2014 NHL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT

LETTER FROM COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN

The NHL represents the highest level of hockey in the world. But before many of our players ever took their first stride on NHL ice, they honed their skills on the frozen lakes and ponds of North America and Europe. Our sport can trace its roots to frozen freshwater ponds, to cold climates. Major environmental challenges, such as climate change and freshwater scarcity, affect opportunities for hockey players of all ages to learn and play the game outdoors.

The purpose of the 2014 NHL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT is to address our recent efforts and the challenges we face from an environmental perspective.

For a number of years now, the League and our Clubs have been working together toward the common goal of greater sustainability.

Continue…

ABOUT THIS REPORT

Learn why we developed this Report, and understand our methodology and assurance process; with an introduction from the NRDC and our Independent Assurance Provider.

ABOUT NHL GREEN

NHL Green is the comprehensive environmental platform of the League. Learn about our greener partners, corporate partners and our vision and goals.

OUR PLAYERS

Many NHL players learn to play the sport on frozen ponds. Presented are the profiles of four such NHL stars that are lauded for their social consciousness.

ABOUT THE NHL

The NHL was founded nearly a century ago and now represents the highest level of hockey in the world. Read more about our fans, Clubs, venues and conferences.

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The League’s carbon footprint is based on many factors such as energy, water, waste, refrigerants, and transportation. See case studies of how the League and Clubs reduce carbon emissions.

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Advancement and adoption of new technologies and operations will enhance sustainability across pro sports. Read about these future technologies and new arenas.

LETTER FROM COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN

The purpose of the 2014 NHL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT is to address our recent efforts and the challenges we face from an environmental perspective.

For a number of years now, the League and our Clubs have been working together toward the common goal of greater sustainability. In 2010 we recognized that nearly all 30 of our Member Clubs and a significant number of our 700 players were already active in the pursuit of more sustainable business practices and environmentally-conscious lifestyles. NHL Green was our response to those efforts. The League then began to coordinate and focus all environmental efforts under the NHL shield, under one umbrella for the first time.

We believe that this effort is not only the right thing to do for the environment, but is also a core strategy for the long-term success of our League. We have a vested interest in this cause. As a business, we rely on freshwater to make our ice, on energy to fuel our operations and on healthy communities for our athletes, employees and fans to live, work and play. Moreover, to continue to stage world class outdoor hockey events like the NHL Winter Classic, NHL Heritage Classic or NHL Stadium Series, we need winter weather.

At the NHL, we recognize that we have great responsibility for the way we conduct our business. As our revenues, TV viewership and attendance continue to rise, we are acutely aware of our influence on culture and society, especially with today's youth. We have the power to promote, develop and support positive change.

As a League, we are uniquely positioned to promote the environmental message. One of our great assets is our visibility. Millions visit NHL.com, NHL Network, and the many other high profile digital and social platforms each year throughout the League. In conjunction with our players and Clubs, who have enormous and passionate followings of their own, we can impress upon millions of fans just how important these environmental issues are.

NHL Green is not just about convincing people to join the effort. It is about amplifying and coordinating the considerable work that is already being done by our Clubs and by our Players and ensuring that this work continues to move forward. All of our people and partners — from the ice crews to the concessionaires — help us define and achieve our environmental-sustainability goals. These people do more than just implement our strategies. They share in the responsibility to develop new ideas and initiatives that drive sustainability. We lean on them to be forward thinking, to push the envelope, to help us lessen our environmental impact League-wide.

Today, we join many of our business partners who have for years been documenting their emissions and making progress toward their own sustainability goals. Though we have much to learn, and even more to achieve, we now set our League on a track toward enhanced environmental performance.

When you review this report, the 2014 NHL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT, we hope to continue on our journey to improve the impact of our sport on the environment.

GARY B. BETTMAN

WITHIN THE PAST FEW DECADES, THE NHL HAS EXPERIENCED REMARKABLE GROWTH. The strong numbers are a testament to a great product on the ice and an expanding fan base that loves our game.

ABOUT THIS REPORT

Perhaps more than any other sport, hockey is impacted by environmental issues, particularly climate change and freshwater scarcity. The ability to skate and play hockey outdoors is a critical component of the League's history and culture. Many of the NHL's players, both past and present, learned to skate outside on frozen lakes, ponds and backyard rinks. The game of hockey is adversely affected if this opportunity becomes unavailable to future generations.

With this 2014 NHL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT, the first of its kind for the League, we address head-on the connection between hockey and the environment, and the impact we have on our planet. It is in our best interest to confront this challenge, to be transparent with our impacts and to discuss and explore with all of our stakeholders a strategy for long-term environmental sustainability.

The League's NHL Green initiative started in earnest in 2010 with the assistance of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, the NRDC's leading champion for sustainability in sports. Working together with our 30 Member Clubs (referred to herein as “Member Clubs or “Clubs”), some of which already had robust environmental initiatives prior to 2010, we embarked on a journey toward greater sustainability.

In this report, we put forth our first carbon inventory, which details the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the many facets of our operations, including energy and water use, waste and travel. We acknowledge that NHL hockey games are energy intensive. We also acknowledge that the geographic locations of our Clubs require a substantial amount of travel over the course of a season. Like the other professional sports, these business operations affect the air we breathe and our supplies of clean, fresh water. We are determined to address these environmental challenges without sacrificing the integrity of our game.

While we have made some progress to date, we concede there is still much to do. Our plan for the years ahead, given our unique constrains, is to capture additional data and information related to the impacts of our business and to create meaningful goals to reduce those impacts. It is our objective to raise the level of environmental consciousness among our fans and arena operators, and encourage improvements within our Clubs' buildings, our operations, employees, partners, vendors, fans and communities.

We are committed to lessening our environmental impact and to helping catalyze a larger movement toward a healthier planet — one where succeeding generations can continue to enjoy the game of hockey.

OUR FOCUS is to track and measure the impact of our business, reducing resource use where feasible, offsetting our footprint where possible and always striving to support and inspire our Clubs, communities, partners, fans and employees to make a positive impact on the environment.

“The routine of my daily life as a kid was pretty simple. One way or another, it always seemed to lead me in the direction of a body of water, regardless of the time of year. The only question was whether the water would be frozen solid for hockey or open and flowing for fish.”

BOBBY ORR

GLOBAL REPORTING INITIATIVE (GRI)

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a network-based organization that has produced a comprehensive environmental sustainability reporting framework widely used around the world. For this first sustainability report, the NHL has set

out to report its data and claims against key performance indicators that measure environmental and, to an extent, economic and social performance based on the GRI. We have done so within the limits and bounds described below.

BOUNDARIES AND LIMITATIONS

The 2014 NHL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT relies on the operations data of buildings that the League does not own or manage. For the avoidance of doubt, all references throughout this report to "NHL arenas," "our arenas/buildings," "League facilities," "NHL venues" or similar terms does not mean or imply any ownership, management or operation of such arenas by the League. The League's three offices are leased space within multi-tenant office buildings. Likewise, a number of NHL Member Clubs are tenants within their arenas, which may be owned by another private enterprise or a government authority. Therefore, to assemble this report, the League depended on Clubs, arenas and property owners, as well as their service providers, to voluntarily and manually submit essential facility operations data. The quality and granularity of this data is determined by the utility and waste-management providers that service our buildings and arenas.

In some instances, due to unique circumstances at our arenas, we were not able to obtain 100% of all utility and waste data. These limitations are noted throughout the

report. Of the operations data obtained, we defined an equity-share approach to establish boundaries of responsibility for each of our Clubs, since our arenas also are used for purposes other than NHL hockey. In regard to transportation, this report captures air travel of League employees and our Clubs, based on actual and assumed mileage and charter hours. We have not included ground transportation of staff or players, and have not yet tracked transportation impacts of our fans.

This report does not attempt to capture relevant data that would affect the League's total environmental impact, such as Renewable Energy Credits and carbon-offset purchases of Clubs and arenas, arena refrigerant usage and leakage, Club practice rinks, staff and player hotel accommodations, and other, less direct, impacts such as those from our supply chain.

Specific boundaries and limitations pertaining to our carbon emissions are discussed in depth in the Our Environmental Impact section of this report.

ASSURANCE

The NHL commissioned Michael P. Totten of ASSETS for Life to provide external assurance on this 2014 NHL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT. Mr. Totten conducted the verification process in accordance with standards and criteria derived from the reporting guidelines of the GRI. He reviewed the NHL's data and claims, including explanatory notes related to disclosed performance information, against GRI reporting criteria. The assurance process focused on the data-collection process, data management, data transfer and the reliability of claims. As with any assurance opinion, Mr. Totten credited a portion of the data collected from all NHL arenas and information from third parties, such as nongovernmental organizations, was not audited at its source by Mr. Totten.

Mr. Totten was not involved in the development of the report, nor was he associated with the NHL's sustainability programs, development of data gathering systems, or data collection. The Assurance Statement produced by ASSETS for Life offers readers an independent opinion regarding the reliability of the information on which this report is based. As indicated in this statement, Mr. Totten confirms that the report's production team possessed the required competencies and adhered to the principles of auditing regarding ethical conduct, professional integrity and independence.

LETTER FROM DR. ALLEN HERSHKOWITZ, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL

You are about to read the single most important document about the environment ever produced by a professional sports organization.

The 2014 NHL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT is the first ever such report produced by a professional sports league, and it illuminates an extraordinary level of commitment to responsible environmental stewardship by one of the most beloved and prominent sports leagues in the world.

Great credit is due to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and his staff: An organization is always a reflection of its leadership, and Commissioner Bettman is without a doubt one of the great environmental champions in the world of sports. No league has ever produced a sustainability report that is so thoughtfully crafted, honest about its limits and emphatic about the urgent need to protect our planet. And no league has ever been so frank about the risks to its very existence posed by climate change.

This document is an important reminder to all sports fans, leagues, teams and businesses that while natural hockey ice might be the “canary in the coal mine” when it comes to the effects of climate change on sports, the effects of climate disruption are a challenge to all leagues and businesses, and we must take meaningful action to reverse course.

