ACCIONA OPEN DE ESPAÑA PRESENTED BY MADRID

Sustainability in figuresSustainable strategy2022 results

ACCIONA OPEN DE ESPAÑA PRESENTED BY MADRID

Sustainability in figuresSustainable strategy2022 results

ACCIONA OPEN DE ESPAÑA 2023

The first European Golf Tour to reduce CO2 and contribute towards decarbonising the planet.

WE ARE THE TITLE SPONSOR OF THE OPEN DE ESPAÑA ONCE AGAIN

The first European Golf Tour to reduce CO2 and contribute towards decarbonising the planet. 

The Open de España, one of the oldest championships in the world, has been held in Spain for over a century and has been part of the PGA European Tour since 1971. In 2023, it returned to the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid (12–15 October), once again as a championship at the forefront of sustainability and a creator of positive impact, implementing the market's most innovative decarbonisation measures and contributing to the sustainable improvement of elite sporting events.

    ACCIONA extends its leading position as a strategic sustainability partner to the Open de España golf championship, regenerating the planet by focusing on an innovative design that goes beyond decarbonisation and making it the first golf tournament on the European Tour to have a positive impact.

    OVERALL FIGURES: 3 YEARS OF THE TOURNAMENT

    2,865

    TONNES OF CO2 EQUIVALENT OFFSET

    +6,400

    trees planted

    - 25.6%

    REDUCTION IN CARBON FOOTPRINT PER PARTICIPANT

    The strategy of this edition focused on reducing the carbon footprint and the water footprint. This involves two levels: GOVERNANCE AND REGENERATIVE TOURNAMENT DESIGN.

     

    GOBERNANCE

    MTP (Madrid Trophy Promotion) renewed its international ISO 20121 certification in May 2023, with the support of ACCIONA.

    The UNE EN ISO 20121: 2013 is the benchmark standard for the sporting events industry and the most internationally recognised since the 2012 London Olympics. The 2023 Open de España golf tournament has adhered to this recognised international certification, which accredits sustainable performance as it relates to the management of the tournament across all its operations.

     

    REGENERATIVE TOURNAMENT DESIGN

    It is not enough to reduce the social and environmental damage caused by the economic activity of a sports tournament or any other type of event—we must consider the long-term viability of economies and civilisation as a whole. The regenerative design of the 2023 tournament responds to these questions:

     

    • How can we optimise the tournament's efforts to reduce the greatest impacts it has (in terms of mobility, the circular economy of materials and energy consumption, and water)?
    • What role can the ACCIONA Open de España play in further developing the region's economic, social and environmental health?
    • What must be done to ensure that life continues to thrive?

     

    1. SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR GREATER POSITIVE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

    We wanted to go beyond a zero-emissions event. To achieve this, we rolled out a catalogue of sustainable solutions that guided the sustainability principles for this 2023 edition throughout the entire event.

    We focused our actions around the three elements with the greatest impact so as to reduce both the carbon footprint and the water footprint of the event: Sustainable Mobility Plan, Circular Economy (based on materials, waste and energy) and Water.

    These solutions took into account the three pillars of sustainability: protecting the natural environment; benefiting participating communities and groups; and conserving resources for economic performance.

    1. SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY PLAN

    With the aim of reducing transport—the category with the greatest impact on the tournament’s carbon footprint—we encourage the use of sustainable transport with special attention to emissions generated by the journeys of all participants and organisers. Measures put forward: Awareness-raising campaign on the use of sustainable transport when attending the event.

    • A wide choice of sustainable mobility: fully electric local bus services, 39 electric charging points within the tournament grounds, 100% electric fleet for transporting players and sponsors, free shuttle service from Avenida Complutense.
    • Monitoring of all participant mobility data of by including the entry of postal codes during ticket purchase.

    2. CIRCULAR ECONOMY (BASED ON MATERIALS, WASTE AND ENERGY)

    Circular economy at the tournament focused on the separate collection of waste to meet EU objectives, as well as the reuse of the tournament’s infrastructure. For the first time in this edition, we have defined a circular strategy on the basis of energy consumption. We would like to highlight the following measures:

    • We installed solar panels to supply 3,900 kWh of energy throughout the event, avoiding the emission of 1.2 t CO2 into the atmosphere. Around 20% of electricity used at the event had come from renewable sources.
    • All structures reused (stands, stalls, etc.), 100% reuse of fittings from one edition to the next, all displays and signage reused.
    • Elimination of single-use plastic in all catering.
    • Training in waste recycling for catering providers, which are primarily responsible for managing waste at the tournament.
    • Design review of the logos on the different bins, clarifying the items that can be disposed of in each bin.
    • Prioritising local food supply and proximity by purchasing through Merca Madrid.
    • Wide selection and taking on of local companies, giving back economic and social benefits to the local community (transport, catering, dining, etc.).

