On Thursday, May 6, Professor Sackett presented at the Sir Mark Oliphant CleanTech conference dinner on the topic of Green Sport, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

• 12 May 2010

Click here to download the slides

Good Evening distinguished colleagues.

 Let me begin by first thanking Matt Tilley for his wonderful introduction and presentation here today.

 It’s an honour to be speaking to such a diverse group of people who share one thing in common – an interest in clean technologies and their applications.

 I understand that over the last two days you have heard experts from a variety of fields talk about the challenges and opportunities associated with the transforming to a clean society, the importance of energy efficiency, the role of technology, and how our view of the world and patterns of behaviour can assist in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to create a safer, healthier planet.

Human perspectives and behaviour, both in the individual and the collective: in the end, that is where the solutions will be translated into action.
It’s relatively easy for an individual to turn off the lights a bit earlier or have a shower that’s a minute shorter, but this is an opportunity to discuss large-scale societal change, where the biggest differences will be made.

It’s appropriate then, that I stand in the hall of the MCG, one of Australia’s largest sporting grounds, and one that has been home to some of our country’s proudest sporting moments:

 –     The first ever cricket test match,

–     the site of 28 centuries scored by Sir Donald Bradman,

–     and a venue for the 1956 Olympic Games, the 2006 Commonwealth Games, countless AFL grand finals and World Cup qualifying matches for the Socceroos.

 [slide 2]

But with every one of these moments in our sporting history has come emissions of carbon, in the form of CO2 and soot, the same substances that are directly or indirectly risking tennis players fainting at the Australian open as they fight through our hottest summers yet, Olympic athletes to wheeze as they run through poor air quality in Beijing, and contributing to drought in areas where athletes need fields to train.

We are now 0.8 degree Celsius above global pre-industrial temperatures due to greenhouse gases that we emitted last year, ten years ago and fifty years ago.  When the full effect of those additional gases in the air is felt, the global temperature will be another one-half degree higher still.

In other words, even if everyone on the face of the Earth stops emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, we have already committed ourselves to a future in which the global average temperature will be 1.3 degrees higher than the periods in which modern civilization has flourished.

Given current emissions trajectories, it is almost certain that we are locked into a climate that will be 2 degrees higher, even if we begin to act swiftly and strongly. 

For what may be more likely but still conservative scenarios, that figure can climb as high as 4 degrees.

For a long time, scientists from a variety of disciplines in nearly every major country in the world have been studying the effects of climate change on sea level rise and built infrastructure, on the capacity of the earth to produce food, on the health of ecosystems, and the extremes in weather.

They have concluded that temperature rises more than 2 degrees will result in a world that will be difficult, dangerous and divisive. 

Nearly every aspect of human endeavour will be affected to some degree, including those that take place in magnificent structures like the MCG.

Sport is, without a doubt, a crucial part of the Australian cultural fabric.  We are “the sporting nation.”

Our cricket matches, our football, and our swimming meets are integral to the Australian psyche and an important part of our national identity. 

Our infatuation with sport is healthy, particularly if we are participants as well as spectators, and we take to heart the best of what sports can offer in building personal and team character.

With this in mind, we must continue to foster a culture that respects and admires sports and athleticism, and works together to build a more active and engaged society that respects and supports individual and team effort.

Unfortunately, given the unchecked rate of human greenhouse gas emissions, the way in which we conduct our daily lives, our businesses, our entertainment, and even our sports need to be re-examined through the lens of climate change.

An incredible amount of work remains to be done by individual leaders and innovative teams, most of it outside the realm of politics. 

 Of course having a supportive policy framework will be crucial, but forward-looking sectors outside government cannot afford to wait for this to be in place before they act.  

 And I know that there are many forward-looking leaders in the audience tonight.

[slide 3]

When one attempts to calculate the carbon footprint of a sporting event, several things must be taken into account:

 –     the greenhouse costs of building the stadium,

–     the transportation of tens of thousands of spectators,

–     lighting an entire stadium

–     and even the cost of old Bob sitting at home watching the game on his voracious plasma TV. It all adds up.

According to the Director of the United States’ National Football League Environmental Program, the Super Bowl generates 500 tonnes of CO2 each year, without factoring in the flights of spectators and teams to the games, hotels where people are staying or TV viewing at homes.

But question is not whether or not we should support sports, or other human activities, the question is how to conduct these activities within the carbon budget that nature has given us for a safe global living environment.

I mentioned earlier the 2 degree guardrail, above which the impacts of global warming become dangerous.

[slide 4]

 To ensure that we stay within the 2 degree guardrail, we cannot overspend the 2-degree carbon budget.  This is the net amount of carbon generated by human activities that could be emitted without generating warming above 2 degrees.

Our total global budget for the period between 2000 and 2050 is round about 1000 Gigatonnes of carbon dioxide in total.  For the whole world, for the whole fifty years.

If we spend (emit) more than that, the probability that we will exceed the 2 degree guardrail temperature grows.

Unfortunately, we’ve already spent about one-third of the budget and we are only 10 years into the 50-year period. 

 There are no loans, no bailouts, no one to print currency to enlarge the carbon budget of the atmosphere.

 Nature has already assisted by absorbing about half of our carbon dioxide emissions into the oceans and land sinks, but that capacity is being eroded by weakening oceans and continued deforestation.

