Climate change and its effects continue to intensify despite decades of international agreements and corporate sustainability pledges. One barrier to progress is the difficulty of understanding where emissions actually occur within complex and interconnected systems such as transportation networks, infrastructure operations, and global supply chains. At the same time, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence in system analysis has introduced a paradox: while it contributes to rising energy demand and environmental impact, it also offers opportunities to analyze and manage these same systems. This essay proposes that private-sector businesses could develop an AI-powered carbon intelligence platform for the global sports industry, capable of tracking, predicting, and reducing emissions in real time. By using data from transportation networks, energy systems, stadium operations, and event supply chains, this platform would allow leagues, teams, and event organizers to transition from basic reporting to actively managing their environmental impact as it occurs. The sports industry presents an especially ideal environment for this innovation due to its global reach, cultural influence, and diverse scale. Sporting events frequently bring together millions of participants, creating conditions where new technologies can be deployed, tested, and refined on diverse audiences. By transforming emissions measurement within sport into a real-time and transparent system, these platforms could reposition the sports industry as a leader in climate innovation and an example to be modeled in other industries.
Duncan Hall (Wed,) studied this question.