A moral obligation' – MCG goes carbon neutral for finals season.

Few images are as emblematic of Melbourne as the MCG, floodlit and heaving with tens of thousands of punters.  Packed to the rafters. But this spectacle comes at a cost.

Staff in the MCG control room monitor energy
 use at the ground during the finals series.

Have you ever wondered how much electricity is consumed to power those light towers? Or how much carbon is emitted in transporting those fans to the ground, heating their pies, cooling their beers or frying their chips?

The Melbourne Cricket Club, which runs the venue, has. It says the 'G and its surrounding Yarra Park precinct consumes about 1.65 million kWh of electricity during the finals alone. Last September, that amounted to 20,531 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Read the story by Peter Hannam from The Age - “‘A moral obligation' – MCG goes carbon neutral for finals season.”

OUR FUTURE: Climate change and summer sports.

For any Australian sporting enthusiast, summer means cricket at the MCG, watching the world’s best tennis players at the Australian Open or simply appreciating the outdoors as you play sport yourself. 

Humans are not designed with withstand increasingly extreme heat.

But no matter what you are doing, it’s always extremely hot. What will happen to our sporting calendar as the climate continues to warm? I fear cancellation of sport events could become commonplace.

Last year, the Australian Open had to abandon play on a number of matches as temperatures soared past 40 degrees during qualifying rounds. Ticket sales have steadily reduced by thousands over the past few years as spectators opt to avoid the heat.

In February, in a first for both NSW Cricket and Rugby League, all graded games were cancelled one weekend due to dangerously hot weather.

Our bodies aren’t designed to withstand increasingly extreme heat. Health experts are concerned for a new generation of respiratory illness if temperatures continue to rise. Dr Liz Hanna said we’ll end up in a “contest of who copes best in the heat more than who is best in their sport”.

Perhaps we could be headed for a future of indoor sport or the rescheduling summer classics to winter months. But it’d be un-Australian to let our sporting events be sidelined this summer, so we need to start making some changes. 

Read the special report in The Advocate - “OUR FUTURE: Climate change and summer sports.”