Pac-12 joins its members as official partner of the Green Sports Alliance

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 Conference office announced today that it has officially joined the Green Sports Alliance (GSA), following the lead of the conference’s 12 institutions, which were already members of GSA. The Pac-12 is the first collegiate sports conference to count all its members as GSA participants.

As members of the GSA, the Conference and university athletics programs have committed to measure their environmental performance, develop strategies and goals to reduce their footprint, monitor progress, and engage fans and communities in the process. Most significantly, the Pac-12 and its members will support one another, and additional GSA members, in their sports greening efforts.“Our member universities have shown great leadership to minimize their athletics departments’ negative impact on the environment, and promote green habits to their fans and campuses at large,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. “We as a Conference are thrilled to join the Alliance as we continue to push college sports in a modern, global, and progressive direction.”From zero-waste stadiums, to solar powered arenas, to robust student-led green teams, Pac-12 universities are genuine leaders in college sports greening. Spurred by their common membership in the GSA, Pac-12 universities also recently completed the inaugural ‘Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge’. This first-of-its-kind, conference-wide activation was self-organized by Pac-12 members with the support of the GSA.“Membership in the GSA already provides access to a unique network of sports industry experts to inspire and support greening program advancement,” said Dave Newport, Board Member of the Green Sports Alliance and Environmental Center Director at the University of Colorado Boulder.“With all Pac-12 athletics programs on board, we now have an unparalleled opportunity for sharing better practices conference-wide. This leadership and commitment from Pac-12 members signals a deeper involvement from all collegiate athletics programs and can be the model for other NCAA conferences to lead collegiate sports greening.”About the Pac-12 Conference:The Conference has a tradition as the “Conference of Champions,” leading the nation in NCAA Championships in 48 of the last 54 years, with 476 NCAA team titles overall. The Conference comprises 12 leading U.S. universities: The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington and Washington State University. For more information on the Conference’s programs, member institutions, and Commissioner Larry Scott, go to https://www.pac-12.com/conference.About the Green Sports Alliance:The Green Sports Alliance leverages the cultural and market influence of sports to promote healthy, sustainable communities where we live and play. The nonprofit organization does so by inspiring sports leagues, teams, venues, their partners and millions of fans to embrace renewable energy, healthy food, recycling, water efficiency, species preservation, safer chemicals and other environmentally preferable practices. The Alliance is engaging the global sports industry to encourage measurable actions that enhance venue operations, influence the sports industry supply chain and mobilize fans.Since launching nationally in March of 2011, the Alliance has grown from 6 teams from 6 leagues to nearly 300 teams, venues and universities from 20 leagues in 14 countries. Currently, 30 NCAA affiliated universities are members of the Alliance.Visit https://www.greensportsalliance.org to learn more. Interested in membership? Inquire at info@greensportsalliance.org.Read the full article.