 The measures available to us to begin to turn this emissions curve around are known to most everyone in this room.

 These include wind energy, better emission standards for cars, making our buildings, transport and appliances more energy efficient, and changing our patterns of consumption.

What can we do to make sport greener?

[slide 5]

Transportation is one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions, so encouraging and subsidising public transport would assist in reducing the number of cars on the road and CO2 in the air.

Teams, as well as governments and businesses, can make a difference. Chelsea Football club in the UK was recently honoured in the London Mayor’s green awards for encouraging supporters – some 42,000 at each home game – to use public transport and praising car-sharing.

Technology is assisting: energy hungry plasmas are already being phased out, replaced with liquid crystal display (LCD) screens.

The culture of how we watch sport is also important. If we can foster a culture that promotes several Australians watching a game from one TV, be it in a pub, bar or home, preferably a location they can walk or bike to, it would save the emissions from hundreds of individual TVs.

All of these moves are relatively simple, and I can’t imagine having to twist too many people’s arms to get them off the lounge and into a pub.

A key area of development in Australia is sustainable architecture.  According to research conducted by CSIRO Energy use in buildings accounts for 26 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Already, architects around the world are designing highly engineered structures with many sustainable features, and sports stadiums are no exception.

[slide 6]

Just last week, the Minister for Innovation, Senator Kim Carr, launched Australia’s first zero emission house. The house will generate its own solar power from panels on the roof. The design of the slab, insulation in the walls and ceilings, and double glazed and well-sealed windows help control the temperature inside the home. The house features energy efficient appliances and both recycled and rain water systems.

The same principles are being applied across the world to entire office buildings and stadiums.

I’d like to share with you some of what others around the world are doing in order to illustrate that true leaders and innovators at national, sectoral, business and community levels are already seeing opportunity.

They see win-win solutions: increasing the chances of a more hospitable climate in the future, and developing more competitive industries in a world market that is already turning, albeit slowly, to a low-carbon carbon economy. 

Last week I visited California to learn about their progress in sustainability and climate change action.

[slide 7]

In Los Angeles, the first NFL stadium to be LEED accredited is currently underway. “LEED” refers to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a US Green Building Council accreditation registration. To be approved, buildings must comply with a set of standards for their environmentally sustainable design, construction and operation.

[slide 8]

Across the broader US and in China, stadiums are being built with so-called “living roofs.” These green roofs are covered in vegetation to absorb rainwater, provide insulation and help to lower urban air temperatures. Many others are installing “cool-roofs” that reflect part of the Sun’s heat away from the building and out of the atmosphere.

Tokyo’s bid to hold the 2016 Olympics, although unsuccessful, was supported by a claim to be the first ever carbon-minus games. This was to be achieved through the use of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources and the use of low or zero-emission vehicles. Whether or not it was feasible, the Japanese sporting community recognised the demand for low-carbon emitting sport events.

[slide 9]

Right here in Victoria, the Melbourne Rectangular Pitch Stadium, expected to be completed sometime this year, has been designed with sustainability in mind. The cantilever roof design uses 50% less steel than a typical cantilevered roof structure. The architects have planned a photovoltaic thin-film integration that will help power the stadium’s LED lighting units. The dome also features a rainwater harvesting system, natural lighting and natural ventilation to lower the structure’s dependence on grid electricity.

In North Carolina, a plan to revamp then existing Greensboro stadium to make it more energy efficient, by doing simple things such as installing energy efficient lighting and undertaking water system retrofits, will reduce emissions by 1700 tonnes a year.

[slide 10]

Individuals can also make a difference. In 2008, the United Nations Environment Program appointed international sporting hero Yao Ming, who plays basketball in the NBA and in China’s Olympic team, to be the first ever Environmental Champion. He will work with governments, the private sector and the public to promote effective management of our environment, especially in sport.  A sports hero and an environmental hero.

[slide 11]

 If Australia were further from the equator, we might celebrate ice hockey as a national sport.  One of ice hockey’s premier athletes is Wayne Gretzky of Canada.

 It is said that part of Gretzky’s success was due to the advice of his father to “Skate to where the puck’s going, not where it’s been”.

 There are changes ahead, and we need leaders in all communities, in all sectors, than can skate to where the puck is going.

 There are at least three ways to skate to a 2-degree world:

-            Decrease actions that put the world at risk of any higher temperatures and increase investment in new low-carbon infrastructure (mitigation)

-            Climate-proof our communities, industries, and social systems against the climate change that is already locked in (adaptation)

-            Grasp the opportunities that will accrue to those that have the vision to see what can be done when they arrive at the puck in the emerging low-carbon world (innovation)

 You know, I have heard it said that it doesn’t matter what Australia does because its world emissions are too small to make a difference.

[slide 12]

As a nation, it is true that Australia’s total emissions are just a small part of the globe’s total greenhouse emissions.

But due to our large individual carbon footprints, some of the largest in the world, we, as individual Australians, are probably more able on a person-to-person basis to effect change than any other individuals in the world.

Figures from 2008 show that, per capita, Australians are emitting almost 21 metric tonnes per year of CO2. The average person in the UK is producing less than half of that, and in India the figure is as low as 1.3 metric tonnes.

Australians matter and can make an enormous contribution.   Let’s take grasp that opportunity to make a positive difference individually, in teams, and as a nation.  

[slide 13]

 Let’s be a nation of true champions.