The Desert Vipers have released their annual sustainability report, the Season 4 – People & Planet Report, as part of their commitment to be transparent about the team’s impact on the community and environment.
The report highlights a major achievement: the Desert Vipers reduced their carbon footprint by 27.2 percent compared with Season 1 of the DP World ILT20.
This progress was driven by a series of initiatives delivered with existing and new partners, who supported emissions-reduction measures across travel, team and performance kit production, energy use at the team hotel, and DP World ILT20 playing venues. For example, the team worked with Fuelre4m, whose Re4mx fuel reformer helped improve fuel efficiency and reduce consumption across team cars, the team bus, and stadium pitch machinery.
The team cut its plastic footprint significantly, reducing it by 77.6 percent compared with Season 1 and by 68.4 percent compared with Season 3. The reduction was driven mainly by a sharp decrease in replica kit production after the team chose to distribute fewer items in Season 4. The partnership with Aqualy also helped lower plastic impact in food and beverage by replacing PET bottles with Tetrapak packaging.
Bluewater again supplied LED water refill units pitchside to help reduce single-use plastic.
Through its partnership with Cleaner Seas Group, the team installed laundry filters at the team hotel to reduce the release of microfibres and plastics into oceans and marine ecosystems.
For the first time the Desert Vipers calculated the social impact value of their Community Programmes. In DP World ILT20 Season 4 these programmes reached 17,147 people and generated AED 13.74 million in social impact value, delivering a social return of AED 11.8 for every dirham invested.
The programmes measured for social impact included the Desert Vipers Schools Programme, which delivered cricket-led learning, sustainability education and wellbeing activities to students across the UAE; the popular 2025 UAE-India BioBlitz powered by Styrex by Fuelre4m; the Desert Vipers Talent Pathway powered by Balqis Capital; the Season 4 Desert Vipers Sustainability Match; Corporate Cricket, which delivered mental fitness sessions to workforces; and Heroes of Hope sessions for children with special needs, which Desert Vipers supported.
Another major Season 4 – People and Planet Report highlight was the creation of the Sustainability Governance Board, which held its first meeting in June 2025 and set clear Key Performance Indicators across governance, innovation, sustainability and social impact.
The board has helped the Desert Vipers deliver strong environmental progress, including a 44 percent reduction in flight emissions compared with DP World ILT20 Season 1. New travel policies, earlier supplier engagement aligned with the team’s carbon-reduction goals, and other sustainability measures all helped to drive progress.
Looking ahead, the board has set some long-term goals including achieving a 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 (DP World ILT20 Season 9).
Phil Oliver, Desert Vipers CEO & Sustainability Board Chair said: “This season, there has been a step change in our approach to sustainability by fully integrating people into our sustainability strategy, with the social impact results clear to see. Our planet work has continued at full speed, with new partners bringing energy and a fresh perspective to where we can make a positive difference. Finally, we have made our work more robust by setting up our Sustainability Governance Board and holding the first of our meetings, which has allowed all departments of the team to align on the same page and accelerate our impact.”
Ben Hardy-Jones, Desert Vipers Business Sustainability Lead & Sustainability Governance Board Secretary added: “This season’s People and Planet Report brings together the best of our work into one sustainability report, including social impact valuation for the first time, and merging our plastic and carbon footprints into one umbrella of environmental impact. The expanded report has allowed us to bring our work to life through case studies and examples, which we hope will inspire others to take action. We look forward to building upon this in Season 5 and at the Global Super League, as we continue Playing with Purpose for People and Planet.”
Season 4’s People and Planet Report can be downloaded here: https://www.thedesertvipers.com/uncategorized/desert-vipers-season-4-people-planet-report/
Desert Vipers – Playing with purpose for People and Planet. For more details, visit the Desert Vipers website: https://www.thedesertvipers.com/sustainability/
The Desert Vipers are currently preparing to take part in the ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League from July 23 to August 1. The franchise is the current champion side of the DP World ILT20, the UAE’s own Twenty20 cricket league, and is the most successful side in the history of that tournament, which has run for the past four seasons.
