Purpose-led league calls on other sports to make urgent change and embed sustainability into their DNA as Sail Grand Prix coincides with COP28
DUBAI – SailGP, a global leader in purpose driven and sustainable sport, will highlight its ongoing commitment and passion to climate action with the first of many Race For The Future takeovers at the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas, taking place December 9-10.
Held at the same time as the city hosts COP28 – the biggest climate change conference in the world – SailGP will use the sixth event of its Season 4 calendar to demonstrate the huge power of sport for good to inspire action and change mindsets.
SailGP is the first organization to introduce a pioneering ‘podium for the planet’ – the Impact League, the first sport to disclose with CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) in 2022 with a B- score and the first to achieve both the Carbon Neutral International Standard and three gold medals in the U.N. Climate Neutral Now Initiative. As a result, it has established a presence and voice as a global leader in sport, passionately campaigning for a better sport and a better planet.
SailGP will deliver a Race for the Future takeover and use the color yellow – which symbolizes hope and optimism – to highlight the issues and solutions across its channels. The takeover will showcase how the league is racing for impact, innovation, inclusivity and clean energy solutions. SailGP will also use the opportunity to challenge other sports to embed sustainable action into their DNA like the championship has done with the world’s first ever Impact League , which rewards and scores teams on their positive environmental and social action. Through introducing two podiums – one for sports and one for the planet – 75% of athletes in Season 3 changed their behavior and the team’s cut their energy consumption by 50%.
On the ground at the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas there will be a host of innovative, ground-breaking activations delivered for the first time showing how events can be run more sustainably, including:
-Together with Aggreko, the world-leading provider of mobile modular power, SailGP will have the largest temporary solar array they have ever installed at an event, as vast as six basketball courts.
-The event will be powered by 100% clean energy on shore saving a massive 64 tonnes of carbon – the equivalent of taking 14 cars off the road for a year
-Cutting-edge remote broadcast, umpires and event control to reduce the event’s carbon footprint
-A reduction of 36% to its on-water fleet through thinking differently and technology – taking race management and team coaches all off-water and creating an innovative on-shore solution using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
-Showcasing the racecourse of the future with the development of autonomous marks that are electrically powered and operated via GPS
-For the first time, SailGP will have an all-female athlete team training together on an F50 as part of its ambition to be the most inclusive league in sailing and change the face of the sport
-SailGP will also encourage its teams to use their voices for good and has added an Impact League incentive that will see teams earn points towards the overall Impact League leaderboard for engaging their fans around purpose related digital content
SailGP plans to be the leading sports voice at COP28 and have a presence throughout the Blue and Green Zones. Chief Purpose Officer Fiona Morgan as well as athletes such as Hannah Mills OBE (GBR), Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) and Jo Aleh (NZL) will all use their voice to inspire action. SailGP Transition and Innovation Manager Tom Verity will also present a keynote on SailGP’s decarbonization strategy in the marine sector at the Future Mobility Hub. SailGP is partnering with Goals House, to lead a roundtable discussion with ROCKWOOL – title partner of the Denmark SailGP Team, focusing on strategies and tactics for raising the bar on sport and climate action.
Hannah Mills, SailGP’s Global Purpose Ambassador and member of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team, said: “Sport has the power to inspire people to engage with some of the most important causes of our time like climate change and the environment. The reach sport is able to achieve is unparalleled to almost anything else.
“Through its first ever Race For The Future takeover, SailGP is once again sending a message to the sporting world of what is possible when you challenge, innovate and act. It is showing what can be done in order to make that change happen.
“As an athlete, and a passionate campaigner and activist for climate change, it is something I want to put my name to and say that I am proud to be part of. If SailGP can inspire other sports to act by leading the way ‒ whether it is through their own Impact League or inclusivity or innovation ‒ then we can accelerate the change that is needed.”
Fiona Morgan, Chief Purpose Officer at SailGP, said: “We have a unique opportunity to be racing during COP28 and we need to ensure it is one that we galvanize and show the power of sport in the climate conversation. The world needs a half time talk – something that is familiar to us in sport – and we want to show that if you think differently, impossible is just a mindset, and that there is hope and optimism in what is a pretty bleak landscape, and that’s what we want to highlight through our Race for the Future takeover.
“We are proud to be delivering an exciting series of firsts in Dubai. We have pushed our event sustainability operations like never before. One of the most exciting activations is undoubtedly the unveiling of the largest solar array we have ever used, which couldn’t be achieved without our fantastic partnership with Aggreko. We want to collaborate with like-minded brands and sports to galvanize collaboration and utilize the power of partnerships to make a real difference to the world. Sport needs to think differently and embed sustainable action into its DNA, like our Impact League . We’re all in a Race For The Future and we need to act now, as there is no planet B.”
The Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas takes place from December 9-10, at Mina Rashid. Tickets are available at SailGP.com/Dubai
SAILGP MEDIA ADVISORY IN DUBAI //
Tuesday December 5 //
-ROCKWOOL Denmark Anne-Marie Rindom will host a talk at Zayed Sustainability Prize
Wednesday December 6 //
-SailGP is partnering with Goals House, to lead a roundtable discussion with ROCKWOOL – title partner of the Denmark SailGP Team, focusing on strategies and tactics for raising the bar on sport and climate action
-New Zealand SailGP Team athlete Jo Aleh is speaking at the Extreme Hangout on the topic of ‘The Planet is our Playground’
Thursday December 7 //
-SailGP Chief Purpose Officer Fiona Morgan is debating the ‘Future of Sport’ at the Extreme Hangout
-SailGP Transition and Innovation Manager Tom Verity is taking part in the Sustainable Sports Day at the Future Mobility Hub where he will be speaking on technology and innovation driving SailGP’s decarbonisation efforts in the marine sector.
Friday December 8 //
-Panel discussion with Hannah Mills OBE, Colin Butfield of Open Planet and Roy Bellow of Low Carbon at the UK COP Pavilion Blue Zone to launch Protect Our Future x Open Planet Partnership
-UN Sports for Climate Action panel with New Zealand SailGP Team athlete Jo Aleh (NZL) in the Blue Zone
-Official SailGP pre-event press conference, SailGP Race Stadium, Mina Rashid. All ten SailGP drivers will be speaking on the forthcoming racing and SailGP’s podium for the planet
