Is the ATP Carbon Tracker a genuine attempt by tennis to be transparent?

F or most of the tennis players competing this week at the Queen’s Club, the grass season will mark a welcome change to the regular tempo of the ATP tour. With Wimbledon to follow, there will be no rushing to a new city next week in search of points and prize money.

As part of their attempt to address the considerable carbon footprint of its players, on Tuesday the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the governing body of men’s tennis, announced the release of an app, the ATP Carbon Tracker.

The app allows players to track their yearly trips, the distance travelled, and to calculate the amount of carbon their journeys emit. Players will be offered a chance to offset each journey.

“For us, the number one goal is obviously offsetting in the short term but more importantly, in the longer term, a better awareness from the players of the choices they make and the related impact,” said Massimo Calvelli, the ATP’s chief executive officer, in an interview.

Players such as Dominic Thiem, Cameron Norrie, Andrey Rublev and Emil Ruusuvuori have agreed to participate. Thiem believes that climate awareness is rising in the locker room. “I have the feeling that some years ago it was almost no topic. But then it came up,” Thiem has said.

According to the ATP, 90% of the organisation’s carbon footprint comes from travelling. Tennis’s overall carbon footprint, however, is made up of numerous factors including energy, food and waste, particularly at tournaments.

Questions remain about how the sport is tackling and mitigating its carbon consumption. In 2021 the ATP became a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, pledging to follow its targets of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and Net Zero by