Venues, teams and leagues will use the Arc platform to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve sustainability performance
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 19, 2021) – Today, Arc announced a new partnership with sports trade organization The Green Sports Alliance (GSA) on the new Playing for the Next Generation campaign to help sports teams, leagues, venues and conferences around the world reduce their GHG emissions, work toward net zero milestones and goals and bring greater health and wellness, resilience and sustainability to the industry.
Launch partners include Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, and the NCAA Pac-12 conference, as well as premier sports venues including SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park and Lumen Field (home to the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders). Participants will leverage the Arc performance platform to track and measure their sustainability performance in key areas, including energy, water, waste, transportation and human experience – and earn recognition for high performance in these categories, with further industry-specific customizations and performance recognitions set to launch across the first year of programming.
“Sporting venues are some of the most iconic buildings in our communities and have tremendous potential for sustainability impacts, considering the millions of fans that enter stadiums and arenas each year. By leveraging the Arc platform and integrating sustainable design practices, these professional and collegiate sports leagues and facilities will be better positioned to measure their progress in becoming greener, healthier and more resilient,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, CEO of USGBC, GBCI and Arc. “This goes to show that teams can win in more ways than just on the field, and we are grateful for our strong partnership with GSA to help sports venues surpass their sustainability goals.”
“The Green Sports Alliance is excited to launch Play to Zero at this important inflection point in green sports,” said Scott Jenkins, Co-Founder and Board Chair of GSA. “In our first ten years, we mobilized a movement; but in the next ten, we must leverage our collective influence and data to protect the communities and industry that we’ve dedicate our lives to. Our partnership with Arc allows us to quickly deliver vital tools and technologies tailored to the unique needs of our members and greater network.”
Play to Zero will provide sporting venues with a pathway to LEED certification. LEED is the world’s most widely used green building program with more than 106,000 registered and certified commercial projects spread across 182 countries and territories. Already, hundreds of sporting facilities around the world have achieved LEED certification, and many of these premiere venues are already using the Arc performance platform to certify to LEED. Play to Zero will continue to scale this growth, helping the sporting industry take a portfolio level approach to green building certification through the use of Arc.