Focusing as it does on the monitoring of specific technologies and operations at NHL arenas, this report underscores the fact that there is no action too small to undertake when it comes to addressing our ecological problems. After all, there is no single law or single business undertaking that by itself can remedy the problems posed by climate disruption, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, ocean acidification and so many other ecological pressures. We have no choice but to implement many small steps that will collectively add up to meaningful ecological progress.

Bearing this in mind, it is worth pointing out that relative to large industrial sources and power plants, the NHL's carbon footprint is relatively small. During the 2012-13 season the League and its Clubs were collectively responsible for approximately 327,031 tons of CO2E emissions (scope 1 and 2 emissions including available, though limited, refrigerant data), and 385,912 tons of CO2E emissions (when including Scope 3 League and Club air travel, arena waste and recycling). By way of comparison, our global economy emits 90 million tons of carbon each day, and the annual CO2E emissions from our nation's single largest coal power plant by itself totals 23 million tons per year. New York State alone has 90 power plants that collectively emit a total of 35 million tons of CO2E annually. Relative to those sources, the NHL's footprint is small, and it is a tribute to the League's commitment to documenting its carbon impacts that it still felt responsible to publicly report its emissions - and it is also identifying ways to reduce them.

This is not only a report about impacts. It is also an aspirational document, REPORTING ON THE MEANINGFUL ECOLOGICAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS ACHIEVED THROUGHOUT THE LEAGUE during the past few years. It conveys the NHL's great commitment to environmental leadership not only in the world of sports but also in the world more broadly.

The production of this report was years in the making, depending as it does on two years of data about energy use, waste management, and procurement at 30 NHL arenas throughout North America. The reporting protocols used by the NHL for greenhouse gas emissions and other impacts have the highest integrity, following as they do the guidelines established by the Global Reporting Initiative and the World Resources Institute, arguably the most intelligently crafted and transparent greenhouse gas reporting guidelines ever developed.

Says the NHL in the Building for the Future section of this report: “Through the advancement and adoption of new technologies, the refinement of operations and procedures, and an ever-increasing level of environmental awareness, the League will continue on the journey toward greater environmental sustainability.”

If only all businesses approached their operations this smartly. Perhaps the companies that make up the global supply chain of the NHL — from paper products providers, to food, water and chemical distributors — will follow this great League's excellent environmental example.

To verify the accuracy of the data generated by NHL arenas the League hired Michael Totten, one the world's most informed and highly regarded energy experts. And out of its concern for accuracy and transparency, the League invited NRDC to help oversee the data gathering process and analysis, beginning three years ago with the development of the League's measurement protocol. Together, we can verify the integrity of the information contained in this Report.

The single most important thing the NHL can do to address the urgent ecological challenges we face is to help change cultural expectations and attitudes about how we relate to the planet. The NHL, with one of the largest and most passionate fan bases in all of professional sports, is a powerful social unifier, and the League is using its extraordinarily influential position to bring businesses and people together to confront our ecological problems. There are 68 million NHL fans in North America, and the League's total social media audience, not including individual Club sites, exceeds 10 million followers. As this environmental report confirms, the NHL is using that market influence and cultural visibility to positively encourage millions of hockey fans, and the global businesses that support hockey, to embrace responsible environmental stewardship. Bravo to the NHL and all the good people at the League for supporting this critical work.

I am proud that NRDC, more than any other organization, has helped the NHL cultivate its leading role in the green sports movement. We joined together with the League in 2008, focused on protecting the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment, and our work continues. Of all the meaningful initiatives we have advanced to protect the planet, this first-of-its-kind environmental report is among the League's most important and potentially influential efforts to date. If all sports leagues, teams and sports related businesses monitored their emissions as carefully as the National Hockey League, the world would change greatly for the better. I am sure you will find this report informative and inspiring. I encourage all leagues, teams and businesses to follow the example the NHL sets.

ASSURANCE STATEMENT, MICHAEL P. TOTTEN, ASSETS FOR LIFE

STATEMENT OF VERIFICATION

JUNE 2, 2014

INTRODUCTION

The National Hockey League engaged ASSETS for Life for the purpose of issuing a limited assurance report for the League's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, which was prepared under the auspices of NHL management.

PROCEDURES OF LIMITED ASSURANCE

ASSETS for Life performed the limited assurance procedures reflected in this document in accordance with The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, 2004 revised edition, produced by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

The procedures of limited assurance comprised: (1) a review of the planning that produced the inventory's scope of work, considering the importance, coherence, amount and reliability of quantitative and qualitative information, and a review of operational and internal management systems at all NHL arenas and NHL headquarters that served as the basis for the preparation of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory report for 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons; (2) development of an understanding of the guidelines, premises, exclusions, boundaries and methodologies used to calculate and consolidate quantitative data, and the use of interviews with personnel responsible for the preparation of information; (3) verification of the calculation data entries of GHG emissions (resulting from energy, water and refrigerant use, and waste disposal); and (4) the verification, on a sample basis (site visits were conducted at 10 arenas), of the consumption data used to calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

REPORTING CRITERIA

The NHL prepared its GHG-inventory report based on the WRI GHG Protocol, 2004 revised edition.

The NHL report considered the boundary emissions from scope 1 (direct GHG emissions) and scope 2 (indirect GHG emissions) sources, according to the GHG Protocol. The League performed a limited review of scope 3 (other indirect GHG emissions) sources, focused on those emissions associated with League and Clubs business travel and with waste disposal at arenas and NHL offices.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

The objective of our work was to apply limited assurance procedures on the qualitative and quantitative information of the greenhouse gas emissions contained in the NHL's GHG-inventory report, comprising those from NHL offices and all arena operations related to NHL games. It also includes preliminary evaluation of arena practices related to greenhouse gas emissions. We have not provided any assurance on the achievability of future targets, expectations or ambitions, nor on qualitative information that is subject to subjective evaluation.

CONCLUSION

Based on our review, the GHG assertions contained in the report are presented fairly and in accordance with the relevant reporting criteria. The emissions estimates were calculated in a consistent and transparent manner and were found to be a fair and accurate representation of the NHL's actual emissions, limited by the scope 1, 2 and 3 boundary definitions referenced on the previous page, and were free from material misstatement. ASSETS for Life identified several minor, immaterial discrepancies in the NHL's greenhouse gas inventory, which the NHL corrected during the course of the verification. For NHL games at all NHL arenas and NHL offices, ASSETS for Life verified the following totals:

2011-12 season: 433,848 metric tons (t) of CO2 equivalent (CO2E) emissions (scopes 1 and 2) and 528,322 t of CO2E emissions when including scope 3 emissions (from League and Club air travel and waste/recycling)
2012-13 season: 321,460 metric tons (t) of CO2 equivalent (CO2E) emissions (scopes 1 and 2) and 380,342 t of CO2E emissions when including scope 3 emissions (from League and Club air travel and waste/recycling)

This conclusion has been formed on the basis of, and is subject to the inherent limitations outlined elsewhere in, this independent assurance report.

MICHAEL P. TOTTEN

Principal, ASSETS for Life (AssetsforLife.net)
2139 Race St., Denver, CO 80205
(303) 974-8676
totten.michael@gmail.com

OUR FANS

The NHL has one of the largest and most passionate fan bases in all of professional sports. Compared with the fans of all the other major sports leagues, those of the NHL are the youngest and the most affluent, educated and tech-savvy.

OUR FANS

ABOUT THE NHL

The National Hockey League was founded in 1917, nearly a century ago.

Today, the NHL features the greatest hockey players from around the world, stocking the rosters of 30 Clubs each vying for the most cherished and historic trophy in professional sports – the Stanley Cup.

The League's progressive set of rules now accentuate the speed, skill and creativity of the players. Competitive balance of NHL Clubs is at an all-time high, and may be unrivaled in professional sports. The NHL's calendar of signature events – that

includes iconic outdoor games – continues to drive fan engagement and sponsor participation to unprecedented levels.

Since 2012, the NHL has increased revenues to well over $3 billion, has reached record audiences across its digital platforms, and has engaged in a variety of new business partnerships. As a testament to the League's international appeal, NHL games are now televised in more than 160 countries and covered on NHL.com in eight languages.

For more information on the NHL, log on to NHL.com

The League's social responsibility platform, through the NHL Foundation, supports organizations and programs which extend THE CORE VALUES OF THE GAME – DEDICATION, PERSEVERANCE AND TEAMWORK.

Hockey Fights Cancer, an initiative founded in December 1998 by the NHL and the NHL Players' Association, has raised millions in support of cancer research and awareness.

In 2010, the League launched NHL Green, making a strong public commitment to protect the environment through more sustainable business practices.

Hockey is for Everyone, organized in 2011, provides support to non-profit youth hockey organizations across North America that are committed to developing the character and academic skills of children of all backgrounds through the game of hockey.

In 2013, the NHL signed an historic partnership agreement with the You Can Play Project, which is dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes.

THE NHL HAS 68 MILLION FANS IN NORTH AMERICA

As of 2013, the NHL recorded more than:

22

million attendees at arenas
during the 2011-12 season

401

million regular season TV viewers

10

million social media friends and followers

12+

million unique visitors to NHL.com
each month

Source: NHL, based on 2012-2013 season, unless otherwise noted.

