WSL Leads the Global Sports Community
Image Credit: ©World Surf League
We are deeply honored to be a partner of the WSL in their efforts to reduce and offset their emissions as part of the WSL PURE #StopTrashingWaves pledge. The campaign is designed to address issues head-on as well as educate and engage the surfing community using a three-pronged approach that will apply to all WSL Championship Tour (WCT) and Big Wave Tour (BWT) events. The WSL has committed to the following:
- Becoming carbon neutral globally by the end of 2019;
- Eliminating single-serve plastics by the end of 2019; and
- Leaving each place better than it was found.
STOKE is directly involved in helping the WSL meet the first of these objectives. Using the carbon footprint tool supplied to all STOKE Members, we will be calculating scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions (see definition by Greenhouse Gas Protocol) for 2019 across all WSL offices, men’s and women’s WCT and BWT stops, as well as all athlete and staff travel. Additionally, STOKE is pairing the WSL with high-quality, third-party verified carbon offset projects that complement their respective emissions sources and tour locations while benefiting coastal ecosystems.
This commitment from the WSL to be carbon neutral and plastic-free by the end of 2019 is highly commendable in a time where the world is facing an imminent threat of catastrophic climate change by 2030 if we don’t keep warming below 2°C (as indicated by the U.N. IPCC).
“The fact that the WSL is going to make all events carbon neutral by 2019 is incredible.”
John John Florence
Getting stoked and sharing the stoke from the world’s best on a global broadcast has an impact. And while the WSL continues to reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible, we help them calculate and identify reduction strategies for the unavoidable emissions because until the world is powered with 100% renewable energy and EV jets transport us to our dream surf spots (?), we will all still have a carbon footprint.
By partnering with STOKE, the WSL is enabling other STOKE Members to access carbon offset projects that might otherwise be closed to them given offset purchase minimums. In this way, the WSL is paving the way for the broader surf travel industry to achieve carbon neutrality. The WSL’s public-facing programs embedded in the #StopTrashingWaves campaign goes further to challenge surfers to pledge to do better. Choosing STOKE Certified sustainable surfing destinations is an easy step for surfers to take and join the movement.
For our part, STOKE pledges to #StopTrashingWaves by mobilizing surf resorts, hotels, and camps around the world to achieve best practices related to zero waste, clean energy, fair labor, indigenous rights, and surf break moorings. Join us, WSL PURE, and the Surfrider Foundation on June 15, International Surfing Day, for a worldwide paddle out to raise awareness for the movement. Together, we can protect the coastlines, coral reefs, and marine life that make surfing so special. Learn more and take the pledge at wslpure.org.
Many thanks to the WSL for using the power of #sustainablestoke to create a sea-change and thank you to all the pros who are joining the campaign to raise awareness and inspire surfers around the world to do their part.