It’s been six months since we returned to the UK from Bermuda - where we were based for the 35th America’s Cup - and alongside our performance debriefs, we have been reviewing our sustainability learning’s and achievements, to put together a Bermuda focused sustainability report.
We have seen how the power of sport can effect social change and sport is now powerful enough to have the same positive impact on environmental issues. Large sporting events present a unique opportunity to leave a lasting legacy and a positive impact in the communities where they are hosted, and we feel our efforts and activities on the island, are a true reflection of this.
Our sporting goal remains the same to bring the America’s Cup home to Britain for the first time, but we have always wanted to extend far beyond the racecourse by committing to education, and inspiring younger generations. The water is our pitch and we continue to want to protect that and I am especially proud to share some of our achievements, and sustainability learnings from our first America’s Cup campaign.
Read our report here http://bit.ly/2kGldA7
We were determined to have as minimal an operational impact on Bermuda as possible and through learnings from the build of our permanent team base in Portsmouth - and extensive planning of our temporary base on the island - we built a modular design for easy and low waste construction and deconstruction; we needed a space that would function as a VIP hospitality lounge, alongside a specialist manufacturing facility, a training set-up for the sailing team, a design office and a public interactive exploration zone. A special effort went into reducing, reusing or recycling all the team’s waste materials within the local community and charities.
With Exclusive Sustainability Partner, 11th Hour Racing, we built the 11th Hour Racing Exploration Zone, bringing local Bermudans and visiting America’s Cup fans to the base, including over 1,800 Bermudian students who took part in lessons on Ocean Plastics, Renewable Energy and Invasive Species. We hosted a total of 9,708 visitors during the Zone’s life cycle.
We left behind a permanent installation on the Island. 194 solar panels, with support from our Renewable Energy Partner, Low Carbon and the Stempel Foundation, were installed at the National Museum of Bermuda by BE Solar, generating 93,600kWh per year, compensating for the team’s energy footprint within two years. The site will be a valuable educational resource for local school children, teaching them about the importance of renewable energy in building sustainable island communities.
Back home in Portsmouth, we have been working closely with ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd (ELG) and 11th Hour Racing to ensure that the carbon fibre process waste and end-of-use components from our America's Cup test and race boats are recycled as far as possible, to promote the most economic and environmentally efficient use of the material. Our collaboration is a vital step in addressing the issue of global carbon consumption and we hope to raise awareness of closed loop recycling within the marine industry. With ELG's support, we very much aim to significantly increase the application of recycled composite materials during the build of our race boats for the next Cup in 2021.
As a new team, our first campaign was inevitably a steep learning curve with many lessons learnt but, I am incredibly proud of everything we achieved on and off the race course and would like to thank everyone; our partners, stakeholders and fans for their continued support.
Now we look forward to heading into in 2018, continuing our goal to bring the America’s Cup home alongside our goal to become the most sustainable sports team in the world.