Sir Ben Ainslie touts SailGP’s green sailing league as ‘example to other sports’
Net Zero Festival: Olympic gold medalist explains how new sailing championship is helping to promote sustainability best practices and drive down emissions
The most successful competitive sailor in Britain’s history, Sir Ben Ainslie, is vying to become a champion once again, with his SailGP team hoping to beat New Zealand to the top of the competition’s “impact league”.
Speaking at the Net Zero Festival today, Ainslie – who is CEO of Great Britain’s SailGP team – explained how his team was measuring the carbon impact of its SailGP events, as well as its use of water and powered chase boats to identify where efficiencies can be realised that can push the UK team to the top of the sport’s new impact rankings.
SailingGP is a new sailing competition that, Ainslie explained, aims to be “the most sustainable purpose driven sport out there”, adding that he was optimistic “it can be a real example to other sports”.
Created by US businessman Larry Ellison and former yachting champion Russell Coutts, SailGP brings together the world’s top sailors for a series of F50 races, using wind-powered foiling multihull boats that can reach speeds of almost 100km an hour.
And to further improve efficiency and reduce waste, SailGP is a “one design” concept meaning every team uses the same design of boat for every race.
“All the equipment is the same, so it’s all about the sailors out on the water doing their thing,” Ainslie said.
The championship operates an ‘Impact League’ alongside the main sailing championship, with the eight international teams taking part in the competition scored across 10 key sustainability criteria, ranging from adoption of clean energy technologies and the elimination of single-use plastic, to diversity and inclusion and social advocacy.
Despite winning more Olympic gold medals than any other sailor, Ainslie said that ensuring his team met its net zero targets during the current championship was a top priority.
“The results of the impact league are just as important, if not more important, than the racing on the water,” he said.
The Great Britain team has also been working with educational charity Stem Crew to encourage young people to take up science, engineering, and other technical subjects to help the next generation identify new ways to cut emissions in the years to come.
“Technology will play a huge part in solving this issue,” Ainslie said.
All prize money that the team wins will go to funding further Stem Crew projects.
Fiona Morgan, director of purpose and impact for SailGP, said the new competition has the advantage of having put environmental concerns at the heart of its operations from the beginning. “Being a new sport we can set that up as part of our DNA,” she said.
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