KLM Open tops Sustainable Golf Index

The KLM Open, staged at Hilversumsche Golf Club in Holland, has been named the most sustainable golf event on tour for the second successive year.

Corporate social responsibility consultancy Between-us has announced the 2012 Top 10 Sustainable Golf Index, which measures the perceived sustainability of professional golf tournaments.

The European Tour's KLM Open - won this year by Peter Hanson - finished narrowly ahead of the Belas Club de Campo Senior Open. The Sustainable Golf Index allows tournaments and their sponsors - many of whom are facing increasing demands on reputation and sustainability - to benchmark their progress.

Tournaments were scored in three areas: People, Planets and Virtues, with each domain comprising seven indicators.

The KLM Open achieved a score of 82.9% - up exactly 20% from last year - thanks, in part, to efficient waste management, 'walking bins' and biological catering.

Jan van deer Kaaij, Managing Director of Between-us, said: "Temporary sports events often focus on organisational and economic execution, forgoing sustainability issues.

"The aim of the Sustainable Golf Index is to raise awareness of this issue amongst golf events and to help them develop a more sustainable approach."

The Sustainable Golf Index study examined 82 tournaments from the European Tour, Senior Tour, Ladies Tour and Challenge Tour.

This year's average total sustainability score was 24.8%, an increase of 1.3% from last year.

The results also showed that 18.3% of all events recycle their waste, 31.7% of events donate money or resources to charity and 3.7% of all events measure carbon emissions.

To see the full Sustainable Golf Index report, visit www.sustainablegolfproject.com.