How green is my ground? Edgbaston leads the way against the odds

Despite not being near a train station, Warwickshire’s home is thinking big when it comes to eco transformation

Want to talk about degassing kitchens and sustainable coach travel? Oh go on – just for the time it takes England’s middle order to fold during a World Cup game. They were the subject of much discussion at this year’s British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) Awards, held in early November at the All England club.

As sports organisations try to cut their carbon emissions, everything comes under the microscope, including the kitchens. Wimbledon and Lord’s are in the early stages of making this change – with the many tweaks it involves – in order to switch to an electrical alternative to gas.

“We’re looking at the whole picture,” said Stuart Dunlop, the MCC’s sustainability and accessibility manager. “We’re looking to change the hot water supply, heating and cooking. So, we’re looking at ventilation, AC units, LED lights, upcycling old kit, recycling, composting, etc, which I’d class alongside the actual cooking appliances to get to a ‘net zero’ kitchen.”

He was quick to reassure, though, that none of this would make any difference to the quality of the famous Lord’s lunch. The whole process is a key part of the Lord’s decarbonisation programme – it has set the target of being carbon neutral on energy by 2030 and on net zero emissions by 2040.

But the main cricketing winner at the BASIS sustainability awards wasn’t Lord’s but Edgbaston – nominated for three of the six awards on offer and winner of two of them: team of the year, for its Go Green game between England and New Zealand, and partnership of the year, between the club and National Express.

The Go Green Game, a Twenty20 held in early September, aimed to both raise spectator awareness of the climate crisis and what they could do to help, as well as cutting emissions for the game. Eco-switches for the match included no red meat served at the venue, use of electric rollers and mowers, food packaging made of seaweed, and the ground powered only by wind, hydro and solar. But the most eye-catching initiative was the key partnership between the club and National Express.

Unlike The Oval, Old Trafford, or Lord’s, Edgbaston isn’t on either a tube or tram line, therefore spectator and staff travel makes up 79% of match-day emissions – something many sports clubs struggle with when attempting to reduce their footprint. Trying to change human behaviour is notoriously hard, habits are ingrained, and people are hardwired for convenience.

Lydia Carrington, Edgbaston’s sustainability manager, says: “We might get a tram stop by 2040, but we can’t wait for infrastructure to come to us. We can get the message across to spectators that they can have a real influence.”

National Express was already working with the club, offering a shuttle bus service from Birmingham New Street to the ground during T20, Hundred and international matches. A return ticket usually costs £5 for adults. For the Go Green game, however, the shuttle bus was free when spectators showed their match-day tickets. Spectators could also travel for free on any of Birmingham’s public buses.

The club had reduced the number of parking spaces at Edgbaston from 600-1,000 to 150, so knew there would be more demand for public transport – and ran an additional eight buses constantly shuttling between the two venues compared to the busiest day of the Ashes. In total 3,617 people travelled on the shuttle bus – an increase of 13.4% on the busiest day of the Ashes – and an additional 1,000 people took up the free public bus option. Lots of employees also car-shared.

“Other organisations might have despaired,” says Dom Jordan, BASIS’s general manager, “and declared the issue insurmountable due to infrastructure constraints – but Edgbaston initiated a series of projects and partnerships to meet the challenge.”

Carrington was thrilled. “It is a really difficult thing to change – and makes up a lot of our scope three emissions [indirect emissions other than purchased electricity, heat and steam, for example purchased goods and services, travel, waste and investments]. It is such a big thing that we need to focus on. Lots of people choose the car because of its convenience and we’re aware we need to work with travel providers to make sure there are enough services of equal convenience – for example making sure that at the end of an evening T20 game that there are enough trains home. A lot of it is just habit and people aren’t award of the impact small things can make.”

The final figures on the amount of carbon saved, collated by Net Zero Now, are yet to be published, but a similar public transport campaign held on a match-day by the football club Real Betis for their game against Athletic Bilbao was estimated to have saved 911 tonnes of Co2.

Crucially for Edgbaston, the feeback has been positive, from both fans and staff, and it is planning different initiatives next season. Communication is a vital cog in the process – trying to tell spectators why the club are making changes and how they can help – from increased signage of walking routes from the station to encouraging people in hospitality to choose a vegetarian option, or to put the right bit of rubbish in the right recycling bin.

It’s an essential journey, an admirable one, but not easy. Like the controversial Lord’s deal with JP Morgan, one of Edgbaston’s partners, Drax, is in the news, facing investigation by the energy regulator into the sustainability of the biomass used at its power plant. Meanwhile, Carrington awaits her feasibility report on putting solar panels on the Hollies stand – greening up the noisiest corner of English cricket.

Afghanistan women neglected and in limbo

It was great to hear Alison Mitchell hand the International Cricket Council chief executive, Geoff Allardice, a bagful of jumping jacks on the World Service’s cricket programme Stumped.

Mitchell, who has been a strong advocate for the Afghanistan women’s team, wanted to know why there had been no help for the women after they wrote to the ICC in December 2022 asking if they could be supported in their cricket now that they were refugees. The ICC wrote back saying it would discuss the issue in their board meetings, but the women have heard nothing further.

“I think it is important to state,” said Allardice, “that the ICC’s remit, the number one objective in its constitution, is to support the promotion of cricket in conjunction with its members. Our member in Afghanistan is the Afghanistan cricket board … who became full members in 2017. At that time they didn’t have a women’s cricket programme, but part of the submission committed to that and they were in the process of doing that through to 2021.

“In 2021 the new regime brought in laws that prohibit women playing in the country. They [the board] have to operate within the laws of the country – the rules are set by the government, and the question for the ICC board is do we support our member to support cricket within the laws of the country, and the view is ‘yes’.”

And where, asked Mitchell, has the funding gone that in theory should have been supporting female players? “How members distribute their money is up to them. We don’t have a check and balance over how they spend it, we don’t stipulate how they spend it.”

In a unique – and undoubtedly complex – situation, where Afghan girls can’t even go to school, could the ICC not help the women directly, or for example let them play under a neutral flag? “The ICC’s remit is that we don’t start engaging with players in any particular country without the blessing of the board in that territory.”

Which of course that board won’t – can’t – give. Which takes us back to the beginning, and female Afghan players isolated in exile, without any support from the governing body, and their cricket withering on the vine.

Quote of the week

“I grew up wanting to represent Australia and I had fun playing cricket, I loved it, and to be able to do it for 13 years is an incredible opportunity … I’m sad that it’s finishing up but I’m very much ready for something new” – Meg Lanning, Australia’s captain, seven World Cups under her belt, walks away from international cricket at 31.

Memory lane

Don’t you dare take off your baggy green. West Indies were victorious in the final Test of their series at home against Australia in 2003, completing a world record chase of 418, but Steve Waugh’s men had gone into the match already 3-0 up. It seems like the loss didn’t get them too down.

Still want more?

The scariest ghosts of South Africa’s World Cup past – Australia and semi-finals – await in Kolkata with 1999 weighing heavily, writes Rob Smyth.

There is a sense that the dominant feeling around English cricket is powerlessness after the flaccid World Cup defence, says Barney Ronay.

Five runs to win with six balls to go – it seemed like a straightforward enough task for Surfers Paradise in Gold Coast’s premier league division three. Mudgeeraba captain, Gareth Morgan, had other ideas.

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