The America’s Cup, a byword for lavish expenditure and win-at-all-costs mentality, is developing a green conscience. Team Origin, already planning to win the trophy for Britain, have committed themselves to winning green, which does not mean simply using the wind wisely on the water, but consciously trying to balance the demands of being the best and saving the planet.

Other teams might have been working away on their carbon footprint, recycling plastic beer glasses and collecting rainwater, but Team Origin are the first to state their intentions, the first to introduce another element into the complex process of winning. In practice, this has meant a change in thinking for some high-profile and, by nature, obsessive individuals within the team and in the overall culture of a hugely competitive squad.

“Traditionally, the America’s Cup has always been about glamour and about winning, and it still is,” says Ben Ainslie, triple Olympic champion and skipper of Team Origin. “But we’ve got to cut out the excess and use the technology we have available to develop a clean way of winning.”

As his rivals have discovered and his three gold medals prove, Ainslie has a deserved reputation for finding any way to win. At times, he has pushed the rule book to the final page to find an advantage on the water and there will be no dilution of that competitive spirit in the name of saving the planet. But, as the skipper of the new green team, Ainslie is also acutely aware of his responsibilities and, typically, is already taking them seriously.

“We’ve said what we’re going to do and now we’re going to have to live up to it,” he says. “The issue has been on my mind a lot more in recent weeks because I’ve got to set an example. I’m no carbon saint, but I’ve been switching off lights, turning the computer off, all the little things. It is on your conscience and the more you do it, the more interesting the whole concept becomes.”

Team Origin recently announced an innovative partnership with the Carbon Trust, the government-backed agency set up to usher business towards a low-carbon future. Carbon auditing has become standard practice for big companies and a Trust Standard has been created to ensure businesses can back up their rhetoric with hard facts. Now, the same questions are being asked of sport. “Performance and environmental impact can go hand in hand,” says Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust. “You can have a winning team, be it Team Origin or Manchester United, which is also sensitive to the environment. We are the carbon conscience of Team Origin and their challenge for the America’s Cup. Team Origin have to win, but we’ve got to make them win in the most environmentally friendly way.”

The Team Origin squad will be asked to apply the practices of any consciously green household to their working lives. They will be at the cutting edge of the inevitable compromise between greening and winning. At the next America’s Cup, scheduled for 2011 pending the outcome of the match between the defender Alinghi and challenger BMW-Oracle in February, no prizes will be on offer for the team with the smallest carbon footprint. “The No 1 focus is to win and the Carbon Trust understands that,” adds Ainslie. “We’re never going to do anything to affect our performance, but the way we design and build the boat, travel and use energy and the way we act as individuals can make a huge difference.”

Team Origin are aware of their ability, through their Race for Change banner, to communicate the broader message. “We’re not going to compromise on winning the cup,” says Mike Sanderson, the team manager. “But we can promote awareness of the issues and can be conscious of the environment in our decision-making. Say we’re looking at buying some outboard motors for the team. Well, the first thing is performance, the next is price, but, if those are pretty even, why not make the impact to the planet our third criterion?” Team Origin’s sponsors will also be vetted for their environmental policy. The team’s financier and leader, Sir Keith Mills, regards Team Origin and sport in general as the ideal billboard for spreading the importance of climate change to a wider audience.

“One of the biggest issues is changing consumer behaviour,” he says. “Sport has a unique ability to do that. Look at cricket in India or the Premier League in China, those sports and what they do can have a huge impact on the population.When changes impinge on performance, then we don’t do that, but we can tackle many things that don’t require compromise and I believe we can persuade other America’s Cup teams to do the same.”

Delay also regards sport as fertile ground for encouraging the nation towards a low-carbon economy. “Sporting teams like Manchester United are a big brand and would view their carbon footprint like any consumer-led brand,” he says. “Reducing your carbon footprint saves money and is good for the reputation of the club. Managing energy needs in a stadium, for example, having an energy management system so that lights are turned off when everyone’s gone home, recycling rainwater to water the pitch, insulating offices — these are bread and butter things every club can do. Then, having done it, start telling people how well you’ve done, don’t hide it.”

Team Origin have been a miracle of sustainability already. Since their launch in January 2007, they have been a team with nobody to race against as the future of the America’s Cup was mired in a legal dispute between Alinghi and BMW-Oracle. Mills has had to finance the core of the team largely himself. But a glimmer of hope is emerging. Alinghi and Oracle will race head-to-head for the cup in Ras-al-Khaimah, just north of Dubai, in February, opening the way to a multi-challenger cup in either 2011 or 2013.

In the meantime, the British team will compete in the Louis Vuitton Cup in Nice next month, with teams sharing standard America’s Cup boats in a similar format to the Pacific Cup in Auckland earlier this year. Winning the America’s Cup for Britain for the first time will be only half the job. Winning the climate change race might take Ainslie and his team a little longer.

DO YOUR BIT TO SAVE PLANET EARTH

FIVE GREEN TIPS FOR LOCAL SPORTS CLUBS
1 Collect rainwater for watering pitches
2 Recruit local players and encourage them to cycle, walk or share lifts to matches
3 Insulate clubhouse efficiently
4 Convert to low-energy light bulbs
5 Recycle, recycle, recycle

FIVE GREEN TIPS FOR FANS
1 Support your local team
2 Cycle, walk or take public transport to matches
3 If you have to drive, make sure you have a full car
4 Recycle plastic mugs inside the stadium
5 Look to save energy (and costs) in your own home

THE ECO-CONFLICT
Floodlights for a night match in the Premier League typically produce almost half a tonne of carbon emissions. Technology is available to cut the figure, but TV companies want sharper light for high-definition programming. Clubs could cut lighting during the warm-ups and immediately after a match

Source: Populous