NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was presented with the '14 Green Sports Alliance Environmental Leadership Award last night in Santa Clara, Calif. Bettman was cited for his work in establishing
NHL Green in '10 and promoting sustainable business practices across the league. Bettman accepted the honor via video and said, "We are at the beginning stages of a long journey, but we remain committed to environmental efficiency." Previous recipients have been MLB Commissioner Bud Selig ('12) and Christina Weiss Lurie ('13), the former wife of Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie. The award comes one day after the
release of the NHL Sustainability Report. The study offers data and details the energy and environmental issues affecting hockey. Bettman in the report, which took years to produce and aggregate data, said, “Major environmental challenges, such as climate change and freshwater scarcity, affect opportunities for hockey players of all ages to learn and play the game outdoors.” NRDC Senior Scientist Allen Hershkowitz, who consulted on the report, said, “No other sports league has ever produced a sustainability report." He hopes the report will serve as a "wake-up call" to the industry. Hershkowitz: "It will move through the supply chain of hockey and it’s global marketplace. The biggest industries -- food, auto, paper, telecom, plastics, and others -- all of these industries are vendors and sponsors of the
NHL. Hopefully, they will see this as an issue, and will try to address it in their businesses as well. The
NHL is showing the business case that will lead the way" (
THE DAILY).
