Sustainability is the name of the game for the new GOAL initiative, which stands for Green Operations & Advanced Leadership. The new venture counts among its leaders the Oak View Group, Atlanta Hawks and their home State Farm Arena, Fenway Sports Group and Jason F. McLennan, and its committed to accelerating the sports and entertainment industry’s climate crisis response, according to a press release announcing its launch.

Kristen Fulmer, the founder of sustainability consultancy Recipric, will serve as the new Sustainability Director with OVG360.

“By focusing our mission on operational sustainability, GOAL has the unique opportunity to redefine the priorities within our industry, which is up against intersecting climate and social crises,” Fulmer said. “We want to work with leading, like-minded venues to determine the most feasible, yet ambitious sustainability solutions. I am committed to prove that any venue can integrate win-win sustainability solutions that reduce the operating costs of the venue while avoiding negative environmental impacts and increasing positive social impacts.”

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OVG’s Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and State Farm Arena will both serve as showpieces and inspirations for the GOAL system, which will allow member venues to track their performance against environmental and social standards developed to optimize energy and water use, greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, and other health and wellbeing metrics. It will be powered by software developed for the purpose by Amazon and will allow for customized roadmaps towards continuous improvement for venues to strive for.

“Sustainability is never a message of ‘we did it,’” Steve Koonin, Chief Executive Officer of the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena, said. “Environmental and social sustainability is a lifelong commitment, and we’re just getting started. With our new partners at Fenway Sports Group and Oak View Group, we can now share our journey with other like-minded venues just beginning their journeys. We can all certainly make progress as individual venues, but we are stronger as an industry if we work together to do better for a sustainable future.”

Jason F. McLennan, Founder of McLennan Design and Chief Sustainability Officer for Perkins & Will, will sit on GOAL’s board of directors as an equity-holder and guide the creation of content and standards. McLennan is widely considered one of the world’s most influential individuals in architecture and the green building movement today. He is also the creator of the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and progressive green building program in existence, as well as a primary author of the WELL Building Standard.

“Oak View Group, Fenway Sports Group, and the Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena represent the few in the industry to practice what they preach as far as sustainable solutions,” McLennan said. “There is a foundational lack of curated information, guidance, roadmaps and tools for the industry – specifically venue operators – to manage major civic venues in environmentally and socially sustainable ways. GOAL is going to fill that void in a practical yet aspirational way.”