Desert Vipers star batter Alex Hales, who finished season one of the DP World ILT20 as the tournament’s highest run-scorer with 469 runs, has come out in support of the team’s Spirit of Sustainability goals.The recently-retired England player Hales was in Dubai for a few days ahead of a busy playing schedule, and said he was proud to be a part of a franchise that was committed to sustainability and embarking on a transformative reduction journey.Hales said: “It is exciting (DV’s new sustainability agenda). Everyone can see the world is changing with all the signs of climate change, and I think it is really good that as a franchise we are getting involved and trying to make the world a better place, and hopefully people around the world can get on board with that too.”Hales was referring to the Spirit of Sustainability event last month at Lord’s, where the Desert Vipers CEO Phil Oliver, along with key stakeholders 1.5 Degrees Sport, the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University, and Carbon Happy World, publicly disclosed the team’s carbon emissions data for season one of the ILT20, as the starting point in its reduction journey. The total carbon emissions amounted to a massive 570 tonnes.Taking cognizance of this number, Phil Oliver said it was time the team acknowledged the impact it was having on the environment. He said: “It is a big footprint and all we can do is try and improve that by setting targets and trying to stick to them and hope others will follow. The reality is that sports teams do have the power to inspire and create change.“Yes, we are a new team, but we want to do things differently and use our players and all the stakeholders involved in the ILT20 and the Desert Vipers specifically to try and inspire that change.”Air travel revealed itself as a major contributor to the team’s carbon footprint according to Desert Vipers Head of Sustainability Matt Bailey: “The breakdown of our footprint is fairly typical of a sports team,” he said.“Nearly 75 percent of that (carbon footprint) is attributable to travel. That is a huge percentage. We are playing cricket in Dubai and have players coming in from around the world and the majority of the staff fly into Dubai. We (Desert Vipers) must fly to play cricket. Nevertheless, we must look at this as a priority to have a chance at reducing emissions.”Bailey added: “We at the Desert Vipers are going to come up with solutions. It is likely to be a programme that incentivises players to consider whether it is possible for them not to travel in business class (to help reduce emissions). I am confident if we can structure something in the right way, we can find some answers to these problems.”CEO Phil Oliver said he was confident the team’s sustainability agenda would not have a negative effect on the field. “I would like to think not (in terms of it causing the team’s form to suffer,” he said. “Sustainability is a core part of what we are doing. It upholds the Desert Vipers’ values and our mission statement, and everyone involved in the team knows what we stand for, and that is the great thing about it.“That includes our Director of Cricket Tom Moody, as it affects our recruitment policy, around players. We must have people on board who share the right values, about how we go about things while having that elite high-performance culture.”The CEO added: “Sustainability represents that (high-performance culture) in some ways. It is about making good choices and about being good citizens in a league, where we are guests in a country, and it is important to leave a good legacy.”The CEO is equally confident the players will do all they can to support the strategy. “I think players have the power to inspire through their performances but also what they do off the field, and we know we will get the support of our group around that,” he said.“I think it will help us bring the team together, and I do not think it will affect performance in a negative sense. It is important that we do this authentically, and we are not forcing anyone to do things they do not want to do. We are educating and we are learning as we go. Let us hope we are on the other side of the results should we get to the final this year.”Director of Cricket Tom Moody, too, was pragmatic in his approach to the sustainability goals of the team: “I do not believe that we can avoid the flying when it comes to T20 cricket or sports in general, or business or life. We need to get around as a human race. We need to travel for work or for personal reasons, but I think the most important thing is us understanding the consequences of that.”Moody was confident the players would support the team’s emission reduction initiatives. “I think the players in this generation are very aware of climate change and the issues we face,” he said.“They are far more educated than my generation around all these issues and, if anything, they will champion it and grab it by the neck and be proud to be a part of the change and this initiative. Hopefully, this can be the beginning of a strong ripple effect through the game.”Coach James Foster said he was also supportive of the sustainability path but he accepted that challenges would have to be faced.“There is a performance element involved as, in this day and age, players might fly in the morning and play a few hours later,” he said.“It will be a balancing act for sure, but the fact that the Desert Vipers are looking to be the first team to really make a difference, this could then have a knock-on effect on other teams in the league and on other franchise teams around the world, and maybe on other sports as well.”The Desert Vipers team has signedup to the UN Sport For Climate Action Framework, and a key objective is to use sport as a vehicle to build awareness and drive action.Here arethree example programmesthat the team is offering partners who would like to join the Desert Vipers Spirit of Sustainability program:
Alex Hales Proud to Support Desert Vipers’ Trailblazing Sustainability Initiatives, Seeks Global Support for the Cause
