Super Bowl, Olympics Offset Carbon Emissions

November 30, 2006

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Large sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, Olympics, and World Cup, have been making and fulfilling promises to offset the damage to the environment caused by large crowds and facilities management.

The NFL is planting 3.5 acres of trees to offset about 260 tons of carbon it estimates will be created from this year’s Super Bowl in Miami, Sustainable Industries reports.

With help from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the Princeton Carbon Mitigation Center and the U.S. Forest Service, the NFL determined the number of trees it would take to offset the carbon generated from the Super Bowl.

The NFL spends an annual $2,000 on tree seedlings and close to $30,000 in human resources to implement tree plantings in Super Bowl host cities.

Close to 70 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy have been offset, according to a recent report.

The organizers calculated that during the Winter Olympics, the amount of greenhouse gases produced, including those generated by heating and energy systems and teams and athletes flying to and from Torino, would equate to a total of 103,500 tons of carbon dioxide.

Several initiatives were undertaken including an investment of five million Euros by the administration of Regione Piemonte in renewable and sustainable energy projects – such as district heating upgrades.

Internationally, HECTOR was used to purchase “verifiable emissions reductions” from certified green and cleaner energy projects in Eritrea, Mexico and Sri Lanka.

A tree planting project in Kenya, under UNEP’s Plant for the Planet initiative, has also contributed.

Close to 70 tons of the 103,500 tons produced, or just over 67 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions, are being offset.

The Regione Piemonte is looking at funding additional projects to offset the remaining one third of greenhouse gas emissions not covered under the original HECTOR scheme.

More sporting news will come out tomorrow, when a final score-card report will be published on 2006 FIFA World Cup’s green goals.

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