The International Canoe Federation (ICF) is the global authority for canoe and kayak paddling sports. Worldwide it oversees over 170 national federations across 10 disciplines, championing those with a passion for paddling, from beginners to Olympians.

Founded in 1924, the ICF has a longstanding commitment to growing paddling sports sustainably. The not-for-profit’s goal is to ensure its work is conducted in harmony with the environment, local communities, athletes and partners.

By leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s AI powered Energy Expert, the ICF is setting the standard for sustainability in sport, carving the way for a brighter, greener future for the sports, athletes and fans world-wide.

Representing millions of paddling enthusiasts across the globe, the key challenge for the ICF is uniting these diverse stakeholders behind its mission. Rallying national federations, partners, organizers, local communities, and fans is integral to achieving a sustainable future for the organization. To do this, the ICF’s ESG initiatives must be accessible and easily actionable, with clear benefits to those participating.

Data is integral to this. To offer a way for its stakeholders to make real change in the sport, it is key to demonstrate where change is most needed. Only when it is clear what can be done will the ICF be able to unify its stakeholders behind what must be done.

The ICF wanted a partner who could help them demonstrate the opportunities for sustainable growth, and offer ways for the paddling community to take action. This robust solution needed to be globally scalable, offering the opportunity to analyze and action any event, activity or partner across the world at the most granular level.

Finding a partner who could provide the depth of data, expert insights and the breath to scale across a range of stakeholders and regions was integral.

Alibaba Cloud’s Energy Expert solution was the answer. With a range of AI-supported tools to quantify, analyze and action carbon emissions, the solution ensures the ICF can deliver a sustainable future for paddle sports, uniting its stakeholders under its ESG goals.

Energy Expert’s ability to adapt to any event allows it to promote sustainable behavior consistently across the ICF’s calendar of activity. By using these innovative tools, event organizers, audiences, and participants can all take part in the global effort to combat climate change and create a more sustainable future.

At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Alibaba Cloud’s Energy Expert will be used to track carbon emissions generated by the event, including venue construction, fan activity and more. Energy Expert will analyze emission factor libraries and output data to form an “event carbon baseline”: an actionable measurement that demonstrates key factors that impact carbon footprint.

By isolating and analyzing the carbon footprint of all ICF related events at the Olympics, this baseline will be used as the foundation of change. To support this, Alibaba Cloud’s domain experts will offer strategies and toolkits to optimize event management, engage stakeholders and improve the sustainability of future events.

To grow fan engagement, Alibaba Cloud and ICF will also create a new app to ignite fans, athletes and media to support sustainability in an interactive way. Using Alibaba Cloud’s EMAS SuperAPP architecture, the app will encourage users to complete green actions like recycling, while offering an insight to organizers on how fans are impacting event carbon footprints.

Finally, leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s Supply Chain Green Certification will see partners and products verified for energy consumption, ultimately achieving a more quantifiable, traceable, and optimized supply chain and life cycle for the organization.

The strategic partnership with Alibaba Cloud allows the ICF to take its sustainability programme beyond isolated positive steps and into the realm of data driven provable actions that can be replicated at scale to competitions worldwide. Energy Expert’s platform is the perfect tool to engage more stakeholders and create tangible outcomes around sustainability.

Energy Expert solves one of the biggest hurdles in reaching sustainability goals - knowing exactly what actions can make the biggest impact. The use of Energy Expert at events worldwide ensures that the ICF can continue delivering sporting events, with local federations and partners, that are good for the environment and fit for future generations to enjoy.

Paris 2024 will set the standard for sustainability within paddling sporting events going forward. But this is just the beginning. The partnership aims to lay the foundation for introducing initiatives to the International Olympic Committee, and pilot projects at upcoming ICF events including the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan, Poland, and the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup in Augsburg, Germany.

By leveraging Alibaba Cloud's Energy Expert solution, the collaboration seeks to propel partners and paddlers towards a more sustainable future, one sustainable stroke at a time.