Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team conducts week of climate action ahead of Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix Presented by P&O Marinas

• Team taking week of action aligning with COP28 in Dubai 
• Launch event at COP for teams' charity ‘Protect our Future’ in collaboration with Open Planet 
• Hosting Protect Our Future climate education lessons for hundreds of Dubai youth 
• Encouraging other sports teams and industries to adopt renewable energy 

The Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team is in the UAE preparing for the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix Presented by P&O Marinas. It will be the home from home event for Sir Ben Ainslie’s Team, due to its partnership with Emirates. 

The Dubai SailGP on 9-10 December follows the league’s European leg, which saw Emirates GBR win two out of three events. The Team will be hoping for another victory in Dubai, but it also has another mission – to inspire people to take climate action. Emirates GBR has been taking a week of action to align with COP28, the biggest climate change conference in the world, as it also takes place in Dubai at the same time. 

Emirates GBR’s Purpose Partner is the climate education platform, Protect Our Future, which uses the inspiration of athletes and sport to empower young people with the knowledge to take climate action and drive behavioural change. Protect Our Future provides world-class climate education resources for 5 to 18-year-olds that is free to use and available globally. The platform also enables schools and young people to measure and track their own climate impact and progress, enabling schools to become climate hubs.  

At COP28, Emirates GBR Strategist Hannah Mills OBE announced Protect Our Future’s collaboration with Open Planet, an open source of footage of our changing planet. Together they have created a resource titled Use Your Voice, that empowers and equips young people, educators, and schools with the knowledge to take climate action and supports them to use their voice to inspire others with their own climate stories.  

In the lead up to the Dubai SailGP, Emirates GBR welcomed 160 local students to its base for Protect Our Future lessons. The students were taught the Use Your Voice resource. They were also given an exclusive tour of SailGP Team bases to see the sustainability actions each Team is taking. 

One of the actions the youth have seen at the event is Emirates GBR’s renewable energy installation, created with its partner Low Carbon. It consists of 38 solar panels and two wind turbines that travel with the Team to all SailGP events around the world. The system produces enough energy to take Emirates GBR off-grid and also power other teams in the League. Across five SailGP events in Season 4, the installation has produced enough energy to power 1,490 fridge freezers for a day or make 36,683 cups of tea. The bespoke installation is the first of its kind and both Emirates GBR and Low Carbon want to encourage other sports teams and industries to adopt renewable energy. The two entities have produced The Portable Off-Grid Power Blueprint that contains all the information and resources needed to incorporate renewable energy into operations.  

On Wednesday for COP28’s Multilevel Action Day, Sir Ben Ainslie and Hannah Mills OBE hosted an event in collaboration with the GREAT Britain Campaign and British Consul General to Dubai Oliver Christian. The event, at Dubai Offshore Sailing Club, was a panel discussion with Ainslie and Mills on sustainability, the SailGP Impact League and gender equity in sport and business. More than 150 people attended, including youth members who took part in a Protect Our Future lesson at the event. 

The Emirates GBR SailGP Team line-up for Dubai will be Sir Ben Ainslie as Driver and CEO, Hannah Mills OBE as Strategist, Matt Gotrel MBE, Neil Hunter and Nick Hutton as Grinders, Iain Jensen as Wing Trimmer, Luke Parkinson as Flight Controller and Giles Scott and Hannah Diamond as Reserve Sailors. Practice Racing takes place on Friday, with Official Racing on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 GMT. UK viewers can watch all the action live on ITVX.