In search for climate neutrality in ice hockey : A case of carbon footprint reduction in a Finnish professional team
Uusitalo, V., Halonen, V., Koljonen, H., Heikkinen, S., & Claudelin, A. (2024). In search for climate neutrality in ice hockey : A case of carbon footprint reduction in a Finnish professional team. Journal of Environmental Management, 355, Article 120455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120455
Published in
Journal of Environmental ManagementDate
2024Copyright
© 2024 the Authors
Mitigation actions in all sectors of society, including sports, to limit global warming have become an increasingly hot topic in public discussions and sports management. However, so far, there has been a lack of understanding and practical examples of how these organizations, especially in team sports, can holistically assess and reduce their climate impacts to achieve carbon neutrality. This paper presents a carbon footprint assessment, implemented actions for GHG emission reduction, and offers the example of a professional Finnish ice hockey team that achieved carbon neutrality. The study is based on a life cycle assessment method. The Results show that the team’s carbon footprint was reduced from 350 tCO2eq by more than 50% between seasons 2018–2019 and 2021–2022 in the assessed categories. The most GHG emission reductions were achieved in the team’s and spectators’ mobility and ice hall energy consumption. Furthermore, the team compensated for their remaining emissions to achieve carbon neutrality. Multiple possibilities for further GHG emission reductions were recognized. The majority of the GHG emissions were linked to the Scope 3 category, indicating that co-operation with partners and stakeholders was a key to success in attaining carbon neutrality. This paper also discusses the possible limitations and challenges that sport organizations face in assessing climate impacts and reducing GHG emissions, as well as the prospects of overcoming them. Since there are many opportunities for sports to contribute to climate change mitigation, relevant targets and actions to reduce GHG emissions should be integrated into all sport organizations’ management.
...
Publisher
ElsevierISSN Search the Publication Forum
0301-4797Keywords
Publication in research information system
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/207420542
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- Kauppakorkeakoulu [1343]
Additional information about funding
This research paper did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or non-for-profit sectors.License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
Environmental impacts of a local circular economy business model : a carbon and water footprint analysis for smartphone refurbishment
Zumegen, Anna (2020)Climate change is creating harm for the environment and humanity. Companies contribute significantly to global warming and environmental destruction. Hence, to prevent the climate crisis, the traditional linear economy has ... -
How do Finnish tourism companies measure their carbon footprint and what can bedone to reduce it? : a case study of 10 companies
Mannonen, Lotta (2019)Tourism is one part of traveling, being traveling for pleasure, and it can better be defined as people staying at a destination, outside their ordinary environment for at least one night (Mason, 2015; Page & Connell, 2006), ... -
The Carbon Footprint of Volunteer Tourism
El Geneidy, Sami; Baumeister, Stefan (Sciendo; De Gruyter, 2019)Tourism is growing at a fast rate and so is its carbon footprint. Alongside conventional tourism, a new form of tourism, so-called voluntourism, has emerged. The discussion on voluntourism in the existing literature has ... -
The carbon footprint of a knowledge organization and emission scenarios for a post-COVID-19 world
El Geneidy, Sami; Baumeister, Stefan; Govigli, Valentino Marini; Orfanidou, Timokleia; Wallius, Venla (Elsevier, 2021)The looming climate crisis requires an immediate response, in which organizations, as major contributors, should play a central role. However, these organizations need appropriate tools to measure and mitigate their climate ... -
Does the end justify the means? : carbon footprint of volunteer tourism in an Indian NGO
El Geneidy, Sami (2019)Turismi on kasvava ala. Vuonna 2017 kansainvälisesti matkaavien turistien määrä kasvoi 7%:lla. Turismi on myös vastuussa ilmastonmuutoksen kiihtymisestä, sillä se on globaalisti vastuussa noin 5%:sta hiilidioksidipäästöistä, ...