ARENAS AND OFFICES

PACIFIC

ARIZONA COYOTES

Facility: Jobing.com Arena
Year opened: 2003
Gross floor area: 660,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 17,125

ANAHEIM DUCKS

Facility: Honda Center
Year opened: 1993
Gross floor area: 650,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 17,174

EDMONTON OILERS

Facility: Rexall Place
Year opened: 1974
Gross floor area: 516,428 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 16,843

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Facility: Rogers Arena
Year opened: 1995
Gross floor area: 475,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 18,934

CALGARY FLAMES

Facility: Scotiabank Saddledome
Year opened: 1983
Gross floor area: 550,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,839

LOS ANGELES KINGS

Facility: STAPLES Center
Year opened: 1998
Gross floor area: 720,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 18,162

SAN JOSE SHARKS

Facility: SAP Center at San Jose
Year opened: 1993
Gross floor area: 450,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 17,562

CENTRAL

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

Facility: United Center
Year opened: 1994
Gross floor area: 960,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,717

DALLAS STARS

Facility: American Airlines Center
Year opened: 2001
Gross floor area: 900,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 18,532

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

Facility: Bridgestone Arena
Year opened: 1996
Gross floor area: 1,000,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 17,113

WINNIPEG JETS

Facility: MTS Centre
Year opened: 2004
Gross floor area: 440,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 15,015

COLORADO AVALANCHE

Facility: Pepsi Center
Year opened: 1999
Gross floor area: 705,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 18,007

MINNESOTA WILD

Facility: Xcel Energy Center
Year opened: 2000
Gross floor area: 662,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,150

ST. LOUIS BLUES

Facility: Scottrade Center
Year opened: 1994
Gross floor area: 664,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,150

ATLANTIC

BOSTON BRUINS

Facility: TD Garden
Year opened: 1995
Gross floor area: 755,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 17,316

DETROIT RED WINGS

Facility: Joe Louis Arena
Year opened: 1978
Gross floor area: 700,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,758

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Facility: Bell Centre
Year opened: 1996
Gross floor area: 934,359 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 21,273

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

Facility: Tampa Bay Times Forum
Year opened: 1995
Gross floor area: 670,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 20,226

BUFFALO SABRES

Facility: First Niagara Center
Year opened: 1996
Gross floor area: 700,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,044

FLORIDA PANTHERS

Facility: BB&T Center
Year opened: 1997
Gross floor area: 972,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19.250

OTTAWA SENATORS

Facility: Canadian Tire Centre
Year opened: 1996
Gross floor area: 600,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,143

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

Facility: Air Canada Centre
Year opened: 1999
Gross floor area: 694,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,309

METROPOLITAN

CAROLINA HURRICANES

Facility: PNC Arena
Year opened: 1999
Gross floor area: 770,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 18,680

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

Facility: Prudential Center
Year opened: 2007
Gross floor area: 850,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 17,751

NEW YORK RANGERS

Facility: Madison Square Garden
Year opened: 1968
Gross floor area: 1,000,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 17,113

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Facility: CONSOL Energy Center
Year opened: 2010
Gross floor area: 720,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 18,632

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

Facility: Nationwide Arena
Year opened: 2000
Gross floor area: 700,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,737

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Facility: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Year opened: 1972
Gross floor area: 410,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 16,234

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

Facility: Wells Fargo Center
Year opened: 1996
Gross floor area: 800,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,538

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

Facility: Verizon Center
Year opened: 1997
Gross floor area: 840,000 sq. ft.
NHL seating capacity: 19,793

“From the age of three to the age of 12, I could easily be out there 8-10 hours a day. I would head out and get on the ice before school. For me, that's what I enjoyed the most: To get on the ice and pretend you were Gordie Howe, pretend you're winning Game 7, playing for the Stanley Cup.”

WAYNE GRETZKY

The National Hockey League is committed to promoting sustainable business practices

with Member Clubs, players, fans, employees and partners, so all can be more responsible stewards of the planet by reducing the use of resources, and reusing and recycling equipment and materials.

The National Hockey League is committed to promoting sustainable business practices

with Member Clubs, players, fans, employees and partners, so all can be more responsible stewards of the planet by reducing the use of resources, and reusing and recycling equipment and materials.

ABOUT NHL GREEN

Commissioner Gary Bettman officially established the NHL Green initiative on January 1, 2010, at the NHL Winter Classic in Boston. The responsibility of implementing the mission of NHL Green falls under the control of the NHL's Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Priorities of the initiative are executed by the Public Affairs department, led by the Senior Vice President and a team of employees, including the Director of Sustainability and members of multiple departments, who bring unique perspectives, backgrounds and expertise to their approach to sustainability.

To some extent, all NHL employees make decisions that impact the League's environmental footprint on a regular basis. The League's internal sustainability team is responsible for connecting with League employees to ensure that business practices become aligned with the goals of NHL Green.

The League's ability to execute effective environmental programs and operations in a relatively short time period has been enhanced by the appointment of one or more Sustainability

Representatives at each of the 30 Member Clubs. In 2010 the President of each Club selected an employee to serve as the liaison to coordinate all environmental efforts between the Club, its facility and the League's internal sustainability team. Such Sustainability Representatives are responsible for data collection, project implementation, fan engagement and fostering environmental stewardship within their organization. Today these representatives consist primarily of facility managers and Community Relations Directors, some of whom work directly with sustainability consultants.

Together, the NHL and its Member Clubs have taken steps to combat major environmental issues that affect our rinks, our communities and the health of our young athletes. The mission of NHL Green and its accompanying sustainability initiatives affect all facets of our game. From arena operations to premiere events, we recognize that the business of hockey has a direct impact on the environments in which we live and play.

The National Hockey League is committed to promoting sustainable business practices with Member Clubs, players, fans, employees and partners, so all can be more responsible stewards of the planet by reducing the use of resources, and reusing and recycling equipment and materials.

NHL GREEN TIMELINE

NRDC and the NHL
partner to green premiere events

The NHL officially launches NHL GREEN at the NHL WINTER CLASSIC

The NHL launches its FOOD RECOVERY INITIATIVE

The NHL and EPA announce a partnership with ENERGY STAR and WASTEWISE

The NHL launches the Water Restoration Project with GALLONS FOR GOALS

NHL GREEN wins the BEYOND SPORT AWARD: Sport for the Environment

NHL GREEN announces the LEGACY TREE PROJECT

NHL GREEN announces HATTRICKS FOR TREES

FAN ENGAGEMENT

The League embraces the fact that many NHL fans are committed to sustainable living. Though there is no clear definition or metric of what it means to be considered a “green fan,” research (Scarborough Research Inc.) shows that the League's faithful primarily fall on the spectrum between daily recycler and tenured environmentalist. Collectively, every small sustainable step from each individual fan adds up to a huge impact.

Environmental projects launched by the League and Member Clubs are a direct result of the groundswell of enthusiasm and support from those within the organization and community. Employees and fans have called for, and have responded strongly to, simple environmental improvements that have an enormous impact in the aggregate.

NHL FAN'S ENVIRONMENTAL INVOLVEMENT VERSUS THE AVERAGE U.S. ADULT, NHL FANS ARE:

11x

more likely to RECYCLE glass, plastic or paper

13x

more likely to buy LOCALLY GROWN FOOD

19x

more likely to DONATE MONEY OR TIME to environmental causes

20x

more likely to pay more for ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Source: Scarborough Research: 2011 release total (August 2010 - March 2011)
Base: Total Adults 18+

Awards

Since 2010, NHL Green has garnered recognition from respected government agencies and environmental nonprofits.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) celebrated the NHL Food Recovery Initiative on America Recycles Day in 2011. Since the League-wide program was launched, EPA Regions 1, 2 and 5 have held ceremonies to award nine NHL Clubs for their dedication to food recovery, waste prevention and hunger relief.

Beyond Sport presented the League with its 2011 Sport for Environment award, also in recognition of its commitment to food recovery. That same year, Beyond Sport named the League a finalist in the Federation of the Year category for the full portfolio of NHL Green initiatives. In 2012 the League was again nominated for Beyond Sport's Sport for Environment award, this time for the NHL Water Restoration Project.

In early 2013 the League was honored with the Communitas Award for Leadership in Ethical and Environmental Responsibility.

GREENER PARTNERS

Since 2010 the League has formed strategic partnerships with nonprofits, government agencies and corporate partners to draw on their expertise and resources in an effort to be more effective in our pursuit of sustainable business practices.

These partnerships, particularly our early alliance with the Natural Resources Defense Council, enhance our knowledge of best practices, help us to understand the environmental-regulation landscape, and support us in our mission to educate and inspire our Clubs, fans, employees and vendors.

ADVISOR: NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL

The NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL (NRDC) is one of the nation's most effective environmental-action groups. The organization strives to safeguard the earth: its people, plants, animals and natural systems. The National Hockey League has worked with NRDC on its key sustainability initiatives since 2008, when it assembled an online reference guide for the League called the “NHL Greening Advisor,” which included Club-specific recommendations. NRDC's support was also integral to the official launch of NHL Green on New Year's Day, 2010. Today NRDC remains the primary environmental advisor of the NHL in its ever-expanding commitment to ecological responsibility. NRDC - particularly its President, Frances Beinecke, Senior Scientist Allen Hershkowitz and their staff - motivated and advised the League in the development and publication of this report.

For more information on NRDC, log onto NRDC.org.
For more information on NRDC's NHL Greening Advisors, log on to NHL.Greensports.org.

NONPROFIT AND GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

The GREEN SPORTS ALLIANCE (GSA) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help sports teams, venues and leagues enhance their environmental performance. The NHL became a partner of the alliance in June 2011. Membership in the GSA has grown to more than 200 teams and venues, from 16 different sports leagues.
For more information on the GSA, log on to greensportsalliance.org.

BEYOND SPORT is a global organization that promotes, develops and supports the use of sport to drive positive social change around the world. The NHL became an official Founding Supporter of Beyond Sport United in 2010.
For more information on Beyond Sport, log on to beyondsport.org.

The NHL is the first professional sports league to partner with the EPA ENERGY STAR, WASTEWISE and GREEN POWER PARTNERSHIP programs. Together, we are designing a strategic approach to energy, water and waste management, to reduce the operational costs of NHL facilities and lessen the impact our sport has on the environment.
For more information on ENERGY STAR, log on to Energystar.gov.
For more information on WasteWise, log on to EPA.gov/EPAwaste.
For more information on Green Power Partnership, log on to EPA.gov/Greenpower.

CORPORATE PARTNERS

The NHL is proud to PARTNER WITH COMPANIES THAT HAVE ROBUST ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS in their own right. Presented here are selected commitments and achievements provided by some of our corporate partners in their pursuit of greater environmental sustainability throughout their organizations. (This is only a sampling of some of our partners).

Bridgestone Corporation has established a long-term environmental vision for the year 2050 with respect to ecological conservation, resource conservation and reduction of CO2 emissions, to help establish a more sustainable society. Bridgestone, the Official Tire of the NHL, is proud to support and contribute to these goals for the Global Bridgestone Group.

