More spectators than ever before used public transport to reach Edgbaston for the England Men’s Vitality IT20 against New Zealand as fans showed their support for the Go Green Game.
Sunday’s sell-out was the stadium’s first sustainable international match day – and the first of its kind in the country – as Edgbaston aimed to drive down emissions across all scopes of the ground’s footprint.
With almost 80 per cent of major match day carbon emissions linked to spectator travel, the ground worked with National Express West Midlands to offer free bus travel for ticket holders.
More than 3,600 fans arrived on a free shuttle bus service from New Street station – with around 2,400 on the return leg – while almost 1,000 fans travelled for free on other National Express West Midlands services.
Edgbaston’s Sustainability Manager Lydia Carrington, said: “Almost 1,000 more fans used the shuttle bus than did on our busiest day at the Ashes this summer. That’s great to see and shows spectators were on board with our sustainability message.
“Many more arrived into Birmingham by train and used the walking route to the ground where we displayed extra signage and had volunteers on hand to help.
“We’re really pleased by how the day went and we’ll now analyse all emissions data from the game, see how much we saved compared to our baseline major match in 2022, and look how we can do even better next year.”
Edgbaston was powered exclusively by wind, hydro and solar energy for the game, grounds staff used electric mowers and rollers, food packaging was made from compostable seaweed, while 5,000 4 and 6 cards handed out were printed on seed paper that fans were encouraged to take home and plant to grow wildflowers.
No red meat was served in the stadium, while spectators also played their part by signing up for stints on the pitch-side energy bikes which, when pedalled, charged up Edgbaston’s electric road sweeper.
Tim Bullock, Head of Strategic Partnerships at National Express, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be partnered with Edgbaston Stadium and their Go Green Game was a fantastic opportunity to increase people’s consideration of public modes of transport.
“It was great to see so many fans using our services to reach the stadium on the day and we hope more people are feeling encouraged to switch to our sustainable modes of transport to get around.”
The Go Green Game is another step towards Edgbaston’s commitment to become a carbon Net Zero business by 2030 which is part of its Edgbaston 4 Sustainability pledge.
Additional tickets released for West Indies Test
A small number of tickets have been released for the first three days of our Men’s Test against West Indies this summer (26-30 July).
Over 80,000 tickets have been sold across the five days and remaining tickets are expected to go quickly.
Hospitality and Premium Tickets are still available for all days.
