America’s Cup Sets Carbon Neutral Target

The America’s Cup has partnered with Offsetters Climate Solutions in an effort to make the 34^th annual sailing event carbon neutral.

This summer’s San Francisco race will be the first in the America’s Cup history to have an official carbon credit supplier, according to the America’s Cup Event Authority.

In addition to providing carbon credits with links to marine benefits and sailing, Offsetters will also manage the America’s Cup Sustainability Credit program. Each America’s Cup Sustainability Credit is comprised of a carbon credit equivalent to removing 1 metric ton of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, and a cash donation to a restoration project in San Francisco Bay.

The America’s Cup says all carbon credits will be sourced from high-quality projects, designed to meet or exceed the highest international standard for carbon accounting and offsetting.

The race’s other sustainability strategies include diverting materials away from landfill, sourcing local and sustainable food, and reducing emissions from transportation. Event organizers say a carbon management strategy is being implemented to measure the event carbon footprint and reduce America’s Cup emissions as well as those associated with event activities in San Francisco. They did not provide an estimated carbon footprint.

Offsetters and the America’s Cup Event Authority say they encourage stakeholders that want to compensate for their own event emissions — resulting from air travel and other carbon-emitting activities — to purchase America’s Cup Sustainability Credits.

Offsetters, the official supplier of carbon offsets to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, has also partnered with Dow Chemical to develop the measurement tools to account for the carbon reductions at the 2014 Winter Games in Russia.

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil is another sporting event that has developed a sustainability strategy. FIFA has said it will spend $20 million on sustainability efforts including carbon offsets.