Bridgestone Corporation is pursuing a challenging goal to improve tire rolling efficiency by 25%, RESULTING IN LESS FUEL USE AND CO2 EMISSIONS FROM DRIVING, while also extending the life of its tires. From 2005 to 2012, the company successfully lowered emissions by 17.9% as a result of efforts such as switching fuels and recovering heat energy at plants.
Bridgestone Group set a goal to use “100% SUSTAINABLE MATE- RIALS” through the reduction of raw materials, the recycling of resources and the expansion and diversification of renewable resources.

Honda, the official U.S. Vehicle of the NHL, is a leader in the development of cutting-edge technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions.

In 2006, HONDA BECAME THE FIRST AUTOMAKER TO ANNOUNCE VOLUNTARY CO2 EMISSION-REDUCTION TARGETS for its global fleet and network of manufacturing plants. The company currently targets a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions from its products by 2020, compared with year 2000 levels.
Honda's 2012 U.S. corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) was 34.0 mpg, 10.3% HIGHER (BETTER) THAN THE U.S. AUTO-INDUSTRY AVERAGE for that year.

Molson MillerCoors, the Official Beer of the NHL, has an extensive sustainability platform that is rooted in a commitment to responsibility; environmental stewardship; its supply chain, people and communities; and ethics and transparency.

MillerCoors (U.S.) recently hit record-low water-to-beer ratios at several of its breweries, with an overall average ratio now broaching 3.53 to 1. It also REDUCED 24.1 MILLION POUNDS OF PACKAG- ING MATERIALS over the past two years and five of eight of its major breweries now send zero waste to landfill.
In partnership with The Nature Conservancy, MillerCoors promotes water stewardship on its Showcase Barley Farm. In its first two years it has SAVED APPROXIMATELY 270 MILLION GALLONS OF WATER while simultaneously cutting energy use in half and improving barley yields.

NBCUniversal is making a commitment to sustainability across the entire company. Its GREEN IS UNIVERSAL INITIATIVE is focused on bringing an environmental perspective to everything the company does, informing and entertaining audiences while driving more sustainable practices into its own operations. As one of the world's largest media and entertainment companies, NBC wants to participate in and help lead one of the most important dialogues of our time — and BUILD A STRONGER BUSINESS AND A MORE SUSTAINABLE WORLD IN THE PROCESS.

At PepsiCo — the Official Soft Drink, Sports Drink, Energy Drink, Water, Snack, and Sports Nutrition Partner of the NHL — environmental sustainability means finding innovative ways to cut costs and minimize impact on the environment, both through energy and water conservation and the reduction of packaging materials.

PepsiCo takes a comprehensive approach to water stewardship and has improved ITS WATER-USE EFFICIENCY BY MORE THAN 20% PER UNIT OF PRODUCTION throughout its manufacturing facilities since 2006. This saved 14 billion liters of water in direct operations while avoiding more than $15 million in water costs in 2012.
The company also partners with leading water-focused organizations and announced in 2013 that it had helped DELIVER ACCESS TO SAFE WATER TO 3 MILLION PEOPLE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
Over the past five years PepsiCo has introduced new packaging designs globally that have helped reduce the packaging weight of its products by more than 350 million pounds.

Scotiabank, the Official Bank of the NHL, has established some of the most comprehensive environmental policies and guidelines in the banking industry, while supporting clients interested in pursuing innovative sustain- ability projects.

The bank EVALUATES ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AS PART OF ITS LENDING AND INVESTMENT DECISIONS. For example, as an Equator Principles signatory, Scotiabank agrees to provide loans to applicable projects which demonstrate a commitment to socially responsible and environmentally sound management practices.
Scotiabank provides financing support to various renewable energy sector clients. In 2013, Scotiabank's Global Banking and Markets division had approximately CAD $1.39 BILLION IN AUTHORIZED CREDITS TO FUND RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS in Canada and the United States.
In cooperation with the Sustainable Housing Foundation, Scotiabank developed and launched the ECOLIVING HOME ENERGY SAVINGS CALCULATOR, which arms homeowners with a tailored list of energy and water-saving recommendations to reduce their home operating costs while promoting sustainable lifestyles.

VISION AND GOALS: TRACKING IMPACTS

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Effective management of energy, water and waste begins with measurement. To develop a clear environmental strategy, we must first understand current League consumption, particularly in terms of energy and water usage, and the scope of our waste stream. We believe that accurate data tracking will encourage a behavioral change in NHL venues by both identifying opportunities to enhance efficiency and by increasing awareness of the resources used and financial costs incurred.

FUTURE GOALS

Advance our standards, mechanisms and quality of reporting.
Increase the confidence in our data.
Expand the scope of all data collected (see Building for the Future section).

HOW WE'RE DOING IT

In collaboration with our Clubs, the NRDC and the U.S. EPA's ENERGY STAR program, the League developed and implemented NHL Metrics, an online tool designed for NHL venues to track and analyze operations data. The system captures nearly 40 categories of data related to energy use, water use, waste generation and recycling.

The League identified a number of challenges in analyzing the collected data. First, a host of diverse variables affect overall facility performance within the League's offices and arenas. These variables include, but are not limited to, the building's age, geographical location, climate, number of tenants, and number and types of events hosted.

Second, though the collection of data at similar venues has increased in recent years, there is not yet sufficient data to compare or rank our facilities. This sentiment is echoed by ENERGY STAR, which is currently evaluating an ENERGY STAR label for sports arenas.

The third challenge has been determining the ownership share of emissions and other impacts for each NHL Club, which inherently involves a degree of uncertainty because of the variations associated with the operations of individual arenas. The NHL determined an approximate percentage of League responsibility for each facility, using generally accepted accounting principles based upon financial obligations of revenues and expenses for each Club.

Instead, our initial step has been to aggregate data from all 30 NHL facilities over a three-year period, starting from the launch of NHL Metrics in July 2010. This data will serve as the League's benchmark environmental data for the future. Analysis of this data is found within the Our Environmental Impact section of this report.

VISION AND GOALS: REDUCING ENERGY, WATER AND WASTE

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

By maximizing efficiencies of the League's and Clubs' resource use— using less while reusing or recycling the assets under our control — we are effectively improving our economic performance and enhancing our environmental impact.

Resource reduction minimizes our greenhouse gas emissions and limits pollution to our atmosphere, land and water. Achieving efficiencies in managing energy, water and waste is not only good for the environment, it is also smart business. The costs of energy and water, as well as waste disposal, are significant draws on the financial resources of NHL venues. By controlling consumption and output through strategic management of energy, water and waste, arena managers can drive down operating costs and increase profitability.

FUTURE GOALS

Increase the sharing and implementation of best practices throughout the League.
Focus on a more strategic, individualized analysis of each venue to identify needs, prioritize projects and determine financial viability and projected environmental benefit.

HOW WE'RE DOING IT

Each facility's local operations and engineering teams are responsible for identifying and implementing efficiency upgrades, policies and procedures. In addition, the potential for significant performance enhancements hinges on a diversity of factors, including but not limited to regulations set by the municipality, county, province or state where the facility is located, applicable taxes, available rebates and incentives, current infrastructure, private-sector competition and cultural adoption of certain practices.

The League's internal NHL Green team leverages the enormous amount of institutional knowledge it has about each facility and has opened a dialogue with relevant facility staff to share best practices and explore future sustainability opportunities. Overall, we focus on operational enhancements that primarily fall into three categories: (1) energy and mechanical upgrades, (2) operations improvements, and (3) fan-engagement activities, such as recycling drives.

VISION AND GOALS: OFFSETTING IMPACTS

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Despite our early success reducing resource use, the business of hockey continues to have a significant impact on the environment. To mitigate carbon emissions, the League purchases environmental assets such as renewable energy certificates (RECs), carbon offsets and water restoration certificates (WRCs).

We believe it’s important to invest in clean, renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and hydro in North America. Supporting clean energy will help achieve long-term benefits for our business, such as price stability.

In 2011 the League became increasingly concerned about the growing environmental issues surrounding water scarcity and pollution. According to NRDC, almost half of the world’s population lives without a steady supply of clean drinking water. In North America many sources of freshwater are being depleted faster than they can be recharged by natural processes. The League is committed to pursuing initiatives that proactively work to protect, preserve and restore these rivers and streams.

FUTURE GOALS

Develop a more-detailed understanding of our ecological footprint.
Continue to mitigate carbon emissions by purchasing environmental assets, to offset higher-impact premiere events such as the NHL Winter Classic and the Stanley Cup Final.
Continue to explore energy-efficiency opportunities and more direct forms of renewable and low-emission on-site energy installations.

HOW WE'RE DOING IT

In June 2011, the League launched the NHL Water Restoration Project in cooperation with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), a unique commitment to addressing the issue of freshwater scarcity. Through the purchase of water restoration certificates, the NHL worked with BEF to help fund the replenishment of North American rivers with more than 20 million gallons of water.

Through the acquisition of RECs and carbon offsets, the NHL became, in 2012, the first of any North American professional sports league to join the EPA’s Green Power Partnership Leadership Club, a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with purchased electricity use. With help from Sterling Planet, a provider of renewable energy certificates, the NHL has avoided more than 38 million pounds of carbon emissions since 2012, making it one of the largest pollution-offset initiatives by any sports league.

In 2012 and 2013 the League’s purchase of RECs and carbon offsets created a benefit of more than 38 million pounds (17,236 metric tons) of avoided emissions of carbon dioxide, COMPARABLE TO TAKING APPROXIMATELY 3,591 CARS OFF U.S. ROADS FOR A YEAR.

VISION AND GOALS: SUPPORTING ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The League is deeply committed to supporting a number of environmental causes and the worthy organizations that work tirelessly as environmental champions.

Through strategic partnerships and alliances, the League supports causes — both local and global — to increase awareness of environmental issues and change perceptions and behaviors. Direct involvement with such organizations allows us to verify the credibility of our work and accelerate action that has a positive impact on the environment.

FUTURE GOALS

Identify environmental concerns that most affect our Clubs, their communities and the game of hockey, and aid organizations in a position to make a tangible, beneficial impact in these areas.
Develop a greater focus on environmental initiatives that educate young NHL fans.
Continue to support higher-education sustainability programs that successfully integrate greening strategies and technologies into business operations.

HOW WE'RE DOING IT

The League continues to support the environmental work of prominent nonprofits, including NRDC, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy. By allocating resources to such organizations, the League has supported forest restoration, energy conservation and the protection of freshwater sources.

