European Athletics Green Inspiration Partner and Official Supplier Mondo have announced that all their track products – both indoor and outdoor – have now achieved the prestigious Greenguard Gold certification.
The announcement came earlier this year, and was highlighted recently at the Greenbuild Europe 2019 conference in Amsterdam - the premier annual conference for European green building professionals with attendees coming from across a variety of industries. The majority of Mondo products have held Greenguard Gold certification since 2017, and prior to that Greenguard certification.
Greenguard Gold offers strict certification criteria, notable taking into account safety factors for sensitive individuals such as children and the elderly); and ensuring that a product is acceptable even for use in relatively sensitive environments such as schools and healthcare facilities.
All Mondo track products obtained Greenguard Gold Certification for low emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which can pollute the air and environment in which we live.
European Athletics has a commitment to sustainability, and sustainable athletics events, and is promoting this concept and good practice in sustainability with its event organisers, partners and other stakeholders.
It is an obvious danger but worth restating: air pollution can reduce athletic performance and be detrimental to an athletes’ health and Mondo’s efforts to make their tracks ever more environmentally friendly have contributed to athletics becoming an even healthier sport to participate, at all levels.
This reduction of VOCs is important not only to indoor facilities, but also and especially to outdoor facilities. Heat and sunlight facilitate the off-gassing of products and, during training and competition, athletes typically take in as much as 20 times more air than a person at rest.
Greenguard Gold certification is decided upon by using LEED methodology – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – the most widely used green building rating system in the world, which provides a framework to create healthy, highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings, which includes athletics tracks and sports surfaces.
One of the next tracks installed by Mondo, which will have Greenguard Gold certification, will be the surface at the Paris Charlety Stadium. It will be ready for this year’s IAAF Diamond League Meeting on 24 August and be the track for the Paris 2020 European Athletics Championships.