A very Happy New Year to all of our fans! We hope you feel ready to attack the New Year, just like we’re getting ready to attack Season 2 of the DP World ILT20 in a couple of week’s time (#FangsOut). The New Year is an important time for reflection, a time to look back on the previous year and ask what we want to do better this year. For many, this culminates in setting New Year’s resolutions – personal targets to help us develop as individuals or organisations. Aside from a commitment to do more physical exercise (something which we as a sporting organisation greatly commend), one of the most common resolutions is to commit to “bettering oneself”. Often this is in the form of learning for school to get better grades, preparing for university courses to get that course you’ve always dreamed of, or learning a new skill or language which can give you more opportunities in life. At the Desert Vipers, we’ve decided that one of our New Year’s Resolutions in 2024 is to learn more about environmental issues and ways to address them – and this means for our entire staff and players.
Last month, at the COP 28 climate conference in Dubai, the world made a landmark agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. This agreement has helped pave the way for many of the large-scale changes needed in our society, giving individuals, organisations, and governments fresh impetus to accelerate climate action. However, for many actors, knowing where they can make a difference can be very difficult, and this is no different for a sporting organisation, with many possible avenues for which to focus on. At the Desert Vipers, we are an SME (a small- and medium-sized enterprise), as we have fewer than 250 employees (which is the generally accepted threshold for an SME – although this varies around the globe). SMEs are often exempt from regulation around environmental issues, so for many SMEs, it can be difficult to know where they can make a positive environmental difference. This is compounded by the fact that environmental literacy is low for lots of SMEs. While the Desert Vipers have dedicated staff focussed on sustainability, namely Matt Bailey (Head of Sustainability) and Ben Hardy-Jones (Sustainability Manager), a sporting franchise requires dozens of staff and players all operating to the best of their ability in order to be successful. Our staff have a fantastically diverse background in: sports marketing, operations, finance, management, sponsorship, and logistics, to name just a few areas. Many of them are the best-in-class in what they do, having dedicated many years to their successful careers. However, this means that opportunities for environmental education have been slim, with lack of time a frequent issue for SME employees. While our team has a strong environmental awareness, access to environmental knowledge is limited when you have competing demands on your time. The same is true for our players and coaches, who have spent decades honing their skills, and as such have great demands on their time.
Desert Vipers’ Environmental Education Programme
The Desert Vipers have pledged their commitment to the environment, signing up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and setting a Sustainability Strategy, as well as being the first cricket franchise in the world to measure and publicly make available its carbon footprint. This has had implications for all of our team members, with many now considering sustainability every day within their roles for the first time. However, many have never had an opportunity to formally learn about sustainability, which is why we are proud to announce the launch of our Environmental Education Programme for all staff, coaches, and players, run by Gary Adlen from Carbon Happy World. Starting today, for the next five weeks, team members will be given the opportunity to attend a one-hour session on environmental issues, covering:
- An introduction to climate change
- The impact of climate change on sports events
- Greenwashing, greenhushing, or just good marketing?
- What do you think?
- Reporting and the future
When our players and coaches join up with us in a couple of weeks, we will also be offering them a session on environmental issues, ensuring that every member of our team has some basic knowledge of sustainability, and knows what they can do to help, and where they can go for more information. In this way, we hope to inspire our team members and bring them along with us on the sustainability journey, fostering an inclusive environment through providing training to everyone, no matter their previous level of knowledge. Now that sounds like an excellent New Year’s Resolution!
Dubai Sustainability Spotlight – Dubai single-use plastic bags ban
This week’s Sustainability Spotlight focuses on the Dubai Government, who have taken the fantastic step in regulating single-use products in Dubai, in order to protect the environment and advance sustainable development. This regulation comes in a phased approach, starting from just a few days ago on 1st January 2024, when single-use plastic bags were banned. Over the coming months and years, a whole plethora of single-use products will be banned, including:
- Non-plastic single-use products, including single-use bags (1 June 2024)
- Single-use plastic products, including plastic stirrers, table covers, cups, styrofoam food containers, plastic straws, and plastic cotton swabs (1 January 2025)
- Other single-use plastic products including plastic plates, plastic food containers, plastic tableware, and beverage cups and their plastic lids (1 January 2026)
While there are some exemptions to this rule, on the whole, it is a fantastically positive step taken by the Dubai Government around single-use products, as it will have a great benefit on the environment and the people of Dubai, changing habits and the current throwaway culture that exists around the globe. We hope to hear more fantastic news like this in the coming months and years!