As an example, in 2012 and again in 2013, the NHL made a commitment to the WWF’s Earth Hour, the world’s largest annual public action for the environment. All NHL facilities scaled back energy used in operations during the globally recognized hour. The League supported the message of Earth Hour, illustrating that the seemingly

smallest measures to conserve energy can produce enormous results when businesses, communities and governments work together toward a common environmental goal.

To further the League’s Water Restoration Project, the NHL partnered with NRDC on an NRDC-produced public service announcement titled “Hockey Depends on Water,” illustrating a joint effort to protect and restore bodies of freshwater. The video, which can be viewed under the videos tab at nhl.com/green, calls on NHL fans to preserve the roots of our game through environmental stewardship.

THROUGH THE NHL’S HAT TRICKS FOR TREES INITIATIVE, THE LEAGUE IS SUPPORTING THE NATURE CONSERVANCY’S PLANT A BILLION TREES CAMPAIGN, a major restoration program, launched in 2008, to restore Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. The campaign aims to restore 1 million acres of land by 2015. The effort has the potential to remove 4 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year.

VISION AND GOALS: INSPIRING ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The sports industry boasts an immense and passionate following, one of very few industries to have such influence. The NHL acknowledges it can play a significant role within the environmental movement given this influence, and recognizes that we have the power to inspire millions of fans, partners and stakeholders.

The global ecological pressures we face today directly impact our sport. Therefore, we must remind the hockey community how connected our game is to the environment, and offer ideas and opportunities for fans and employees to choose a more sustainable lifestyle.

FUTURE GOALS

Assume a leadership role within the industry.
Help to engage and educate the greater hockey community about environmental issues and how hockey impacts, and is impacted by, our environment.

HOW WE'RE DOING IT

At the 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic in Boston, the League began the process of coordinating myriad individual sustainability efforts from Clubs, venues and partners into a League-wide initiative. Commissioner Bettman, speaking at an NHL-sponsored environmental panel discussion, hoped that the conversation would “raise consciousness about the stewardship we all need to have about our planet and climate.”

Building off that momentum, the League unveiled the NHL Green microsite (nhl.com/green) and, subsequently, the NHL Green Slapshots sustainability blog, capturing the latest progress of sustainability work from Clubs, venues and partners.

The League continues to call on fans, employees and partners to assist in implementing new environmental measures, such as collecting prepared but untouched food following a game for donation to local shelters, or the on-site sorting of recyclable materials.

We hope that the collection and release of quantitative and qualitative data for this environmental report — our first — inspires and challenges us to achieve a more sustainable business model for professional hockey.

"OUR GAME ORIGINATED ON FROZEN PONDS. Many of our players learned to skate on outdoor rinks. For that magnificent tradition to continue through future generations, we need winter weather and, as a League, we are uniquely positioned to promote that message."

NHL COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN

“I love the outdoors. It's not just hunting and fishing. It's getting outside. There's a lot of pressure that comes with being an athlete. Getting outside has always helped me get peace of mind.”

OWEN NOLAN

(transferred his 1,157-acre ranch in the Mount Hamilton foothills to the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department)

“I love the outdoors. It's not just hunting and fishing. It's getting outside. There's a lot of pressure that comes with being an athlete. Getting outside has always helped me get peace of mind.”

OWEN NOLAN

(transferred his 1,157-acre ranch in the Mount Hamilton foothills to the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department)

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: CARBON

In preparing the League's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory for the 2012-13 season, our first such inventory, we considered emissions from scope 1 (direct GHG emissions) and scope 2 (indirect GHG emissions), including those resulting from the use of electricity, natural gas, district energy (heating, cooling and steam produced centrally and distributed to multiple individual customers), refrigerants and water.

Scope 2 emissions include utility generation source emissions and utility transmission and distribution losses¹. Review of scope 3 (other indirect GHG emissions) was limited to those associated with NHL League and Club business air travel, as well as waste disposal at NHL arenas and offices.

1 Based upon the EPA's Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database (2012), to determine key emission factors and calculations for geographically specific utility systems in assessing purchased power.

ELECTRICITY
CLUB TRAVEL
NATURAL GAS
OTHER: HCFC, WATER, GAS-DIESEL FUEL, DISTRICT ENERGY

2011-12 GREENHOUSE GAS ANALYSIS 528,322 ANNUAL CO₂ EMISSIONS (METRIC TONS)

2012-13 GREENHOUSE GAS ANALYSIS 380,342 ANNUAL CO₂ EMISSIONS (METRIC TONS)*

The total Annual GHG Emissions Benchmark does not reflect
CO₂ reductions achieved through the use of on-site solar,
offsite purchase of wind power, recycled wastes,
or efficiency gains.

* Work Stoppage Season

GREENHOUSE GAS EMMISIONS BENCHMARKS

408

Metric tons CO2 emissions per game

55

Pounds CO2 emissions per sq. ft.

56

Pounds CO2 emissions per attendee

* Benchmarks based off of 2011-12 data only Each of our 30 arenas hosts events other than NHL hockey games, including concerts, conventions and exhibitions. In some circumstances the NHL Club is one of multiple professional-sports-team tenants within the facility. The League's total GHG emissions inventory uses an equity-share approach to establishing greenhouse gas emission ownership boundaries. This reporting approach is in accordance with the World Resource Institute's The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, 2004 revised edition.

Given that the use of our arenas for non-NHL games and events fluctuates each year, we expect variability in GHG emissions year over year. The League's equity share correlates not only to facility performance, but also to total facility use and energy consumption, an important factor beyond our control. Other factors include climatic conditions, geographic location and type of energy mix, arena vintage, installed building systems and number of occupants.

ENERGY

The generation and use of energy to power NHL arenas and NHL offices produce approximately 80% of annual greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the League; electricity use alone represents 75% of our carbon footprint, which does not include fan transportation. We recognize the existence of the environmental impacts

associated with these electricity sources and are actively promoting energy performance improvements that result in fewer emissions and lower operating costs. Three fundamental strategies increase energy performance in NHL arenas: reducing demand, increasing efficiency and using more benign forms of energy.

DIRECT CAUSES OF ENERGY DEMAND AT NHL ARENAS

Refrigeration

Humidification Systems

Concessions

Heating, ventilation, and
air-conditioning

Lighting

Technical displays and
audio systems

The exact distribution of energy will be unavailable until submetering within arenas become more prevalent.

REDUCING DEMAND

Nearly a third of NHL venues currently participate in a demand response program, voluntarily reducing electricity demand in response to an electricity-grid peak event. Clubs enact curtailment measures that minimally affect game operations. This helps prevent blackouts and alleviates grid vulnerability. These measures also can reduce energy costs for the arenas and provide financial credit for participation. Outside the arena, large expanses of impervious surfaces — dark, non-reflective pavements, building surfaces and roofs — absorb incoming solar heat and radiate it back to the surrounding areas, contributing to the heat-island effect. This increases the arena's external and indoor temperatures, which then require more energy for cooling. In recent years more NHL facilities have installed reflective, low-emissivity and white treatments to reduce the demand for cooling energy. In addition, the use of natural vegetation around buildings has contributed to lowered heat-island effect and reduced energy demand.

INCREASING EFFICIENCY

Increasing energy efficiency has become a top priority for all NHL arena operators. For instance, the shift away from old, inefficient lighting has produced significant returns on investment and lessened environmental impact. Nearly all League facilities have made such improvements, and many have implemented occupancy and daylight sensor controls, as well as timer and scheduling programs in their lighting- control systems.

Many arenas are gaining significant energy savings through preventive maintenance and recommissioning of HVAC and humidification systems. Common upgrades include replacing older equipment with efficient, cost-effective models (many of which are ENERGY STAR certified), including high efficiency boilers, heat exchangers and variable frequency drives for motors.

Further strategies to effectively reduce energy use have involved the practice of passive cooling, the sealing of the building envelope, the installation of ceiling-mounted downdraft fans, and the use of high-speed roll-up doors at loading docks, air curtains at building entryways, and curtains at entrances into the arena bowl.

Building (or energy) management systems are another proven tool to help NHL arenas keep energy and water systems operating efficiently, by controlling refrigeration, temperature and humidity levels, and water heating equipment. These systems advise managers of critical issues and enhance the staff's ability to make changes in settings that otherwise would result in inefficient operation.

DEPLOYING ON-SITE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

In addition to pursuing reduction measures, five NHL arenas now supply a portion of their power needs for the facility by using on-site solar power or lower-emission energy sources, such as biogas-fueled fuel cell technology. In some regions, environmentally preferable sources of energy — including that produced through deep-lake water cooling, hydro, cogeneration and geothermal — are available as well. Implementing alternative energy at arenas requires a holistic review of the financial incentives and return on investment for such systems — including a consideration of local energy costs; incentive and rebate programs at the municipal, state, province and federal level; and partners such as utility companies, which may provide their own incentives to fund such upgrades.

ADVANCING DEHUMIDIFICATION

For NHL arenas, constant and efficient humidity control is vital to the maintenance of a high-caliber, NHL-regulation ice sheet. Humidity, if uncontrolled, can result in fog, rust, corrosion, condensation and poor ice conditions — all of which compromise skating performance and safety, spectator enjoyment and longevity of the arena. Excess moisture in areas such as locker rooms encourages mold growth and bacteria, which impact occupant health and indoor air quality. Overall, humidity causes an increased load on the ice-refrigeration system, resulting in higher energy consumption and increased operating costs. Traditionally, three primary types of mechanical systems keep ice rinks dry: air handlers, cooling-based systems and desiccant-type dehumidifiers. By and large, air handlers and cooling-based systems are inefficient methods for dehumidifying NHL ice rinks. These two systems consume a great amount of energy to reach desired conditions, and even then, their performance is marginal. Desiccant dehumidification systems, used in a few arenas, are energy efficient, delivering dry air into the arena while allowing outside air to be introduced into the facility. In addition, innovations in desiccant technology have led to systems that now use waste heat from refrigeration compressors — rather than natural gas or steam — to regenerate the desiccant wheel. Desiccant systems do, however, require both significant initial capital outlay and a substantial amount of space within a facility, making retrofits a challenge.

