COP28 recently agreed that the world needs to transition away from fossil fuels.
For some, this was the first proper recognition in history from the United Nations Climate Change Conference for the damage fossil fuels do to the planet. For other countries, it fell far short of what is needed at a time when many countries, including Ireland, have declared a climate emergency.
No, I didn’t click on RTÉ’s climate section by mistake. here it is.
So what does all this have to do with sports? Sport Ireland reported that 1.75 million people will regularly take part in sport in 2022. This represents her 43% of the state’s adult population.
For some people, that may mean putting on their runners and walking to a running trail at their local park. For others, it may be a long journey to training, games, or even a faraway gym.
“Public transport has always been focused on commuting,” said Gary Marshall, spokesperson for the Dublin Commuters Union.
“But other reasons should also be included. One example is the promotion of sporting events, such as attending big matches in stadiums or young children traveling for practice.
“At the moment, many of those trips involve parents transporting their children by car, leading to unnecessary emissions.”
Over the summer, the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that transportation was the only sector of the economy to see a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions from 2021 to 2022.
Despite the efforts of other sectors, transport emissions are heading in the wrong direction. But what would the solution look like?
“Clubs have provided private buses, parents can carpool and we have improved cycle lanes so children and young people can train on their bikes,” Marshall said.
Some solutions work better in urban areas, while others work better in rural areas. Sports clubs can also play a role, but there are also large-scale sporting events that draw large crowds.
To illustrate what could be achieved, this year’s F1 Dutch Grand Prix banned fans from driving to the event. The town of about 17,000 people saw 300,000 race participants during the four-day event, with visitors taking a combination of public transport, walking and cycling to get to the circuit.
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Of course, the flip side of the coin is the carbon footprint of a sport that drives teams and cars around the world, with the season expanding from seven races in the 1950s to 24 races next year.
Closer to home, GAA special trains have been a fixture of the Irish summer for a century, with some of the largest estates within walking distance of the station.
“Fan travel will be the biggest contributor to carbon emissions,” said Peter McKenna, the GAA’s stadium director at Croke Park.
“We are in the region of 14,000 CO2-equivalent emissions. [roughly 64% of their total emissions]. If we were to compare it to food, it would be 4,000. ”
Mr McKenna said the solution for the north Dublin venue is improved public transport that provides cleaner electricity.
“The bike is an important element, but you don’t come to the game from Kerry on your bike,” he added.
“We get people from all over the country to come to Croke Park, and when we do concerts they come from all over the world.
“This is about greener public transport. It will be a big help.”
“We are going to start making big cuts in CO2 emissions by introducing a much more efficient public transport system, and that is where we need to invest.
“I argue in favor of the tube and taking cars out of the city. Dublin is a small city.”
McKenna points to plans for a solar farm near Nauru, and it’s not all about transport and what the state can do. The GAA had previously imported turf from the UK, but purchased the land to be able to grow their own alternative turf.
This will be activated after a gig at the stadium, for example.
The site will continue to be used for that purpose, but the association hopes to apply for a permit for a solar farm in the new year.
“This will provide Croke Park with 10MW of capacity,” Mr McKenna points out.
“We will be using about 5.5MW per year, so that means an additional amount will be sent to the grid.
“70% of all menus are made up of produce sourced within 80 miles of Croke Park, and our 50 Mile Menu is a conscious effort to reduce food transport and focus on local suppliers. is.
“We are carrying out a major LED refurbishment of the facility. We are starting a water harvesting program to use the water flowing from the roof to irrigate the pitches. A 4,000 cubic meter tank will need to be installed. But that’s done after that.” feed the pitch.
“Summers are getting warmer and droughts are more likely. Currently we are watering the pitches with drinking water.” [ie drinkable] Water that is unsustainable on a range of levels. This will eliminate that. ”
Ultimately, Mr McKenna hopes Croke Park will halve its emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, which Mr McKenna says would effectively reduce emissions by 90% from baseline levels. There is.
The club, which formerly played at Jones Road, near Dublin’s north side, became the first football club to appoint a climate officer in January 2021 when Sean McCabe took up the role at Bohemians.
A busy GAA weekend in the summer could easily see over 100,000 people traveling across the country to attend matches. The number of people attending League of Ireland games is lower than this, on a Friday night he will probably be closer to 25,000, but it is much more regular in a 36-round season.
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In the past, Bose has offered free admission to Dairymount Park to those who bike to the Phibsboro venue. However, Croke Park, which can accommodate 82,500 people, and Dalymount, which can currently accommodate just over 4,000 people, are completely different in size.
Mr McCabe said he would like to see League of Ireland clubs work together to replicate what the GAA is planning with solar facilities, but in a league that is as close to becoming a fully professional league as possible He acknowledges that such a move is more difficult.
While the GAA has membership in every diocese in the country and football has a similar broad appeal, the League of Ireland is aimed at individual professional bodies competing against each other. Grander plans may be the work of the FAI.
But what clubs can do, McCabe says, is get involved in the local community.
“We are in such a laughably hopeless situation in this crisis that we need a completely different approach,” he says.
“Borse has been a co-operative since 1890, and we believe that applying that same co-operative mentality to climate action could completely change the game.
“Rather than talking to fans about taking shorter showers, I’d rather talk to them about how they own a solar farm or a retrofit business as part of a cooperative. Help solve energy poverty in our community by reaching those most in need in Phibsboro.
“The aim is to develop a culture at Dublin 7 where we own tangible assets to combat climate change, in the same way that fans own the club.
“We want to tap into the collective sense of identity of our fans. They don’t go to a football game to be an individual.” [so] Why should we talk to them as individuals? We need to talk to them as if they were a group and tell them what they can do as a group rather than as individuals.
“Instead of focusing on recycling, which we want to improve, or energy-efficient light bulbs in stadiums that are about to be knocked down, we should focus on community structures that allow communities to take responsibility for climate change. I guessed it.
“We believe that if we succeed in this and find that model, we can immediately share it across Europe and the world, because football clubs exist in every corner of every country.
“We need to recognize that the transition has to happen on the assumption that people have equal access to solutions, and the only way that can happen is if it is not a for-profit deployment. Those who can afford it and those who cannot. Those who can afford it will be subsidized to have access.”
Bose hopes that eventually he will open a “library of things” where people can borrow tools rather than books, which will lead to community-owned businesses that can retrofit local homes.
These are just two examples of how our two sporting neighbors are tackling the climate emergency and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels in different ways.
Sport Ireland’s campus in Blanchardstown will see many of Ireland’s Olympic athletes doing their final preparations on campus, including those involved in boxing, gymnastics, swimming, hockey, badminton and pentathlon.
A Sport Ireland spokesperson confirmed: “This is not only to maximize the use of our world-class facilities, but also to minimize expense and unnecessary travel.”
LED lighting retrofits and fountain installations are already taking place across campus, but there are still no concrete plans to follow GAA’s lead and produce our own energy.
“Sport Ireland has a desire to increase the proportion of renewable energy on site, both in new build and refurbishment,” the spokesperson continued.
“We also plan to incorporate a range of low carbon technologies, including solar power, heat pumps and the potential use of the proposed district heating network in the Blanchardstown area.”
To get around the large campus, you can rent bicycles, which are available free of charge to all employees on site. Work is also underway to pump his 50% of the water for the Olympic-sized pool from a well.
While progress is being made across sporting bodies, it is clear that much more can be done to address this generation’s greatest challenge.