The US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the Paris climate agreement through an executive order while a UAE cricket team established new standards for sustainability through their forward-thinking initiatives.
As an ILT20 franchise team in the UAE IPL-style T20 league the Desert Vipers have stopped using plastic bottles for players while also introducing team jerseys made from recycled materials.
Matt Bailey who leads strategy at the Desert Vipers remarked that they have become Dubai’s first sports organization to join the United Nations Sports for Climate Actions Framework which requires annual emissions reporting.
Our commitments require Desert Vipers to cut their carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 while we move toward net zero emissions by 2040 which gives us specific targets to pursue as we evaluate our operations to find ways for emissions reduction.
The Desert Vipers strategists have launched several groundbreaking initiatives to create an impact.
According to Bailey, Desert Vipers players neither drink from plastic bottles during matches nor in training because plastic bottles have been completely eliminated from their operations.
This initiative has successfully stopped 14,400 water bottles from being used. Our team has launched the first professional sports kit manufactured from recycled materials. Every piece of clothing our players wear consists of recycled materials. The players absolutely adore their kits which we acquired from a local UAE company.
We gathered plastic materials and transformed them into jerseys for our fans. We are distributing fan jerseys which we produced from the plastic bottles we collected during the sustainability match of last season.
Our goal is to actively participate in resolving problems through our initiatives. We are dedicated to bringing both our fan base and local sports teams together through our sustainability journey.
Our team holds the distinction of being the first cricket team globally to measure our carbon footprint and publish related documentation. Our sustainability microsite hosts all these documents online.
The Vipers are advancing multiple initiatives and launching cricket programs in UAE Arab schools to develop the first professional Emirati cricketer within several years.
The Desert Vipers Development Lead Jack Luffman taught young Arab students the basics of cricket during his visits to four schools across the UAE.
Our franchise launched a school programme that introduced children to cricket similar to England’s all-star cricket programme as part of our sustainability initiative. “Through our sustainability focus we executed that program,” Luffman stated.
During our schools programme we visited a few Arab schools in the UAE to teach kids cricket skills by demonstrating bowling and batting before talking with them about how everyone can contribute to saving our beautiful world.
Luffman believes that cricket helped achieve balance in teaching sustainability to students who were too young to understand its importance.
Arab schools have yet to fully explore the potential of cricket as a sport. Kids at those schools watch Premier League football and athletes Ronaldo and Messi while also watching basketball games he said.
The reaction from the students was extremely positive when we introduced them to cricket. When the participants understood the enjoyment of cricket they enthusiastically played the game they bowled they batted and they took great pleasure in catching balls. The activity provided immense enjoyment for students while simultaneously giving us teachers a chance to discuss our future-oriented world-building initiatives.
According to Bailey sport provides an excellent platform to encourage children from various backgrounds to develop into responsible global citizens.
Our existence faces an existential threat from climate change. Cricket along with sports as a whole possesses a remarkable ability to function as a catalyst for transformation. Bailey described the platform as excellent for connecting with people.
An American University released a study that I read recently which examined the most influential people in the world today. Research shows that sportspeople and entertainers make up over half of the world’s most influential individuals.
Because sports figures have the power to motivate behavioral changes we (Desert Vipers) aim to become part of the solution.