Environmental Stadiums: Opportunities for Renewable Energy in the Sports Industry

The adoption of sustainability solutions has gained momentum, including water management and energy efficiency in sports facilities and during major sporting events. This trend supports ongoing global efforts to combat climate change, rationalize the use of natural resources, and preserve ecosystems. Regarding sustainable energy applications, many sports facilities and teams worldwide have begun to deploy solar and wind energy in their venues, which will not only help the industry reduce its carbon footprint but also achieve significant economic savings and support reliable electricity supply. With sufficient financial and regulatory incentives for sports facilities, the industry can gradually overcome existing barriers to replace conventional fuels with renewable energy applications.

Growing Consumption:

Sports facilities consume significant amounts of resources and energy during construction and operation, including water, electricity, and metals, while occupying large tracts of land that could be utilized for other economic purposes. The sports industry is inherently electricity-intensive, requiring energy for lighting, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, and more.

A sports stadium with a capacity of 70,000 seats consumes between 10,000 to 20,000 kilowatt-hours daily, a figure that is 10 times higher than the monthly consumption of an average household. Broader estimates indicate that around 4,000 sports stadiums in Europe, primarily reliant on fossil fuels, consume nearly 40 terawatt-hours of electricity annually—equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of a country like New Zealand.

As the industry rapidly grows due to the increase in global sporting events and the expansion of sports facilities, the demand for electricity in sports will also rise. This necessitates a faster integration of clean energy solutions to keep pace with current efforts to tackle climate change. The global sports market is expected to grow from approximately 507billionin2024to507billionin2024to629.8 billion in 2028, representing a compound annual growth rate of 5.6%, according to Research and Markets.

Increasing Interest:

Athletes have recognized the importance of adopting sustainability solutions in the industry, similar to other sectors, not only to reduce their environmental footprint and maximize their social impact but also to reap potential financial gains from achieving sustainability dimensions. Consequently, many global and regional sports federations have prioritized the integration of sustainable solutions into the management and operation of sports facilities and the organization of major sporting events.

For instance, the German Football Association has made sustainability a mandatory requirement for obtaining sports club licenses since 2021. Prior to that, FIFA joined the United Nations Framework for Sport for Climate Action in 2016, aiming to mobilize sports federations and teams to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate.

The UEFA also emphasizes the necessity of adopting sustainable solutions in organizing its major tournaments, investing what is needed to support organizers in implementing sustainability solutions such as efficient water management systems, renewable energy use, and waste management. For the “Euro 2024,” hosted in Germany from June to July 2024, UEFA invested €32 million in several German cities to enhance sustainable infrastructure and circular economy practices.

Beyond football, sports federations in other games have begun to focus on supporting sustainability efforts, such as the Professional Golfers’ Association and the NBA. The latter launched the NBA Green initiative, focused on reducing its environmental footprint and promoting sustainability among fans in the NBA, encouraging sports teams to invest in renewable energy use and waste management.

Energy and Sustainability Practices:

To mitigate the intensive resource consumption, sports facilities have increasingly implemented various sustainability solutions in recent years, as studies reveal. This includes innovative lighting, harnessing renewable energy sources, implementing water conservation measures, and developing sustainable infrastructure. Construction companies have started incorporating recycled materials, such as paper and plastic, in the design and construction of sports venues.

LED lights are utilized for stadium illumination, consuming significantly less electricity and boasting a longer lifespan, which reduces operational and maintenance costs. New water management systems utilizing rainwater harvesting and recycling are also being integrated to rationalize water use for turf irrigation. Some global sports teams are looking to purchase carbon credits to fully offset emissions resulting from players’ air travel.

In the Middle East, Gulf Cooperation Council countries like the UAE have given special priority to integrating sustainable solutions in the design and operation of sports facilities. Currently, 70% of sports venues in the UAE, such as “Hazza bin Zayed Stadium,” “Zayed Sports City,” and “Al Maktoum Stadium,” adhere to some sustainability standards, including the deployment of renewable energy solutions. The UAE Professional League aims to enhance sustainability practices and green electricity consumption through the purchase of clean energy certificates.

The adoption of renewable energy applications is also becoming common in many sports facilities in the UK, the US, the Middle East, and beyond, capitalizing on unused rooftop spaces to generate some or all of their energy needs while reducing their carbon footprint from traditional energy sources.

Numerous examples of solar and wind energy usage can be found in sports facilities across the US, Australia, India, and the Middle East—not only in football stadiums but also in basketball courts, cricket grounds, gyms, and more. Major events also benefit from renewable energy solutions in running their circuits, such as Formula 1 races in the UAE (the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi), Bahrain, and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, among others.

Returns and Costs:

It is essential to consider the societal impact of using renewable energy in sports facilities before discussing the economic benefits it provides. Solar and wind energy applications in sports venues encourage fans to consider replicating renewable energy use in their homes and businesses, a crucial aspect in supporting global energy transition efforts. Additionally, a commitment to sustainability, including support for renewable energy solutions, enhances the reputation and brand image of organizations and sports teams, attracting environmentally and sustainability-conscious sponsors.

From an economic perspective, renewable energy solutions undoubtedly provide a reliable source with lower operational and maintenance costs for sports facilities compared to other sources. More importantly, solar and wind energy allow sports venues to achieve energy independence, reducing reliance on national electricity grids. This is increasingly important in countries experiencing notable electricity supply shortages.

Renewable energy technologies, especially solar, help reduce energy consumption and carbon footprints. For instance, London’s Olympic Stadium is expected to cut its electricity consumption by 3 million kilowatt-hours annually from solar energy between 2022 and 2026, along with a 10% to 15% reduction in electricity costs during the same period. Similarly, the integration of renewable energy technologies in Petco Park (home of the San Diego Padres) has resulted in estimated total savings of around $4 million in electricity bills.

Despite the potential economic and environmental benefits, the dissemination of renewable energy solutions in the global sports industry is not proceeding along a perfectly linear path due to various barriers hindering its spread, particularly in developing markets. These barriers include a lack of financing options and high upfront costs for renewable energy projects. The integration of renewable energy solutions faces additional challenges, such as a lack of experience in operating solar panels and wind turbines within sports facilities and the absence of standardized building codes, alongside outdated designs of some sports venues.

These obstacles can be overcome by adopting effective public policies and new regulations that encourage the incorporation of renewable energy solutions in new sports facilities, in collaboration with the private sector or experienced public entities in this field. It is also critical to enhance financing options and provide tax incentives for sports facilities to alleviate upfront costs and shorten the payback period for renewable energy projects.

Overall, the long-term benefits that sports facilities achieve by integrating renewable energy solutions enhance the prospects for gradual adoption of solar energy and turbines in the sports industry. This should be accompanied in the early stages by a package of financial and regulatory incentives to make the energy transition for sports venues feasible and smooth.