    3. WATER

    We have defined a strategic proposal to reduce our tournament’s water footprint. It will be essential to establish future alliances with the Madrid City Council and Club de Campo de la Villa de Madrid (CCVM) as managers of the event site.

    This plan is aligned with the strategy to reduce our water footprint that we are rolling out with the Spanish Olympic Committee, with the aim of defining the management of efficient models for water consumption.

    To this end, we will carry out the following actions:

    • Calculation of the tournament’s water footprint based on the ISO 14046 standard, taking into account:
      • The direct water consumption of the event’s bathrooms and kitchens.
      • Indirect water consumption for catering products, merchandise, volunteer uniforms, transport managed by the event organisation, etc.
    • Development of a strategic proposal to reduce the water footprint for future editions of the tournament.

    2. DECARBONISATION OF THE EVENT

    The carbon footprint generated by the event is being calculated following its completion using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). During the course of the competition, we collected data for this calculation, with the aim of obtaining values for the resulting final emissions in the main areas of impact, including mobility, consumption, purchases and contracting, infrastructure and waste.

     

    An analysis of carbon footprint, water scarcity footprint and environmental footprint has been carried out across all areas of activity:

    • Mobility of participants, workers and attendees.
    • Water and energy production.
    • Production of hospitality and catering materials, including food, packaging, glasses and cutlery.
    • Production of infrastructure materials (structures, tarps, etc.).
    • Transport of goods and infrastructure.
    • Transport and management of waste generated during the event.

     

    The final emissions that could not be avoided or reduced using sustainable solutions are being  offset by the acquisition of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), granted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, through ACCIONA’s wind farms in developing countries, guaranteeing the 2023 Open de España golf tournament as carbon neutral.

     

     

    3. POSITIVE REGENERATION

    Once the event has achieved carbon neutrality, we will regenerate the environment of the event site using nature-based solutions, leaving behind a positive impact that meets the magnitude of the emissions generated. Indigenous species with a high absorption capacity will be selected, such as Pinus Pinea and Cedrus Atlantica.

    ACCIONA EMISSIONS UNDER PAR PRIZE

    The organisation has awarded the winner of the tournament with a planted tree in the Community of Madrid, offsetting up to 10 times the carbon emissions estimated to be generated by the tournament winner and their team during a full sports season.

     

    4. CONCRETE SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATION

    The communication strategy for the 2023 edition was focused on visibility of the results compiled from previous years, highlighting three years of ACCIONA’s support as a Sustainable Partner for the tournament.

    LEAVING A POSITIVE IMPACT

    2022 EDITION RESULTS

    During last year’s tournament, more than 811 tonnes of CO2 equivalent were offset (Tournament overall + ACCIONA Emissions Under Par prize by planting more than 750 trees in the city of Madrid).

     

    In addition, the carbon footprint was reduced by an additional 0.6% per participant thanks to the implementation of more than 50 sustainable measures from the Solutions Catalogue designed for the tournament, covering social, economic and environmental aspects, and counting on the involvement and participation of sponsors, Club de Campo managers, participants and players.  

    Standout solutions 2022 edition:

    • Increase in economic compensation schemes for participants so as to encourage the use of public or shared transportation (more shuttles and incentives for the use of shared vehicles).
    • Reducing the impact of the transport of players by using fully electric vehicles.
    • Saving 7.4 tonnes of CO2 across 4,000 shuttle services.
    • Seven more electric charging points than the previous edition, to reach a total of 37.
    • Improved energy efficiency with four fewer generators and optimisation of water consumption by installing timers on taps in the toilets.
    • Reusable modular constructions for stands and stalls, as well as a 13% reduction in displays and signage, which is designed to be reused at future events.
    • Ban on sales of bottled water in glass and PET bottles (replaced by aluminium).
    • Increased number of tournament sponsors making efforts towards sustainability (BMW, Mini, Rolex, Marqués de Murrieta, Solán de Cabras, Coca Cola, etc.).
    • More sustainable merchandise, based on the reuse of previous collections.
    • More sustainable catering options, with more vegan menus and more than 90% cold products on offer.
    • Greater awareness of the organisation and value chain in terms of sustainable issues that affect the entire local community