News
2024

Sustainable Energy: Russia Hosted First Carbon Neutral Cybersports Competition

Energy drink brand VOLT Energy hosted the Volt Green Energy Cup cybersports tournament. The brand's plant in Ivanovo was chosen as the venue for the final match, and the carbon footprint of the event was fully offset by certified greenhouse gas emission reductions.
On June 2, the final of the CS2 5x5 tournament was held at VOLT Energy's production facility in Ivanovo, becoming the first carbon-neutral cyber sports event in the country. The carbon footprint of the tournament consisted of such indicators as logistics and travel costs of participants, energy consumption within the tournament and its technical support, catering, and was fully offset by SIBUR using carbon units. The purpose of the activation is to promote environmental initiatives through popular gamification culture and educate a wide cybersports audience about responsible environmental stewardship.
"The VOLT Energy brand is responsible for the clean energy of victory, and this is what inspired us to organize the first carbon-neutral cybersports tournament organized by a Russian company. As a leader of the ESG agenda, we are confident that holding such events will not only contribute to the development of cybersports in our country, but also familiarize its wide audience with eco-friendly lifestyle. And the unusual venue for the finals - the VOLT Energy warehouse at the company's Ivanovo plant, decorated in the style of futuristic gaming clubs - added to the spectacular and atmospheric character of the tournament," said Maria Dementieva, Marketing Director of AB InBev Efes.
In the decisive round of the Volt Green Energy Cup, Pakalenie4udes and Kabardianwolves, who had passed the all-Russian qualifiers, met. For several hours they fought for the victory, and everyone could watch the fight thanks to the live broadcast. The winner was the Pakalenie4udes team.
"It is great that we could take part in such an unusual tournament in a working factory. We were charged with cool impressions and emotions and of course we are very happy about our victory! Cybersport has a huge audience, we hope that this initiative will inspire many people to be environmentally friendly," commented Artem 'OGtw1xxZzz' Valiakhmetov, captain of the Pakalenie4udes team.
The environmental partner was EcoTechnologies, which calculated the carbon footprint of the final game.
"We assessed the carbon footprint of the tournament, although there are no specialized standards and methodologies for event assessment in the Russian and international legal sphere. We adapted the approach from the assessment of the carbon footprint of products, tracing the entire chain - from the collection of participants to their return to their cities of residence. The bulk of the carbon footprint came from emissions from travel, accommodation, transportation of equipment and food. We also took into account waste generation and the use of disposable materials, although these were kept to a minimum by considering waste and reduction principles at the event organization stage. As a result, we were able to determine the amount of emissions to offset and understand how to reduce the carbon footprint of future AB InBev Efes events," said Olga Stadnik, head of EcoTechLab research center at EcoTechnologies.
Certified greenhouse gas emission reductions to offset the carbon footprint of the event were provided by SIBUR. SIBUR's participation in the project was part of the implementation of a sustainability cooperation agreement with the producer of the VOLT Energy brand, AB InBev Efes, which the partners signed in March 2023.
"Offsetting the carbon footprint of the event was an organic continuation of our partnership. AB InBev Efes has been using SIBUR's Vivilen material, made from recycled plastic, in the packaging of its products for more than a year. We believe that carbon neutrality is a modern and effective way to minimize our impact on the planet, and we welcome the transition of our partnership to a new level," said Tatiana Romanenkova, Senior Manager of Climate Initiatives and Carbon Management at SIBUR.
The event's carbon neutral status was confirmed by an international audit conducted by TÜV AUSTRIA Standards & Compliance, which specializes in environmental and climate protection assessment, certification and verification.

The technical partner of the tournament was the federal network of cybersports clubs TRUE GAMERS, which was responsible for the qualifying competitions, the organization of the gaming space as well as the broadcasting of the finals on its channel on Twitch. Volt Energy, in turn, invited participants of its own Discord server to watch.