Auckland’s Rugby World Cup 2011: What’s sustainability got to do with Rugby?
Sustainability and the environment aren’t subjects that immediately spring to mind for most people when they think about Auckland hosting the Rugby World Cup next year, but then we aren’t like most people…
With the Eden Park redevelopment leading the way, Auckland's Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011) preparations have taken on an environmental edge.
Organisers of the event in our region, Auckland’s RWC 2011 Regional Steering Group, include an Environmental Sustainability Workstream. This workstream comprises a passionate bunch of key people (from several of the Auckland councils) providing input to ensure that the event is run responsibly – that is, with respect for the environment that us kiwis are so proud to call 100% pure, and is benchmarked against global best practice. The aim is to leave New Zealanders a positive legacy with long term enduring physical and social benefits for the region and its people.
Carbon Group has been working with the Environmental Sustainability (ES) Workstream to assist with providing a platform to progress the Auckland region’s ability to deliver and support mega events, sustainably.Our work has been to develop the Environmental Sustainability Monitoring and Reporting Framework. This involved working with the ES group to develop suitable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to enable effective measurement and reporting on the outcomes achieved through the implementation of the regional ES framework, while at the same time developing a framework that could be used for future major events.
This work puts the spotlight on the event from the opening to the closing ceremony in six main areas: waste minimisation, sustainable procurement, sustainable transport, water management, energy efficiency and climate protection.
Over recent years, most large international sporting events have included sustainability programmes, and we looked at these events to guide our work and ensure the Auckland RWC 2011 sustainability programme is following international best practice.
The recently concluded FIFA world cup tournament has come under scrutiny lately for its large carbon footprint with (according to a recent study by Ernst & Young), an eight-fold increase over the last World Cup in Germany The scope of the carbon footprint includes an estimation of the associated travel footprint of fans attending the games; therefore the 8 fold increase is most likely best described as the “carbon price” for having a tournament outside of Europe, where most of the fans come from.
This will likely be a similar scenario for New Zealand with the RWC 2011. As responsible global citizens (and especially if we want the economic benefits of being involved in hosting global events in the future) it pays for us to show that we can offset the environmental disadvantage (of our distance from Europe) by being exceptionally “environmental and carbon considerate” in the activities that take place in our region.
Also see Environmental edge to Auckland's RWC 2011 preparations.
August 2010