Setting the Par with the “Greenest Show on Grass”
Why Sustainability Leadership From ‘The Greenest Show on Grass’ Could Be the Key to Unlocking Golf’s Sustainable Future
The golf industry need not look further than the first tee to find one of the world’s leading sustainability champions, the PGA TOUR’s WM Phoenix Open. Recognized as one of the five oldest tournaments on the TOUR (the first Phoenix Open was in 1932) and annual host to over 700,000 fans (pre-COVID, of course), title sponsor WM has led the Phoenix Open to be the world’s largest zero waste event.
You could say that if sustainability was a tournament on the PGA TOUR, the WM Phoenix Open would be cruising into the back nine on Sunday with a 10-shot lead. However, blazing new trails as a sustainability champion in a sport often viewed as elitist, stodgy and old-fashioned doesn’t come without hard work, persistence and innovation to change perceptions and attitudes about how we approach the trash and waste we create and its devastating effects on our climate. This is why the new sustainability marketing partnership between the PGA TOUR and WM is one sustainability storyline Driving the Green will be paying attention to as 2021 unfolds.
“The marketing value [of sustainability] is undeniable.” - Lee Spivak
WM took over as title sponsor of the Phoenix Open in 2010 and in just three years’ time, they became a zero waste event, meaning EVERYTHING on property is recycled, composted, donated or used in energy recovery. In 2019, the WM Phoenix Open became the first professional golf tournament to sign on to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, a landmark voluntary initiative created out of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord that seeks to provide a forum for sustainability and climate action collaboration across sport entities.
I reached out to Lee Spivak, Managing Principle of WM’s Sports and Entertainment Division, shortly after the 2021 tournament to get some insight on the development of WM’s title sponsorship and the steps they’ve taken to be professional golf’s leading advocate for climate action.
1) At the beginning of the WM title sponsorship, what were some of the challenges to getting partners, sponsors and the Thunderbirds on board with becoming a zero-waste tournament?
The Thunderbirds have been on board since the very beginning – they are an incredible tournament host and partner for WM. It took a little time to educate them on some of the details and to figure out enforcement, but I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have our organizations in line. Having the Thunderbirds back our efforts quickly shifted the vendor perspective since it became more than the title sponsor trying to implement the program.
As the voices behind the contracts, the Thunderbirds supported us in stopping service when vendors dispersed non-compliant products. Once we showed how vendor support for the zero waste program meant they could join our sustainability platform, vendor participation started to grow, alongside sponsor compliance. We witnessed vendors telling their stories about how they are zero waste on course, which encouraged sponsors to join. That includes the larger on-site caterer, M Culinary - who supports our water restoration program - as well as Puma - who worked with Rickie Fowler to make a recycled content version of his “P” hat. While Puma didn’t work with WM on the product, we were excited to showcase the effort alongside our post-consumer recycled content uniforms and apparel.
Successes have not come without a few challenges around keeping a portion of the vendors in line with the Sustainability Requirements, which required WM to maintain an on-site presence to oversee daily operations, evolve the onboarding process to support evaluating vendors’ suppliers, and prioritize a message about working with WM on our sustainability goals instead of just enforcing requirements.
2) Can you share some statistics that put into words the impact the WMPO has had on the local Phoenix community, including waste diversion at the tournament, since taking over as title sponsor?
You can learn more about the tournament’s impact by checking out our Sustainability Report. Here are a few highlights from the report and our time as title sponsor:
$14 million raised for local AZ charities in 2020
Certified zero-waste operations since 2013, validated by UL
Balanced operational carbon footprint since 2017
325M gallons of water restored to Arizona’s riverways since 2016
Only golf tournament in the world to be GEO Certified four times (working on the 5th for 2021).
2020 Avoided Emissions from Waste Diversion (MtCO2e)
Waste-to-Energy: -2.8
Composted: -5.9
Material Donations: -8.9
Food Donations: -48.9
Recycled: -354.5
3) Fan engagement is everything at the WM Phoenix Open but has that education translated to the normal, everyday lives of the fans? Are you able to measure the downstream impact of attending the WM Phoenix Open? Has the evolution of the type of fan attending the WM Phoenix Open changed over time, meaning have you found more non-golf fans attending strictly because of the tournament’s zero-waste commitments?
Tracking fan behavior changes due to the tournament would be very complicated, as would tracking why fans attend the tournament. What we can say is that WM’s goal is to educate fans about how to recycle right so that they can take lessons learned beyond the course.