ENERGY: LEAGUE

FOR 2012 AND 2013 THE LEAGUE COUNTERBALANCED 100% OF ELECTRICITY USAGE AT ITS NEW YORK CITY HEADQUARTERS in the form of Green-e Energy certified renewable energy certificates from U.S. wind projects. This purchase was part of a much larger acquisition of renewable energy, totaling 22 million kilowatt-hours — to counterbalance emissions resulting from arena electricity consumption during all 2012 Playoffs games.

The League is currently pursuing improvements in energy efficiency within our offices as well as supporting developments of cleaner energy by purchasing renewable energy and verified carbon emission reductions. The NHL occupies space as a tenant within office buildings in New York City, Toronto and Montreal. Given that these spaces

are leased, the League holds limited direct control over many aspects of the buildings, and instead relies on property owners and managers to push the environmental- sustainability agenda in their operations.

NHL OFFICES ENERGY BENCHMARKS

26,840

MBtu per year

157

kBtu per sq. ft. per year

63,000

kBtu per employee per year

Where no submetering exists, energy use allocated to the NHL is based on a pro rata share of the building's total use.
Our Montreal office, because of its small size and the absence of data, is not included in this first report.

According to a 2012 energy audit performed at the NHL's Toronto office (Halsall, Tenant Energy Audit Report), the two primary energy end uses for the tenants are lighting and IT equipment (data servers and electronic phone systems). Together, computers, monitors, TVs and appliances represent the third-largest energy use, followed by miscellaneous desktop electrical equipment.

Of the operations that the League does control, the NHL has implemented a number of energy saving techniques throughout its three offices, including adjusting lighting schedules to match hours of operation; reducing overall lighting levels; installing

occupancy or daylight sensors for open office areas, private offices and meeting rooms; replacing incandescent overhead and task lighting; replacing inefficient equipment; enabling power saving modes for equipment; upgrading to low-flow faucets (reducing the energy needed to heat the water); and upgrading technology and providing for the strategic movement of cool air in server rooms. In addition, the League offices in New York City participate in an energy-curtailment program (demand response) to reduce consumption during electricity-grid peak-demand events.

ENERGY: CLUBS

The League's first step toward energy reduction is to understand our energy-consumption profile. The more granularity we are able to achieve in our data — specifically regarding the arena, where energy performance can be monitored and tracked to identify patterns — the greater our ability will be to make informed, effective strategies for reductions. NHL facilities operate under very different conditions — regarding climate, schedule, access to utilities, etc. — which results in a wide spectrum of energy needs and carbon dioxide emissions. These factors can skew data in different directions. For example, the Minnesota Wild's Xcel Energy Center —

which has diligently tracked utility data for more than five years and has made substantial reductions in energy consumption through improvements to its systems and operations — noted that because of a warm winter in 2011-12, the arena required 15% more cooling energy than it did in the Club's benchmark 2007-08 period.

Therefore, while a common set of opportunities is available to all Clubs and arenas, the efficiencies gained from any one particular upgrade or operational change will vary from arena to arena and season to season.

NHL CLUBS: ENERGY BENCHMARKS

2.3

million kBtu
per game

143

kBtu
per attendee

141

kBtu per
sq. ft.

CASE STUDIES

The PEPSI CENTER, where the Colorado Avalanche play, recently installed an upgraded, energy efficient ice plant. The system captures excess heat energy, which is then used to boil water. The facility practices passive cooling — using cold outside air to naturally reduce interior temperatures — features giant downdraft fans; these recirculate air trapped near the roof, reducing the amount of energy needed to heat the arena bowl after NHL games. The facility also has installed 52 solar panels on its restaurant, saving 13,641 kilowatt-hours annually, or 9.42 metric tons of carbon emissions.

In 2008 the Los Angeles Kings' STAPLES CENTER installed 1,727 solar panels on its rooftop. This 364-kilowatt photovoltaic solar-energy system provides up to 20% of the facility's energy needs on a non-game day and a small portion of energy on game day.

In 2012 the SAP CENTER AT SAN JOSE, home of the San Jose Sharks, became the first NHL arena to use solid-oxide fuel cell technology as a supplemental electricity source. Two 200-kilowatt servers replaced approximately 90% of the electrical-utility power needs at the arena during nonevent hours, and approximately 25% of electricity needs on a Sharks game day. Through this installation, the Club will reduce its carbon footprint by 4.8 million pounds of CO2 over a ten-year period (equivalent to taking 427 cars off the road). The Club also introduced the technology at Sharks Ice at San Jose, its 188,000-square-foot practice facility.

The SCOTTRADE CENTER, the arena of the St. Louis Blues, recently underwent a major overhaul in its lighting systems, replacing T12 lamps with T5 lamps throughout each of the center's levels. The newly installed lamps offer improved efficiency, higher intensity, fewer maintenance costs and potentially longer life due to reduced degradation in light output over time.

The Toronto Maple Leafs' AIR CANADA CENTRE takes advantage of deep-lake water cooling, available in downtown Toronto. This process utilizes chilled water from the bottom of a lake to cool the building, minimizing the use of air-conditioning compressors.

JOBING.COM ARENA, home to the Arizona Coyotes, actively participates in an energy-saving demand response program, voluntarily reducing electricity use in response to an electricity grid emergency. The Coyotes have learned lessons from such demand response events and scaled back use of nonessential equipment, lighting and other systems throughout the year.

The Minnesota Wild offset electricity use during home games at XCEL ENERGY CENTER for the entire 2011-12 season via wind-power purchases.

Although the League has not captured data from Club practice facilities in this first environmental report, the KETTLER CAPITALS ICEPLEX, the training facility of the Washington Capitals, warrants notable mention for its sustainable design. This 145,000-square-foot facility features more than 20,000 square feet of recycled rubber skate tile and recycled carpet backing. Natural light penetrates into 90% of regularly occupied areas. To reduce heat-island effect, the roof surface is a non-ballasted white rubber membrane, which helps keep the facility cool.

Refrigerant lines create the ice sheet at the 2008 NHL Winter Classic, at Ralph Wilson Stadium, in Buffalo New York.

REFRIGERANTS

Refrigerants are a critical substance found within chiller systems used to create and maintain a premiere ice sheet. The NHL has defined clear refrigerant standards for arenas, including optimal temperatures for the ice and building, to provide the world's greatest hockey players with an ideal hard, smooth ice surface on which to play.

Nearly three-quarters of NHL arenas operate chillers containing hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC5). Refrigerants in ice plants and mechanical HVAC-system equipment can leak in very small amounts during typical, day-to-day operations. The release of these substances from refrigeration equipment can potentially harm the planet's natural ozone shield, so any leakage is always carefully monitored — and preventive maintenance is performed — by facility managers. Though widely used throughout many industries, HCFCs are currently being phased out by many municipal, state and federal governments, and being replaced with more environmentally sensitive alternatives.

More than 20% of NHL arenas now have low-pressure chillers that inhibit HCFC leaks by using more natural refrigerants such as ammonia. Because ammonia is a naturally

occurring gas, its effects on the environment are minimal. This substance is potentially hazardous to human health, however, and is thus carefully monitored for leaks.

Recent ice plant innovations include using water and carbon dioxide, which are environmentally safe and less hazardous than ammonia, though no arenas have utilized these types of ice plants to date. The significant capital investment to retrofit ice plant systems requires that facility managers evaluate the energy, demand and maintenance savings realized from this technology.

The League acknowledges that refrigerants are an important reporting category for any carbon inventory and will work with arenas to review refrigerant practices and equipment calibration, as well as record refrigerant refill rates and leakage. In the future the NHL plans to capture and report information on refrigerant integrity more robustly.

NHL CLUBS REFRIGERANTS

Comprehensive refrigerant selection criteria include
safety, environmental, functional, performance and cost requirements.

HCFC refrigerants,
such as R-22 or R-123

HFC refrigerants,
such as R-134a

ammonia

carbon dioxide

YORK, A LEADER IN DELIVERING SOLUTIONS THAT INCREASE ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS, is not only the official heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) partner of the NHL but is also a proud supporter of NHL Green. More than three- quarters of NHL arenas currently use York products.

On average,
it takes 12,000 to 15,000 gallons of water to create an NHL regulation ice sheet, which typically is kept frozen for an entire season. To reduce both water and energy consumption, a few rinks now use reverse osmosis to purify the water used in ice creation. Through this process, less-dissolved gases are left within the ice, which creates the desired hard, fast surface.

WATER

AT THE NHL, WATER IS IN OUR DNA.

The roots of hockey run through the frozen rivers, ponds and lakes where players learn the game. This resource is essential to the sport, and we continue to explore ways to reduce our usage and keep our water clean. Distinctive to the NHL, the ice-making and resurfacing process is one of the most water-intensive operations in professional sports. Arenas that use water efficiently can reduce costs through lower fees, less sewage volume and reductions in energy and chemical use.

PRIMARY WATER USE AT NHL ARENAS

Ice
making

Food
services

Landscaping

Cooling
tower

Plumbing

INDOOR OPERATIONS

The first step toward improving water efficiency is tracking and analyzing current water use. Facility managers are improving water systems to increase overall utility efficiency and save money. For instance, additional metering installed on water systems provides the ability to monitor and digest data at a more granular level, offering managers insights that inform water-reduction strategies and projects. Within NHL arenas, reducing indoor potable-water consumption is a main priority for water-conservation efforts. Building upgrades, such as water-efficient fixtures, flow restrictors on existing fixtures, and electronic sensors all contribute to decreasing water use. Some facilities have advanced their efforts by installing waterless urinals, which reduces not only a substantial amount of water used but also water-discharge and maintenance costs. The feasibility of these types of installations is typically dependent on the ease of the retrofit and the age of existing plumbing infrastructure. Concessionaires and operations staffs do their part to mitigate water use at all NHL arenas by promoting operational cleaning processes that use less water and procuring water-saving equipment and appliances.

