Sustainability at Stadium Venues
With the COP27 climate change events, sustainability is increasingly important to venue finders and event bookers, when selecting a host venue for their next meeting, conference, exhibition or event. Our stadium venues have recognised this growing trend, responding with a raft of green and eco-friendly measures to improve their environmental impact and achieve their sustainable development goals where possible.
Access – Green Transport Options
Stadium venues in their very nature are located with very easy access for all forms of transport, with many conveniently positioned close to regular rail and bus services. For those travelling by car, the installation of electric vehicle charging points has also grown substantially in recent years. The EV chargers are often free to use for non-match day event attendees.
Modern Efficient Buildings
As stadia update and refurbish their facilities, green initiatives are taking a real focus on every aspect, such as improving insulation, efficient glazing (to minimise heat loss), reducing energy use and water consumption, installing efficient LED lighting, and exploring options for solar panel energy generation. Many venues also engage in carbon off-setting with the planting of trees and flowers to balance the carbon created by their operations.
Aston Villa FC has pledged its environmental commitment with a series of measures being put in place. The club has already replaced lighting with LED’s, swapped to electric mowers, as well as reducing the level of paper tickets and single-use plastics. Read more about the plans in place at Aston Villa FC.
Building an entirely new stadium offers a whole world of sustainability and eco-friendly opportunities too. The brand new Tottenham Hotspur FC stadium topped the 2020 Premier League Sustainability Table, taking into account key factors such as renewable energy use, carbon emissions, plastic use and water saving. The stadium is recognised as 100% certified on renewable energy use. Carbon dioxide emissions from the Stadium are around 50% less than a stadium built just 10 years ago, demonstrating the commitment and rate of development in the industry. Read more about the measures in place at the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Match Day Sustainability Measures
On a match day, many venues have sought to reduce the printing of paper tickets with digital options. There has also been a real focus on the introduction of re-usable cups to reduce the level of single-use plastic going to landfill, self-destructing cups to reduce plastic into landfill, and even turning plastic cup waste into sustainable benches. In addition, stadia are stocking products with recyclable packaging where possible, and providing additional facilities for guests to increase their level of recycling.
Sustainable Non-Match Day Events
For non-match day meetings and event, venues are pulling out all the stops to improve their green credentials. Some of the measures in place include locally sourcing food and drinks to minimise the miles travelled, increasing plant-based ingredients (read about Twickenham Stadium’s plant-first approach), utilising re-usable crockery rather than paper-cups, removing single-use plastics, and even adding eco-labelling using the LEAP (Livestock, Environment & People) system. Read more about Lime Venue Portfolio introducing carbon labelling for meetings.
Hampshire Cricket has installed the ORCA and revolutionised the way The Ageas Bowl deals with food waste, with compatible discarded food being turned into water.
Sustainable Supply & Food Chains
Sustainability doesn’t begin at the venue itself, but often much further back in the supply or food chain. Levy UK + Ireland has announced plans to sponsor an innovative demonstrator farm which will help educate current and future generations of chefs and farmers on sustainable farming practices, which will in turn feed through to their venues.
Green Websites
Lime Venue Portfolio who work at a number of stadium venues have also invested in a special ‘green’ website. Research has shown that some websites can emit up to 5g of CO₂ every time someone visits the page which, when multiplied over the course of a year and across multiple users, is the equivalent of boiling a kettle over 50 thousand times. Their new website requires less energy through a number of strategies, from reducing the number of large files and images to hosting the site on ‘cleaner’ servers.
Sustainability Accreditations & Awards
More and more venues are achieving recognised accreditations showcasing how their green focus and sustainability initiatives are a top priority. Green Tourism has developed a dedicated Green Meetings standard for venues to achieve, with over 700 UK venues currently participating. Twickenham Stadium has achieved their Silver Award, as well as the Gold Award for the Ecosmart Accreditation by Greengage Solutions.
There are also a number of industry award programmes designed to celebrate the investment made by venues, including; Reuters Sustainability Awards, National Sustainability Awards, edie awards and more. Read more about Sodexo’s recent sustainability award nominations.
These are just a few of the measures being developed at stadium venues to improve their environmental performance, with many more in the pipeline for future development.
Tell Us About Your Sustainable Products & Services
If you have a green and sustainable product or service that would be ideal for use in a stadium, we would love to hear from you. We have a number of channels you may be able to utilise to increase awareness of your brand, such as promoting your exclusive supplier discounts to Stadium Experience member venues, opportunities to present your business to our venues on Zoom or in-person, or even get involved with our annual Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards.
To find out more, please email office@stadiumexperience.com.
