With India looking forward to hosting the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is working on a sustainability plan for the tournament, which it intends to release soon.
The Cricket World Cup stands as one of the most significant sporting events worldwide, second only to the FIFA World Cup. Representing participation of 32 nations, 10 teams have qualified for the final tournament to be held between October 5 and November 19. The matches will be held at venues across 10 cities, which will also include the India vs Pakistan match scheduled for October 14 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Last year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar was heavily promoted as the world’s first fully climate-neutral tournament, aligning with its dedication to reducing and compensating for the carbon emissions it produced. Official estimates projected that the tournament would generate approximately 3.6 million tons of CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, several countries, including Switzerland, France, Belgium, the UK, and the Netherlands, raised concerns and complaints, alleging that FIFA had made inaccurate claims in its communications regarding carbon neutrality at the World Cup.
Considering the format and the extensive number of matches involved, the Cricket World Cup 2023 is expected to attract fans from various parts of the world. Taking a holistic view of the entire operation, which encompasses the emissions generated by fans, sports organisations can play a pivotal role in significantly reducing their environmental footprint, sustainability initiatives can contribute towards India’s ambitious goals of achieving net zero by 2070.
In sync with ICC sustainability guidelines, the council is also working on the sustainability plan, and responded to Business Today query over email, stating “We are working with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) in putting things in place and will be able to share something with you at a later point in time.” An email sent to BCCI didn’t elicit any response.
Of the various measures that can be undertaken, powering stadiums using renewable energy has been witnessed in other parts of the world. For instance, the Cricket World Cup hosted in United Kingdom in 2019, most of the stadiums were powered by renewable energy.
Also, one-off efforts have been made in the past to host net neutral matches in India. Way back in 2010, the Punjab Cricket Association hosted the first-ever carbon neutral cricket. The green match was organized by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Indian Premier League, as a part of the “Batting for the Environment” initiative. And just last year, Rajasthan Royals and Schneider Electric hosted a carbon neutral Cricket Match in the IPL 2022. Schneider Electric’s Knowledge partners C-Balance and Nangia Andersen LLP calculated the carbon footprint of the match at 9,442 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and offered the offset strategy for neutralizing the carbon emissions, for which Schneider Electric is working with multiple agencies for plantation and sequester this CO2 emission over a period of 30 years by planting 17000 trees, making this match carbon neutral by 2052.
Business Today also reached out to the sponsors of the upcoming Cricket World Cup as they play a crucial role in supporting and funding various aspects of an event, as their contributions help cover expenses, enhance the event experience, and often enable the event to reach a wider audience. But we did not receive any response from Emirates, MRF, Byju’s, Aramco, to name a few. Surprisingly, BIRA 91, which is actively working towards its ambition to become India’s first Net Zero beer company by 2025 and its Mysuru brewery is already India’s first Net Zero brewery, responded to Business Today stating, “BIRA 91 doesn’t have substantial linkage between sustainability and the World Cup partnership.”
However, Bookings.com as the Official Accommodation Partner for ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, is ensuring that travellers looking at travelling across the country to watch the match in person can book sustainable stays. Santosh Kumar, Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com told Business Today, “Our Travel Sustainable Badge will help provide the necessary information to travellers who wish to make sustainable travel choices for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Currently, we have over 20000 properties in India that are being recognised for their sustainability efforts with a Travel Sustainable Badge.”
Climate change is for real and of all the major pitch sports, cricket is believed to be the hardest hit by climate change. Avoiding and reducing carbon emissions seems to be the only means to meet International Climate Change Agreements to limit global heating to 1.5 degree C.
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