OUTDOOR OPERATIONS

Cooling towers as part of HVAC systems are typically responsible for significant water consumption in NHL arenas, especially when considering the colder in-arena temperatures the League stipulates for game-play conditions. Nearly three-quarters of NHL arenas that have cooling towers have developed and implemented a water management plan that addresses all aspects of proper maintenance and identifies potential opportunities for reducing uncontrolled water losses. Facilities can additionally achieve water savings outside through drought-resistant landscaping practices. Plus, a few NHL arenas are contemplating recycled wastewater and rainwater harvesting systems as part of their overall water-conservation strategies. Among other considerations, facility managers weigh both the required initial capital investment and the total savings in annual water bills when making decisions on these types of retrofits.

WATER: LEAGUE

SINCE 2011 THE LEAGUE HAS WORKED WITH OUTSIDE ORGANIZATIONS TO RESTORE MORE THAN 20 MILLION GALLONS OF WATER to streams and rivers in the Northwest, directly aiding in the recovery of the economic, recreational and ecological viability of waterways.

The League is currently pursuing improvements in water conservation within our offices and supporting the protection and restoration of watercourses throughout North America.

League offices assume responsibility for a pro rata share of the building’s total water consumption, based on occupied square footage. Since the League has limited direct control over the operations of our office buildings, we encourage our property owners and managers to advance the environmental-sustainability agenda.

As we now benchmark our water consumption, we continue to explore practices and technologies to consume less. The League does have control over certain aspects of leased office space, such as kitchens and bathrooms, within fully occupied floors of each building. We have begun to invest in automatic sensors on bathroom fixtures and low-volume faucets and aerators, and have implemented routine maintenance policies so leaks are quickly repaired.

NHL WATER RESTORATION PROJECT

over 6 million gallons of water donated each season^†

20

million gallons of water donated since 2011*

†Based on the 2011-12 season * In partnership with Bonneville Environmental Foundatoin

Through the NHL Water Restoration Project, the 2011 Stanley Cup Final became the first championship series in League history to track total water used — from restroom faucets to ice surfaces. An equivalent amount of water was then restored to western North American rivers through Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s water restoration certificates. This commitment was renewed for both the 2012 and 2013 Stanley Cup Final.

We have continued our work in water restoration through our Gallons for Goals program. Since 2011, for every goal scored during the regular season, we have pledged to restore 1,000 gallons of water to a critically dewatered river. At the end of the campaign’s inaugural season, the Gallons for Goals initiative restored more than 6.7 million gallons of water.

WATER: CLUBS

Acquiring detailed water-consumption data at NHL arenas through the use of submeters has led to leaks being identified and a greater ability to pursue informed, effective water-use-reduction strategies.

With water supply and effluent charges rising, arenas have begun implementing water-efficiency measures. As with energy and refrigerant use, reducing water use at NHL arenas might involve making major installation upgrades, adjusting or optimizing equipment or enhancing operations practices for efficiency. Water audits at some arenas have assisted in the evaluation process and helped keep down capital outlays.

NHL CLUBS: WATER CONSUMPTION BENCHMARKS

Annual Water Use = 321,231,564 gallons

Or enough water to make 25,700 NHL ice sheets

247,746 gallons of water per game

16.5 gallons of water per attendee

* Based on roughly 12,500 gallons required to make one ice sheet

CASE STUDIES

At the BB&T CENTER, the Florida Panthers substantially reduced water consumption by retrofitting more than 400 hand sinks in public restrooms. By installing a water-conserving insert in each restroom sink, the BB&T Center decreased restroom-sink water consumption by close to 75% from baseline consumption.

In 2009 The STAPLES CENTER replaced all 178 conventional urinals with waterless urinals, for total annual savings of more than 7 million gallons of water. In the 2011-12 season the Los Angeles Kings restored an additional 50,000 gallons of water as part of the League’s Gallons for Goals initiative.

For ice making, the MTS CENTRE, home of the Winnipeg Jets, uses reverse osmosis to filter water instead of treating it chemically. The system produces demineralized water that is free of impurities, and typically forms into a harder ice surface. Pure, hard ice requires less maintenance, flood water and refrigeration energy, and also saves on wear of the ice resurfacers.

The transformation of the Lightning’s TAMPA BAY TIMES FORUM in 2011 resulted in 351 touchless faucets, plus the installation of low-flow toilets, to help conserve water. The facility also uses well water for landscape irrigation.

At BRIDGESTONE ARENA, where the Nashville Predators play, building operators recently conducted energy and water audits, which provided operational recommendations to achieve efficiencies. Installation of more low-flow fixtures has decreased water use in sink faucets and in toilets, which now require only 1.28 gallons per flush. A planned rainwater-harvesting system will soon offset water use for toilets and urinals.

WASTE AND RECYCLING

Waste management is an important operations issue for the League and the Clubs, as its generation and disposal has substantial financial and environmental implications. For this first environmental report, the League has tracked waste in two major substreams: waste disposed at landfill or via incineration, and waste diverted from disposal by recycling, reuse or composting. Because waste to landfill is particularly costly and produces more GHG emissions than recycling or composting, we are focusing on increasing the amount of waste which is diverted from landfill or incineration.

Arena managers are leading the charge to improve their waste-management practices. Waste audits — which were conducted by more than half of NHL arenas between 2010 and 2012 — help identify opportunities for source reduction, reuse and recycling within each facility.

Some improvements in waste management can be made through low- or no-cost measures. Top recycling programs at arenas have produced a return on investment through both ecologically smarter procurement policies and sorting practices, resulting in lower waste-disposal fees, and by revenue generated through the sale of commodities. The most effective waste diversion programs have strong cooperation not only from operations staff but also from arena concessionaires and waste haulers — in implementing source-reduction policies and producing efficiencies in sorting; right-sizing equipment; reducing pickup collections; and ensuring accurate tracking of all materials.

THE THREE PRIMARY METHODS OF WASTE DIVERSION AT NHL ARENAS

Through the RECYCLING of materials such as paper, aluminum, plastics, glass, cardboard, metals, construction debris, cooking oil and e-waste

Through a COMPOSTING program that includes materials such as kitchen scraps, fan food waste and compostable cutlery, plates, etc.

Through the League’s FOOD RECOVERY initiative, in which prepared but unsold concession food is collected after games for redistribution to local shelters

COMPOSTING AND RECYCLING

Waste diversion rates have increased via simple measures, such as placing more recycling bins strategically throughout the arena (to create a 1:1 waste-to-recycling-bin ratio), as well as from some more-innovative practices, such as selling used cooking oil for conversion to biofuel. In recent years the increased recycling of construction and demolition material during arena retrofits has contributed to higher diversion rates and has eased project costs through the sale of recovered materials.

Composting, which has been implemented by ten NHL arenas, has led to less trash to landfills and less methane emissions. Arena operators can partner with concessionaires to increase composting waste generated from food, beverages, disposable cutlery and other concessions items.

Although composting has significant environmental benefits, infrastructure for implementing it varies widely by market and is not available for all 30 Clubs at this time.

A future goal for the League — to more accurately depict GHG emissions associated with waste and recycling — is to characterize the waste stream by material categories, including compost (organics), paper, glass, plastics, aluminum, construction debris, etc. To accomplish this, we will need to continue collaborating with each facility’s waste hauler to obtain material-specific data.

WASTE AND RECYCLING: LEAGUE

At the NHL, we are pursuing methods to reduce waste and increase landfill diversion within our offices, while supporting programs that reuse, reduce and recycle equipment and materials throughout the greater hockey community.

Within our offices, the League assumes a pro rata share of waste and recycling for the entire building. We encourage our property owners and managers to promote the environmental-sustainability agenda, and we work with them to adopt best-practices.

DIRECT CAUSES OF ENERGY DEMAND AT NHL ARENAS

AVERAGE ANNUAL WASTE
TO LANDFILL = 25.5 tons

120 POUNDS OF TRASH TO
LANDFILL per employee per year

AVERAGE ANNUAL WASTE DIVERTED = 77 tons

LANDFILL AVOIDANCE RATE = 75.12%

Fills 340 REGULATION-SIZE
NHL GOAL NETS

Is equal to the weight of
16 ICE RESURFACERS

THE NHL SUPPORTS THE MISSION TO “FEED PEOPLE — NOT LANDFILLS.” In the first two years of the League’s Food Recovery Initiative, more than 210 tons of food waste was diverted from landfill, providing more than 320,000 meals to local shelters.

As we now benchmark our waste and recycling efforts, we continue to explore practices and technologies to produce less solid waste. The League primarily can effect change in this area by educating vendors and employees with the goal of generating a waste stream with fewer nonrecyclable materials and reducing the contamination of what is sent to the recycling facility. Our continued objective throughout our offices is to increase the level of awareness of waste and recycling polices via more consistent and clear communication, signage and sorting bins. Since 2010 all NHL Clubs have participated in the NHL Food Recovery Initiative, which diverts 100 tons of waste (equivalent to 160,000 meals) from going to landfills annually, by collecting prepared but untouched food after the game for donation to local shelters. The League-wide initiative, launched in partnership with “Rock and Wrap It Up!” and arena concessionaires, reduces carbon emissions and helps to combat hunger in North America.

The program has been lauded by the EPA, Beyond Sport and the Communitas Awards. Another effort, unveiled in early 2012, is an initiative to help “recycle the game” — growing the sport of hockey and engaging fans by encouraging them to donate their used hockey equipment. With the nonprofit Restore Hockey, the League pledged to facilitate the collection, cleaning, repair and redistribution of the gear.

At the initiative’s launch, during the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic in Philadelphia, fans donated more than 100 hockey-equipment items for reuse. The recycled gear was refurbished and distributed to the city’s youth through the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation.

WASTE AND RECYCLING: CLUBS

THE OPTIMAL WASTE REDUCTION OPERATION educates and engages maintenance staff and NHL fans through simple procedures and training, clear signage for proper disposal of items throughout the facility, regular updates on the initiative, public goals for improvement and incentives for participation.

NHL CLUB BENCHMARKS

AVERAGE ANNUAL WASTE
TO LANDFILL = 7,759 tons

5 POUNDS OF TRASH
per attendee

AVERAGE ANNUAL WASTE DIVERTED = 3,121 tons

LANDFILL AVOIDANCE RATE = 28.7%

Fills more than TWENTY NHL RINKS, from the ice to the top of the boards

Is equal to the weight of 625 ICE RESURFACERS

4,820 POUNDS of recycling per game

CASE STUDIES

The Columbus Blue Jackets are implementing procedures at NATIONWIDE ARENA — including introducing a composting program — to increase landfill diversion rates toward a “zerowaste” goal. In partnership with food-service partner DNC, the arena’s chefs are now leading an effort to compost all food scraps, averaging more than 1,000 pounds per event.

