Seattle Storm Becomes First WNBA Team to Sign the Climate Pledge
September 19, 2022 – Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) – Seattle Storm News Release
SEATTLE – The Seattle Storm announced today it has signed The Climate Pledge, an initiative co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, becoming the first WNBA team and second North American professional sports team to become a signatory.
The Climate Pledge was founded in 2019, inviting companies to join a community of leading businesses committed to transformational action to protect the globe from climate change. Signatories of The Pledge agree to regular reporting, carbon elimination, and neutralize remaining emissions using credible offsets, all to reach net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040. Today, The Climate Pledge announced it has amassed over 375 signatories.
“We embrace the opportunity to join Amazon in this vital quest to address climate change, the most critical threat to our planet.” said Alisha Valavanis, Storm President and CEO. “Recognizing that our platform as a professional sports organization allows us to influence social change, we are eager to commit to this Pledge.”
The Storm is well positioned to join the Climate Pledge as the team plays its home games at Climate Pledge Arena, sharing the world’s first net zero-carbon arena with The Climate Pledge’s only other North American pro sports signatory, the Seattle Kraken. The arena is powered exclusively by renewable energy and significantly reduced embodied carbon during construction through the reuse of the historic existing roof. It includes both on-site and offsite solar rather than the widespread standard use of natural gas in arenas and stadiums, allowing it to run solely on electricity for daily operations, eliminating all regular fossil fuel usage from the building.
Climate Pledge Arena boasts a couple of firsts: banning most single-use plastics and committing to functional zero waste; sourcing the majority (75%) of food and beverage from within 300 miles; and fully offsetting the carbon emissions of all events and related transportation by fans, sports teams and entertainers, achieving net zero carbon operation.
The Storm is also developing its new practice facility and front office complex, The Storm Center for Basketball Performance, located in the heart of Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood. This facility will be Gold LEED certified, including efficient water management, reduction of light pollution on the site, and sustainable practices for landscape design and maintenance.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Seattle Storm to The Climate Pledge,” said Sally Fouts, Global Lead of The Climate Pledge at Amazon. “The Seattle Storm is the first WNBA team to join The Pledge, and they have shown their dedication to reducing their carbon footprint through a number of creative activations over the last decade and motivating their fan base to go green themselves. From powering their games with 100% renewable energy to stocking their concessions stands with more-sustainable products, we are excited to see the Seattle Storm’s impact both on and off the court.”
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