CLIMATE PLEDGE ARENA

“We’re not going to solve climate change alone, but Climate Pledge Arena will inspire fans to make positive behavior changes. And, by going net zero carbon from Day One, we will inspire others who build arenas after us to follow suit!”

Oak View Group (OVG)’s CEO, Tim Leiweke, operates the company with the mission to become a positive disruption in the sports industry. Three years after OVG was approved to redevelop and manage the 56-year-old Key Arena in 2018, Tim’s vision is being realized.

After just 10 months of operation, the venue has hosted an array of concerts, private events, and professional sporting events, diverting a total of 301 tons of waste from landfill, generating 167,733.4 kwh of on-site renewable energy, and collecting over 160,000 gallons of rain water from the Arenas Rain-to-Rink system. It also has a vertically-watered Living Wall, with over 8,200 live plants and 27 different native species, which provides a biophilic experience for guests.

Public transit is fully subsidized for fans with NHL and WNBA tickets and the venue has invested $40M in local neighborhood transportation improvements.

The Arena has a goal of diverting 95% of waste from landfill and plans to ban single-use plastic by 2024. When singer Billie Eilish performed, a total of 5.82 tons of materials were diverted from landfill, including 3.53 tons of compost.

Carbon emissions reduction was critical to the design team: They reused Key Arena’s historic steel roof, reducing the building’s embodied carbon; All systems are 100% electric and powered by renewable sources, including on-site PV. All decarbonization efforts will save approximately 860 tons of Co2 emissions per year. The organization partnered with Amazon’s AWS to create a customized dashboard, which tracks several metrics, including operational carbon such as merchandise sales, food sourcing, and fan travel.