Happy Earth Day! Today we celebrate our Planet, and make sure to keep improving our practices put in place to make our world a greener and more sustainable one. It is important for every individual and organization to do their part, and that’s why we at the National Bank Open have vowed to make our tournaments in Montréal and Toronto more environmentally friendly.
We are not about just putting up a celebratory message on Earth Day every year; we are committed to become a leader in sustainable practices not only in tennis, but also in the sporting world. Our tournament organizers, as well as Tennis Canada, have put into place achievable, but ambitious goals for us to attain in the next 10 years!
- Waste and Water Management
Reduce, reuse, recover, recycle. These are the four ‘R’s on which we will focus to control our waste. As for the water, we want to make sure our water usage is optimal, as this is a precious resource.
- Energy and Carbon Emission Management
We want to be as energy efficient as possible. Energy is right now one of the biggest challenges faced by human kind, and we want to practice sustainable consumption, while minimizing our carbon emissions.
- Social Responsibility
This is all about serving our communities! As a part of Tennis Canada’s mission, we want to help improve our communities with responsibly held events, sustainability wise.
- Communication
Last but not least, communicating, which is exactly why this article exists. By communicating our initiatives and being open about our goals, we also invite all people in the tennis community, be it fans, Tennis Canada and National Bank Open staff, or casual players, to join us in this cause!
To put these points in practice, here’s a list of what will be our targets all of us here at the National Bank Open and Tennis Canada will be working tirelessly towards for the tournaments in Montréal and Toronto:
- Zero waste by 2030
- Carbon neutral by 2030
- Environmentally and socially sustainable by 2030
- Advocating and inspiring community action by 2030
And that’s not all: we also have joined, with Tennis Canada, the United Nations’ Sports For Climate Action initiative along with many other sports organizations around the world, in order to hold each other accountable for our goals.
This means for us that we will abide to five principles put together by the UN for the next decade:
- Principle 1: Undertake systematic efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility;
- Principle 2: Reduce overall climate impact;
- Principle 3: Educate for climate action;
- Principle 4: Promote sustainable and responsible consumption;
- Principle 5: Advocate for climate action through communication
Our Planet is our dear home, and we are conscious that we all need to do our part in this race for sustainability. This is our way to make sure our sport keeps evolving and becomes even more enjoyable, all the while being completely environmentally friendly for decades to come.
Happy Earth Day! Join us now in making Earth a better place for the future
