Soon it will be 12 months since the World Floorball Championships 2022 took place in Switzerland. In addition to being a very successful event in terms of spectator numbers and sports presentation, it was also historic by aiming to be as climate friendly as possible. Now is a good time to take a look at the results of the Green Goal initiative.
The whole initiative started by looking at past events together with the climate specialist myclimate. The first task was to create a benchmark for emissions to evaluate the impacts of future reduction efforts. This was achieved with the assistance of the Czech Floorball Federation (total emissions for WFC 2018 were 6891t CO2 e).
The next step was to investigate the different areas of a championship tournament and how they contribute to the carbon footprint. As a result five areas were identified where the biggest reduction could be achieved:
- Arena
- Teams
- Travel for Fans
- Food
- Material and waste
For each respective area a plan was created how to maximise the reduction potential.
The main goal of the Green Goal was to halve CO2 emissions per person compared to the WFC 2018 in Prague using innovative and creative measures, thereby emitting a maximum of 3,000 tons of CO2. For example, together with insurance provider Mobiliar, four extra trains were chartered from the Swiss railway company SBB; health insurer Concordia invited all 25,000 match-attending school kids to travel free of charge by public transport; Fleurop had bags, gym bags and etuis produced from event branding material. Among other things, these measures resulted in 83% of the spectators travelling to the arenas by public transport or bicycle, thus making a major contribution to reaching the targets for CO2 emissions per person (Quantum Consultancy Event Report 2022). There was a minor setback but with an extremely pleasing justification: due to the significantly higher number of spectators than expected, the total emissions of 3019 tons are slightly above the original target of 3000 tons.
Emission report from WFC 2022
| Category (both venues) | t CO2e |
|---|---|
| Heating / Cooling (Arena) | 8,2 |
| Electricity (Arena) | 6 |
| Mobility and Accommodations (Teams) | 269 |
| Mobility Fans (excl. accommodations) (Travel for Fans) | 1803 |
| Hospitality (Food) | 376 |
| Material (Material / Waste) | 536 |
| Waste and material disposal (Material / Waste) | 21 |
| Total | 3019 |
The result for the Green Goal initiative was great however there is always room for improvement. A part of the GAMES project (EU-funded project to raise awareness and increase the adoption of climate change mitigation practices by key sports actors) the project lead Sant’Anna University of Advanced Studies conducted a sustainability audit on WFC 2022. Based on the myclimate end report and the findings from the event audit the local organisation committee of WFC 2024 (Malmö, Sweden) has created a sustainability strategy for their respective event.
— In close cooperation with sustainability expert Greentime (and City of Malmö, Visit Skåne and Malmö Arena), WFC 2024 plan to go even further by sustainability certifying the championship to a “Certified Sustainable Event”. This means that we will quality-assure the work, not only linked to environmental/ecological impact but also in relation to the other dimensions of sustainability, i.e. social and economic, which must be integrated and collaborate in order to achieve a sustainable society or event, explains Magnus Nilsson, Event Director of the WFC 2024.
Finally, we return to Green Goal and the mitigation of the unavoidable emissions from the WFC 2022. The local organising committee decided on two separate projects to compensate through myclimate projects:
- Solar Panels for Education and Quality of Life in Ethiopia and Kenya
- Solar Energy for Education and Jobs in Tanzania
The high-quality projects promote quantifiable climate protection and greater sustainability worldwide. myclimate has developed and supported 197 climate protection projects in 45 countries around the world since its foundation in 2002. Emissions are reduced there by replacing fossil energy resources with renewable energies, and by implementing local afforestation measures with smallholder farmers and energy-efficient technologies. myclimate climate protection projects meet the highest standards (Gold Standard, Plan Vivo), which are not only proven to reduce greenhouse gases locally and regionally, but also make a positive contribution to sustainable development.
