Sustainability at The Kia Oval
THERE’S NO PLANET B
Our Commitment to Tackling Climate Change
As we face the growing challenges of climate change, it is increasingly clear that the world of sport – and cricket in particular – is far from immune to its effects.
At Surrey County Cricket Club, we acknowledge that the time to act is now and understand that our responsibilities lie within and beyond the turf of the Kia Oval. As an influential sporting organisation and an integral part of the global cricket community, we believe it is our responsibility to lead by example and encourage all those who care about the future of cricket to join us in mitigating the impact of climate change.
KEY FOCUS AREAS
Decarbonisation & Energy Reduction
The decarbonisation pillar focuses on reducing and removing greenhouse gas emissions from our operations. Decarbonisation will involve the removal of emissions from our day-to-day business operations as well as our supply chain, ensuring that we work towards a sustainable future.
This will require collaboration with key stakeholders to implement effective solutions and innovative technologies. By reducing our carbon footprint, we aim to meet global sustainability goals and contribute to the overall fight against climate change.
Steps We’ve Taken
Where we cannot remove carbon emissions, we will buy carbon credits3 to compensate for these unavoidable emissions. So far we have:
Our Base Year
CO²e FY 2023/24
Water Stewardship & Climate Resilience
In the UK a mixture of climate change, aging infrastructure and water mismanagement are resulting in an increase in water scarcity. In addition to this, the average person in the UK uses more than 150 litres of water a day9, more than most other European Countries10. In addition to that only 15% of English rivers meet good ecological health standards11.
This water stress is pertinent to the operations of Surrey County Cricket Club, because of the quantity of water required to look after the pitch and enable cricket of all levels to be played. Building the clubs resilience to extreme weather, including, but not limited to, extreme rainfall or drought, is important due to the dependency of the game on these factors.
Steps We’ve Taken
We have only recently introduced water stewardship into our environmental plan however we have already taken measures to reduce consumption of water such as:
Biodiversity
Restoration
Biodiversity restoration is incredibly important across the globe, with wildlife populations on average declining by 69% in the last 50 years12. In the UK especially, we have seen a greater reduction in biodiversity than almost every other county in the world, with 1 in 6 species at risk of being lost in Great Britian. These levels of decline are dangerous for the wellbeing of humans. Biodiversity and green infrastructure provide many important services, for example, reducing the impacts of carbon emissions on the climate and providing resilience against overheating and flooding and other climate regulating functions.
The aim is to protect and enhance existing areas of biodiversity within South London, Surrey and the wider UK. The five principal drivers for the decline in biodiversity are:
- Overexploitation
- Habitat loss/degradation
- Climate change
- Pollution
- Invasive species and disease
Of these five drivers, this section will focus on overexploitation, habitat loss/degradation and pollution. We hope that this environmental plan will reduce the effects of climate change on biodiversity.
Steps We’ve Taken
Our positive and negative effects on biodiversity are hard to track, however we will be exploring ways to efficiently do this. In the meantime, this area of the plan will focus on reducing our contribution to the drivers of biodiversity decline. We have taken some steps in this area:
Our Circular Economy Model
Less raw material, less waste & fewer emissions
Waste Management & a Circular Economy
The earth has finite resources, however the way that humanity consumes these resources does not seem to reflect this. We aim to reduce our use of materials and waste by using materials that have been sourced from sustainably certified suppliers, avoiding the use of single use plastics, reducing our use of materials, using materials that can be reused or recycled, and ensuring waste is properly managed and recycled.
Our plan is to promote a circular economy in which we avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle materials at the end of their useful life. The adjacent diagram is used to illustrate this.
Steps We’ve Taken
Waste management has been a large element in our business operations in the last few years and below are a few of the steps we have taken:
Education, Engagement & a Healthy Community
One of the most important aspects of our plan is education and engagement with all our internal and external stakeholders. We will work with our staff, suppliers, members, and guests to help them understand their impact on the environment and demonstrate how they can reduce their impact.
We will work together with our staff, fans, stakeholders and local community to create a healthier community, which has been shown to lead to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and enhance biodiversity. It is also a driver for greater climate action as a “[h]ealthy lifestyle is an important prerequisite for sustainable development.”
Steps We’ve Taken
Actions already taken as a club to engage, educate, and develop a healthy community include:
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