Driving the Green Take: When I asked Lee this question, I didn’t expect him to be able to answer for the exact reason he gives. However, I think it poses a great opportunity to dive into the mind of the casual golf fan that attends the WM Phoenix Open and further dissect the reach of the event and how other PGA TOUR stops can take a more targeted approach to advocating for climate action. Lee, Driving the Green is here to help!
Patrons play the Zero Waste Pop-a-Shot. To get a point, they must get the right material in the right hoop. They risk losing a point if a ’compostable’ labeled basketball is shot into the recycle bin.
4) How has the WM Phoenix Open adapted and strengthened its procurement policy over time?
In 2012, we started with Acceptable Material Guidelines for vendors to define what we’d like vendors to use on course to support the zero waste program. We banned polystyrene containers and single serve condiment packets and established preferred characteristics for promotional giveaways. The document was changed to Material Requirements in 2014 and was incorporated into vendor contracts. In 2019, we expanded to include it in contracts with operations partners and large sponsors, shifting the title to Sustainability Requirements. The title, and including the requirements in contracts, changed the foundation for how our procurement policy was implemented.
In terms of the material details, in 2015 we shifted to require that all food and beverage products are certified compostable with the exceptions of cans, bottles and wrappers. In 2020, we banned all wrappers smaller than a chip bag along with all plastic and compostable plastic straws. Along the way, we’ve made minor adjustments to target problematic materials. From the beginning, the process has prioritized helping the vendors and sponsors.
5) How has the education of vendors and partners changed over time? What is the best way to spread this education across the PGA TOUR landscape?
The best way to gain stakeholder commitment and educate everyone involved about sustainability is to understand each group’s perspective. With everything else they have to do to prepare for the tournament, vendors often struggle to follow the minutia of materials management requirements. They need several reviews and someone to help them assess suppliers’ products. WM and the Thunderbirds have in-person meetings, surveys, follow-up calls, procurement evaluations, and daily on-course product reviews so there is less room for error. WM walks the course every day, providing as many training sessions for each vendor as required. With a concerted effort to not treat this as a situation where we tell everyone what to do, we explain the environmental benefits and provide stakeholder groups with the necessary support.
WM offers daily training to ensure their vendors’ employees understand the material management system and that everyone on course complies with their zero waste policies.
6) What does the future of this tournament look like? Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way you look at the tournament and how it will be presented in the future?
The WM Phoenix Open has always been a bucket list sporting event. In 2019, WM agreed to a 10-year title sponsorship extension, through the 2030 tournament. We hope that the COVID-related impacts on the 2021 tournament were a one-year anomaly.
WM is always working for a sustainable tomorrow and the WM Phoenix Open is evidence that zero waste and recycling initiatives can and do work. Over the next decade, WM will continue to evolve our sustainability goals while showcasing zero waste environmental solutions and educating fans on how to make a positive difference for our planet.
7) What trends do you see emerging in professional tournament golf with regards to sustainability? Will change be driven completely by corporate sponsor action or will we see tournaments emerge as leaders proactively pursuing zero-waste initiatives on their own?
The WM Phoenix Open doesn’t just prioritize sustainability when it comes to materials management. We have had programs for greenhouse gas management, renewable energy, water conservation and sustainable procurement since the beginning of the tournament. We are seeing tournaments make strides in each of these areas, even if they don’t have a formal sustainability program. Sponsors are key to these efforts, but I see a lot of golf courses and tournament hosts working to prioritize sustainability in operations as well.
8) How soon before we see wide-scale implementation of the type of climate action activation showcased at the WM Phoenix Open at every PGA TOUR event? If funding is the primary barrier to implementing sustainable operational procedures, then how can we overcome this challenge?
Communities are more concerned than ever before about sustainability. This passion for the environment is also increasingly extending to sports teams and events. We can’t speak for any other tournament, but we see a growing commitment to sustainability across golf. This is why WM has a Sports and Entertainment team in our Sustainability Services group. Fans want to feel good about supporting their home teams. Major sponsors want to evolve their brand reputation. Employees want to come to work and help make a difference.
Other tournaments shouldn’t expect to look like this right away - sustainability has been a core value at the WM Phoenix Open for a decade – but climate action often starts as a strong impact measurement effort with initial implementation efforts. We are seeing more tournaments take that on every year. WM became an Official Marketing Partner of the PGA TOUR to help grow sustainability efforts across tournaments. Funding is definitely a factor, but it helps once sporting events get experience with the platform of sustainability. The marketing value is undeniable.
Driving the Green extends a huge thank you to Lee and his team for sharing their insights into their spectacular event. It is this dedication to climate action leadership that gives hope for the future of golf and the industry’s most forward-facing entity, the PGA TOUR.
All photos courtesy of WM.
