking a train or bus.

Here, besides the Youth Olympic Games' public transport schemes, many spectator and mass-participation events such as the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, the JP Morgan run and last year's Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, are held at places with ample public transport - near MRT stations, for instance.

Other energy use, such as lighting, should also be factored into an event's carbon footprint.

Organisers of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix use solar panels to offset 135 megawatt-hours of track lighting - enough to power more than 500 four-room HDB flats for a day.

The fuel used in the Grand Prix cars must contain at least 5.75 per cent biomatter, and cars are designed to accept biofuel.

Recycling waste generated at an event is now par for the course, particularly for mass-run events.

Event organiser Tribob, which organises the Sprint Series of short triathlons and races, collects about 3,500 litres of plastic for recycling from each race.

It asks athletes to bring their own water bottles, in addition to distributing water and isotonic drinks along the way.

But given that the sports industry, which topped $1 billion here in 2007, makes significant contributions to the country's coffers, is the environmental impact not justified?

Carbon consultant Willem Christiaens, of Caspervandertak Consulting South- east Asia conceded: 'Carbon emissions are a fact of life. Without carbon emissions there would not be any activities, economic or others.'

But he argued that leisure events should not have a negative impact on the environment. Instead, they should try and reduce their impact as much as possible. Besides, event sponsors would stand to gain commercially and image-wise by tackling climate change.

JP Morgan Singapore chief operating officer Annie Carmody-Stephens agreed.

'Events like this are the perfect platform to promote green and other worthy causes - there's an exponential effect as people start thinking actively about other green ideas.'