SustainDriven and the Canmore Eagles launched a program to combine the two elements most concerning to Canadians. These are the worlds climate crisis and success at hockey.

We are working with the Canmore Eagles to help them become the greenest hockey club in the world, attain a united nations/ IPCC sectorial partnership and provide leadership to sports clubs across the world.

Hockey in Canada has a special place in our culture and we hope to start with telling the story locally, then regionally, provincially and then nationally. Our hope is the model will be adopted vertically through the AJHL to Hockey Canada and the NHL.

However, it will not attain the broad acceptance necessary without additional advantages. We are guiding the Eagles in developing a new funding campaign with a goal of improving their operational budgets by up to 1 million dollars per year. We can announce we have already succeeded with our first round of applications.

We can become leaders by doing the right thing and then tell the story widely. We have around 6 million annual visits to the Bow Valley to tell our story.

We will transition in year two and three from grants to professional partnerships with longer term relationships.

First up is the steps necessary to attain greenest in the world status:

1. Measuring, mitigating and offsetting our Green House Gas (GHG) footprint. This could include a portion of the Canmore facility GHG footprint, team travels and even fan travel (Called Sector 3 GHG emissions). 

2. Greening our electrical footprint. 

3. Towards Zero Waste (TZW) is next. It is the most visible action taken at events. 

4. Marketing and messaging to each target market and sector.

5. Educating the 25 players.

Once we accomplish this in the first three months of the 20-21 hockey season we will then seek a United Nations sectorial partnership.

The UN Sports for Climate Action Framework Principles

To implement the UN Sports for Action Pledge, the Alliance has committed to endorse and support a list of UN Climate Action Principles that include the following:

• Principle 1:  Undertake systematic efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility.
• Principle 2:  Reduce overall climate impact.
• Principle 3:  Educate for climate action.
• Principle 4:  Promote sustainable and responsible consumption.
• Principle 5:  Advocate for climate action through communication.

Members are encouraged to follow the guidance and recommendations of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by measuring, reducing, and offsetting all greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts.

It is our goal for the eagles to become the first hockey club in the world to be accepted by the IPCC under their sectorial call “sport for climate action”. We are in a race with the Minnesota Wild for this.