DP World Tour swings for carbon reduction with new fan travel emissions tracker

The easy-to-use tool is being deployed in collaboration with Hamburg-based carbon management solutions provider AQ Green TeC, with ticketholders across 12 tournaments in 2024 automatically receiving a link to a new portal to input their event travel-related data. After submitting details on flights, accommodation and ground transportation, spectators will be offered a way to purchase verified carbon credits to offset their calculated GHG emissions.

Carbon credits in the tool are all from Gold Standard accredited projects that support a range of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Helping spectators mitigate their GHG emissions when travelling to tournaments is a key part of the Tour’s wider Green Drive programme, which is committed to achieving a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 and net zero carbon by 2040.

“It is widely recognised that the biggest contributor to GHG emissions for live events comes via the spectator / fan / attendee travel,” David Grundlingh, Chief Executive of AQ Green TeC, told Global Sustainable Sport.

“Not only that, but most sports don’t have any accurate way to measure these GHG emissions.”

Grundlingh added that by engaging fans in the process, it helps to generate awareness and inspire fans to make more sustainable choices, while also providing organisers with better data around emissions they cannot control.

AQ Green TeC has been working on the tool since it originally created a solution for the UN Global Climate Summit at CU Boulder in December 2022, explained Grundlingh.

“Subsequently we have been working in the corporate conference and events space, where we learned a lot and applied these learnings into improvements for the tool, so we are now pushing into sports with all the learnings gained and with what we think is an easy to use and understand tool for fans,” Grundlingh added.

Driving engagement

The DP World Tour will drive engagement with the new tool through a series of competitions. Additionally, the Tour has previously implemented a range of initiatives to encourage more sustainable travel such as free shuttle services from local train stations for certain events; free bike parking at all tournaments; advocating for carpooling; and priority parking for attendees using electric vehicles.

Measurements will also be undertaken to quantify the impact on carbon emissions of the new structure of the 2024 DP World Tour season, which has seen events clustered together into regional “Swings”.

Elsewhere, the Tour has a strategic partnership in place with the GEO Sustainable Golf Foundation to make its tournaments and operations as sustainable as possible. The collaboration is centred on resource efficiency; climate action; community engagement and the promotion of nature.

Maria Grandinetti-Milton, Head of Sustainability at the European Tour Group, said: “There will always be unavoidable emissions when staging golf tournaments that attract thousands of fans over multiple days. We have a responsibility to start the dialogue with our fans and to help connect the impact of actions onsite to the future of our sport, supporting climate mitigation projects where we can all work together to invest back into the planet.

“Ultimately, we want to make it easier for fans to make cleaner travel choices in the first place, whether that’s using public transport, carpooling or cycling. At present, 20.5% of our spectator’s travel using lower carbon methods, and we want to increase this percentage. This new tool will help raise awareness of this issue amongst our fan base and provide a simple means of understanding the impact different modes of transport have on our climate. If we are going to achieve net zero by 2040, then everyone needs to pull together and play their part.”

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