British Telecommunication (BT) has recently announced their partnership with four-time Olympic gold medal-winning sailor and America’s Cup champion, Sir Ben Ainslie, to tackle their 100% Sport campaign. 100% Sport intends to bring sport fans together to conquer climate change with renewable energy. The hope of 100% Sport is to bring together the huge fan base of sports and bring that passion and energy to the attention of reducing carbon emissions.
This environmental work is not new to Sir Ben Ainslie. He has been pushing to protect our oceans since partnering with 11th Hour Racing, which promotes the health of the marine environment. After seeing first hand pollution’s impact on the oceans, Ainslie has strived to make the oceans healthier.
Ainslie comments: “As a sailor I’m constantly aware of my surroundings. Sailing at venues around the world you get to see first-hand and up-close water pollution. It’s not just something I’ve read about, it’s something I’ve seen and experienced. I’ve also experienced the real power of fans –cheering you on to the finish line, and seeing how they have got behind our race to become a truly sustainable sports team.”
BT has approached their climate change campaign with a bottom-up strategy. Fans have been encouraged to tweet at their favorite sports fans to #go100percent in moving the world towards climate action and renewable energy. BT chief sustainability officer, Niall Dunne, first noticed the potential of making a huge impact when their channel had 1.7 million people watching. He says, “We just kind of looked at that and said, ‘Well, if 10% of those fans actually switched to clean energy, it would be the equivalent to taking 50,000 cars off the road.” The new campaign aims to increase sport fans’ enthusiasm about renewable energy. BT believes even 5 percent of their fans tackling climate change can change the world.
Most fans and professional athletes are unaware at just how much money goes into building professional sports arenas. Many cities extort money from public sectors for private use. The 100% Sport Campaign shifts that mindset of investing billions of dollars to making fans and athletes feel responsible for the environment. BT and Ainslie wish to make sports arenas more accountable places to watch games, and they certainly are on the right track in terms of environmental responsibility.