We read in the FIFA Stadium Guidelines 2022 about the importance of mitigating climate change. FIFA stresses that designing and building stadiums, then sustainable maintenance and operation are important for the future.

According to the UN, the energy intensity of buildings must be reduced by 30% by 2030 compared to 2015 levels in order to meet the Paris Agreement. In addition to reducing the energy intensity of stadiums, other important climate change mitigation measures include reducing CO2 emissions from materials used in stadium construction and using clean energy to power stadiums.

Head Groundsman at Harlequins RFC for Nature Landscapes and former Forest Green Rovers Head Groundsman, Adam Witchell explains how a grounds department can become carbon neutral. “The pitch itself sucks in CO2 and creates oxygen, so you’re starting on a plus side if you can get a pitch with 100% grass coverage. You’re then making oxygen yourself, and you can use that as a buffer for how much carbon you produce when maintaining the pitch, and if recorded and planned correctly, you can make your department carbon neutral.

“This approach scales up if you’re maintaining multiple pitches at a training ground because you’re producing more oxygen. It’s quite a simple thing to implement, but again it’s recording the data and knowing your emissions that is important.”

The federation also mentions the reduction of waste generated during the construction, operation and maintenance of stadiums. For example, excavated soil generated on the construction site should be used for building where possible, so that only material that cannot be reused is removed from the construction site. This helps to reduce the volume of waste generated during development, which in turn reduces the carbon footprint, air pollution and lorry traffic.

Simple measures like composting grass clippings and re-using materials produced during renovations and maintenance can also contribute. In fact, measuring your grass clipping yield can help to manage nitrogen and PGR inputs more precisely, which can improve pitch consistency and performance whilst reducing waste.

One of the most important aspects is portable water management in the stadiums. Drinking water scarcity is a global problem that will affect five billion people by 2050, according to UN.

Stadiums require large amounts of potable water for sanitation, building, landscape maintenance and pitch irrigation. Therefore, a careful assessment of water usage is required before a stadium is built in a location where water shortages are already an issue. Keeping track of water use for irrigation could be a first step for ground teams. Using comprehensive weather forecasts could help with planning all turf care operations, including irrigation.

Keeping a comprehensive record of moisture levels in the pitch using probes or underground sensors can also make a substantial difference. By benchmarking moisture levels against pitch performance, the desired level can be set, and only the exact amount of water needed is used to achieve it.

The same method can be used for fertilisers and grass seed. With optimum time for use pinpointed, it avoids product waste, budget waste and unnecessary deliveries.

The list of sustainable maintenance recommendations completes with biodiversity. The ecological value of land measures how much biodiversity it can host. What is the amount and variety of plants and animals on the site – in, on and around the stadiums.

Stadiums, the same as any developments, should not be built on sites of high ecological value. Sites that have previously been developed or well connected to existing transports city centers are ideal for stadium developments. 

The graphics source (the graphics visible on a tablet) and inspiration for the content comes from the FIFA Stadium Guidelines 2022: https://stadiums.fifa.com/ The purpose of the post is to promote the above document prepared by the Federation and spread knowledge on sustainable maintenance and operation of the pitch.