The winners of the inaugural European Tour Group Sustainability Awards for the Middle East have been announced at a ceremony that took place in Dubai ahead of the DP World Tour Championship.
The awards were created to honour the Tour’s suppliers who have shown leadership and innovation in helping to deliver more sustainable golf tournaments in the Middle East. They were open to all suppliers who had worked at DP World Tour, Challenge Tour or Legends Tour events in the region in the 2023–2024 seasons.
The judging panel comprised a mix of experts from golf tournament operations and sustainability in golf, including independent experts from the GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf.
Across five categories, the winners were as follows:
Catering Award
- Winner: Liquid of Life
- Liquid of Life won for their work in rolling out beverage dispenser solutions at tournaments that blend ease of function with an eco-conscious footprint. The technology has played a key role in avoiding the use of single use plastic water bottles at events.
Event Staging Award
- Winner: Wicked
- Highly Commended: Arena Group
- The judges were impressed with the innovation shown by Wicked in the creation of the Earth Lounge at the DP World Tour Championship. Located on the 16th hole, this hospitality structure is made of palm board, incorporates nature within the structure with rental plants, and used reusable materials internally. The lounge was powered entirely by solar and hydrogen, reducing emissions by 100%, and is redefining what a premium event space can do.
Event Operations Award
- Winner: Aggreko
- Aggreko’s commitment to finding innovative and more environmentally friendly solutions to traditional temporary power supply units, such as embracing biofuels instead of diesel, and creating additional opportunities to make an impact was a standout entry with impressive emissions reduction data.
Venues Award
- Winner: Emirates Golf Club
- In an extremely close category, Emirates Golf Club’s additional support of nature initiatives including habitat and species restoration, above and beyond ongoing operational excellence, set them apart.
- Effective Waste Management: The club has successfully diverted significant amounts of waste from landfills through robust recycling and waste reduction programmes.
- Renewable Energy Solutions: Working with key partners, the club developed a groundbreaking hybrid solar and hydrogen-powered energy system to support event facilities sustainably.
- Water Conservation Efforts: By investing in advanced irrigation systems and relying on treated sewage effluent water, the club has made remarkable strides in reducing water consumption, aligning with Dubai’s Clean Energy Strategy 2050.
Innovations and Activations Award
- Joint Winner: Averda and Flow
- After much deliberation, the judging panel found the submissions from Averda and Flow too close to call, so both organisations have collected the Award.
- Averda won for its innovative waste management solutions, including utilising food composters at venues to minimise food waste, with ORCA food digester technology employed that utilises microbial bacteria to convert food waste into a nutrient-rich liquid. A total of 35tons of waste has been diverted from landfill thanks to their solutions.
- Flow won for their ambitious vision for powering the Earth Lounge, creating a self-sustaining, hybrid solar and hydrogen renewable energy solution that has set a new standard for sustainable event power.
Speaking about the Awards, Maria Grandinetti-Milton, Director of Sustainability at the European Tour Group, said: “Across our various Tours we play host to over 100 tournaments a year in over 30 countries. As part of our Green Drive programme, we are aiming to be the most sustainable professional golf circuit in the world, committing to halving our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero carbon by 2040. That is no mean feat when you are a truly global operation.
“Getting there will be a full team effort and with over 2,500 suppliers, it’s vital that this stakeholder group is bought into our mission. We were overwhelmed with the number of excellent entries into the inaugural Awards and the judging panel had a tough task picking the winners.
“A big congratulations to those who took home an award – they showed true sustainability excellence. We are excited about taking the awards to other territories next year and look forward to seeing the impact of sharing and celebrating these best-in-class solutions.”