A single major sporting event Can generate up to 40 tons of trash. that weight Two loaded charter buses Adding to a landfill — and that waste doesn’t even take into account the energy used to power the stadium, or the gasoline-fueled cars so many fans wanted to get there.
for this Seattle’s Climate Commitment Arena — the first large-scale live event venue Named for a reason, not a company — leading the way to a greener alternative with many initiatives in energy, waste, transit and beyond In fact, Climate Pledge Arena and its resident teams, the Seattle Kraken and Seattle Storm, are among its signatories. Climate CommitmentA coalition of companies committed to reaching an ambitious goal: achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. This September marks the fifth anniversary of Promise, which was co-founded by Amazon and Global optimism In 2019. More than 500 signatory companies have since signed on.
As the growing movement to combat climate change focuses around the need for broad, cross-industry collaboration, signatories of the entertainment and sports industries are coming together to collectively address their environmental impact. In the case of Climate Play Arena, that means creating innovative solutions to make the future of live events more sustainable.
Oak View Group, which operates the Climate Pledge Arena and 400 other venues worldwide, is also a signatory to the pledge. Kristen Fullmer, head of sustainability at Oak View Group, says the arena’s environmental achievements also have a wider impact: helping to inspire other signatories and venues worldwide. Fulmer also serves as director of GOAL, or Green Operations & Advanced Leadership, Oak View Group’s sustainability working group that brings together leaders from 40 event spaces in the US, UK, and Canada.
“Sustainability doesn’t just show [new] space,” Fulmer said. “We’re driving the goals and minimum standards for all of our venue operations teams, and providing them with the support and resources to make sure they know what sustainability looks like for the Iowa Event Center just as much as it does. [for] Climate Commitments Arena.”
Creating a green road map
Inspiring live event spaces worldwide to adopt sustainable practices can have a huge impact. every year, The global sports industry emits an estimated 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxideAccording to the Carbon Literacy Project, a picture that includes factors such as transportation emissions, space construction and commodity supply chains. Concertgoers, meanwhile, are responsible for more than 116 million pounds of waste in the United States alone.
The success story of the Climate Pledge Arena demonstrates some of the practical actions that pledge signatories can start to power. Everything in the arena, from the heat that warms the attendees to the machines that regenerate the ice on the hockey rink, runs on electricity. Currently, one percent of that energy is provided by on-site solar panels and the rest comes from other renewable sources, according to Rob Johnson, senior vice president of sustainability and transportation for Climate Pledge Arena and the Seattle Kraken.
Siemens, a fellow climate pledge signatory, is helping with more energy-reduction methods 18,100-seat arena“Building energy systems start with tracking and sub-metering to understand where they’re using the most energy and what we can really do to reduce those emissions,” Johnson said.
“To see the number of venues … jumping into calls asking questions about how we’re doing is powerful.”
And environmental sustainability initiatives go beyond traditional “green” building operations. the arena Offers free local public transit with every ticket To encourage fans to choose options such as light rail or bus to get to the event. The rainwater collected from all those rainy Seattle days is equal Used to make hockey rink ice, which Johnson said has already saved more than 400,000 gallons of water over the past three seasons. The food program prioritizes local sourcing, aiming to source 75 percent of ingredients from within a 300-mile radius of the field.
Also, its 22,000-ton roof (which was built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and has official historic landmark designation) It was preserved while the new arena was built under it. This significantly reduced the 41,000 metric tons of carbon emissions associated with construction, according to Johnson.
Johnson said the arena’s approach has inspired groups around the world — from Eastern European hockey clubs to Japanese arena developers — who regularly request more information about its initiative. “To see the number of venues that are asking us to tour or jump on the call to ask questions about how we’re doing,” he said.
To achieve zero-waste
This is one of the most talked about recent achievements of the Climate Pledge Arena True Platinum Certification To function effectively as a zero-waste facility. To achieve this, the space diverts more than 90 percent of its waste from landfills to recycling and composting.
Hitting the zero-waste goal has taken a three-pronged approach, said Brianna Treat, director of sustainability for the Arena and Seattle Kraken. The first step was procurement facilitation, which moved goods for sale. Only products with compostable food ingredients and recyclable packaging can now be purchased. Single-use plastics have also been eliminated. Arena achieved this milestone in October 2023, well ahead of the 2024 target.
“Even small, incremental changes can help reduce really big numbers.”
Finally, the team revised how cleaning staff perform “bowl sweeps” to collect trash after events. Instead of crews collecting all the items in one bag and then sorting them into separate bags for landfill, recycling and compost, the cleaners start sorting like a bowl sweep. “We saved so much time that we went from needing 10 housekeepers per event to four to six because of our very streamlined approach to operations,” Treat said. “The bowl broom was huge for us, because it saved us money on the back of the house, but it also saved us a lot of time on the decorating front. It takes 10 hours to sort 10 tonnes of waste.
Then, there was the teaching of devotees. For example, signs at each disposal station show the 30 best-selling items in the stadium and specify where to throw each so there’s no guesswork. The team even attached a camera to the soda bottle to show where it goes after being binned.
Climate Pledge Arena’s zero-waste performance is based on the average landfill diversion rate for GOAL network members (90 percent vs. 32 percent) But to Fulmer, it’s more about appreciating overall progress. “That’s more than one-third of their waste not being landfilled or incinerated,” he said. “If we host these venues and then total that across the number of events across the portfolio, that’s enough. Even just small, incremental changes can help reduce really big numbers.”