In 2010 the DETROIT RED WINGS equipment staff piloted a recycling program within their locker room at the Joe Louis Arena. Equipment managers introduced daily efforts to recycle broken composite hockey sticks, steel skate blades, plastic skate-blade holders, plastic visors and a variety of textiles, including used T-shirts, skate laces and towels.

In May 2008 the Quebec government’s ICI ON RECYCLE! Program gave the BELL CENTRE, home of the Canadiens, a level 3 certification for recycling and composting 80% of the facility’s waste. Since then, the Bell Centre has increased the level to 85%.

Each month, the New Jersey Devils’ PRUDENTIAL CENTER collects waste cooking oil from food stands. A local renewable-energy company converts the cooking oil into biodiesel fuel used to power generators and the repurposed Devils Army truck.

The Maple Leafs have achieved a 74% reduction in landfilled waste since 2007. The AIR CANADA CENTRE recently installed an innovative system that turns organic food waste into water in 24 hours. Food waste is completely digested and converted to water safe for discharge with other wastewater.

In 2011 the TAMPA BAY TIMES FORUM embarked on a $50 million capital-improvement project. The arena, home of the Lightning, recycled 68% of the construction debris, saving more than $112,000 by diverting recyclables such as wood, metal and plastic — including the approximately 20,000 seats replaced — from entering landfill. In total, the arena diverted more than 5 million pounds of construction waste, for which it received the Champion of the Forest award from Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful.

Facility operators paint the ice with white, thermally conductive paints that can reduce the refrigerant load by 5 to 15%. Radiant heat energy from lights, among other sources, is reflected away from the ice by the paint. Reflecting light back into the rink also reduces the number of lights required to provide adequate illumination. This further reduces energy and maintenance costs.

PROCUREMENT AND OPERATIONS

NHL arena managers strive for sustainable operations within their facilities by promoting both responsible procurement strategies and operations training for efficient utility, fuel and waste-management practices. Doing so is both a good business practice and can yield cost savings for arenas and their partners

Working with concessionaires, more than half of NHL Clubs and arenas have now adopted environmentally responsible procurement policies which consider the relative environmental, social and health benefits of available choices when buying equipment, materials, supplies and food. These policies also require vendors to reduce their use of

packaging and to condense shipments. Purchasing regionally manufactured materials and/ or locally grown food reduces transportation and associated pollution and supports local communities. With food purchasing, more arenas and their concessionaires are now offering organic and Fair Trade options to fans, as well as locally grown food. Combined, these efforts significantly reduce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, waste and — in some cases — costs.

SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT: TODAY, NHL ARENAS ARE

Choosing nontoxic cleaning supplies and paints,
Switching to environmentally preferred paper and office supplies, and
Contracting for recyclable or compostable cutlery, plates and other serviceware.

SOURCE REDUCTION

It is important to note that procurement is linked closely with waste management, as the volume and types of waste generated by our arenas can be controlled to some degree through purchasing decisions. Comprehensive green procurement strategies reduce operations and maintenance costs in two ways: (1) Use of fewer materials, such as packaging, might help lower purchase and transportation costs; and (2) Use of fewer materials might result in lower landfill costs.

OPERATIONS AND PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE

NHL facilities that provide continual staff training on operational best practices, including preventive maintenance, can achieve significant benefits that extend the life of equipment and materials. Simple measures, such as turning off unnecessary lighting, engaging in postgame recycling sweeps, closing doors and curtains and creating an overall culture of reporting and feedback help reduce both financial expenditures and environmental impacts. Operations teams perform periodic reviews of mechanical systems, define and seasonally adjust control strategies, and identify and respond to foreseeable issues.

PROCUREMENT AND OPERATIONS: LEAGUE

In an effort to enhance environmental performance, NHL offices have instituted purchasing policies that give preference to environmentally intelligent products. More sustainable purchasing policies and ecologically smarter operations offer us the chance to reduce overall operating costs through lower waste-management fees and reduced energy and water expenses.

With help from our supplier STAPLES, the League purchases, where feasible, environmentally preferred supplies in the following categories: copy paper; filing, storage and binding materials; envelopes, labels and mailing items; writing implements; desk accessories; and ink and toner cartridges. For printing and copying, NHL offices use only paper containing at least 30 percent post-consumer recycled content. By making the switch from tree-based paper to recycled paper prior to 2010, the League annually reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 7,629 metric tons of carbon

dioxide equivalent. We are currently defining more environmentally preferable office purchasing policies, subject to availability, quality and cost. It is the policy of the NHL to give procurement preference to paper made from post-consumer recycled content. For tree-based paper, we give preference to those paper products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and will continue to work with advisors and suppliers to identify the better environmental options for reducing shipments and packaging.

In recent years the League has moved many publications, such as media guides and directories, to a digital-only format. The purchase of signage for events has also shifted to environmentally preferred products, in some cases made from significant amounts of post-consumer recycled material. The League works with printers and suppliers to develop cradle-to-cradle strategies that encourage recycling or repurposing original materials and signage post-event.

RECYCLED-PAPER SAVINGS AT THE NEW YORK CITY OFFICE

According to STAPLES, the NHL’s purchases of post-consumer recycled-paper products in fiscal year 2012 helped save

68 trees

the energy equivalent to 152 gallons of oil

40,276 gallons of water

27,984,000 BTUs of energy

The NHL’s purchases of post-consumer recycled-paper products in fiscal year 2013 helped save

75 trees

the energy equivalent to 168 gallons of oil

44,557 gallons of water

30,859,000 BTUs of energy

PROCUREMENT AND OPERATIONS: CLUBS

NHL arenas are working to improve operations by setting specific goals using well established environmental guidelines. Within the past few years, FIVE NHL CLUBS, THEIR FACILITIES AND CONCESSIONAIRES HAVE ACHIEVED ISO1 4001 CERTIFICATION, which sets up an effective environmental management system and provides assurance that environmental impact is being measured and improved.

CASE STUDIES

At TD GARDEN, the Boston Bruins and concessionaire partner Delaware North Companies Sportservice use ENERGY STAR certified equipment in the kitchens, where they source local produce, use Green Seal approved cleaning products and have switched to food containers and cutlery made of recycled materials. The kitchens at the facility serve local farm-raised fish and Fair Trade certified coffee, and more local microbrews are continually introduced for greater beer selection. Through more efficiant shipment practices TD Garden has reduced emissions resulting from the transportation of all products. The arena also recently achieved ISO 14001 certification.

In October 2011 the Philadelphia Flyers and Comcast-Spectacor, with help from their concessions provider and waste hauler, officially launched a major composting initiative at WELLS FARGO CENTER. The facility now procures an assortment of compostable items — such as utensils and plates. These items are then included in the composting program along with all food waste. During the 2011-12 NHL season, Wells Fargo Center recycled and composted 375 more tons than it did during the previous season, 2.5 times more material than was disposed of in the trash.

The VERIZON CENTER (WASHINGTON CAPITALS), AIR CANADA CENTRE (TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS) and WELLS FARGO CENTER (PHILADELPHIA FLYERS) recently upgraded their housekeeping systems by implementing a new cleaning that effectively turns regular tap water into a highly efficient cleaner. The machine, which is used to scrub concourses and clean glass and mirrored surfaces, uses sodium-enriched water charged with electricity. This unique system allows these facilities to use fewer chemically based cleaning products.

The Vancouver Canucks, a founding member of the Green Sports Alliance, have revamped paper-purchasing policies to avoid the use of tree-based paper; the Club instead procures paper with high recycled content. At ROGERS ARENA all washroom paper products are made from 100% recycled paper. Increased electronic correspondence with season ticket holders, the conversion of nearly all media guides to electronic copies, and the reduction in size of the Canucks Game Day Magazine from a 100-page publication to a one-page poster pullout, have contributed to a more environmentally conscious operation.

In the winter months, walkways leading into the SCOTIABANK SADDLEDOME are covered with highly absorbent granules that immediately embed into ice, causing a sandpaper-like safety layer for Calgary Flames fans walking to the arena. Unlike road salt, this chloride-free substance does not damage infrastructure and will not pollute water, infest soil, damage footwear or harm animals or greenery.

Visitors to New York City’s Times Square prior to the 2012 NHL Playoffs had a unique opportunity — to drink from the STANLEY CUP, a time-honored NHL tradition. Only in this case, a 21-foot high, 6,600-pound replica served as a working water fountain, dispensing pure, clean New York City tap water. NBC Sports, the NHL and NYC Water encouraged fans to try tap water and create less waste, offering reusable souvenir cups to the public.

GREENER EVENTS AND COMMUNITIES

GREENING PREMIERE NHL EVENTS

THE NHL WORKS WITH THE HOST FACILITY TO DEVELOP AND PROMOTE ITS GREENING OBJECTIVES.

At the NHL, we are continuing to refine our skills related to creating and hosting more sustainable events. To date, we have put a greater focus on greening venues, operations and communities, while providing the most exciting and enjoyable experience for all fans. Though our reach as a League is international, our Clubs and events have a significant local impact. We strive to support our local environments in a way that reflects the unparalleled support we receive from our fans.

Throughout the calendar year, the League hosts a number of premiere events, including the NHL Winter Classic, NHL All-Star Game, NHL Draft and NHL Awards, among many others. Each year since 2008, NHL hockey has returned outdoors to celebrate the tradition, origins and heritage of the game. We are continuing to refine our holistic approach to greener premiere League events and hope to better quantify the total environmental impact of our events in future reports.

GREENER EVENTS AND COMMUNITIES: CASE STUDY

The NHL Draft — which is held at NHL arenas — has been used to pilot NEW ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS AND FAN ENGAGING INITIATIVES SINCE 2010.

Immediately following the launch of NHL Green, the League implemented a number of sustainable practices at the 2010 NHL Draft, held in Los Angeles at STAPLES CENTER, home of the Kings. The facility boasts a large solar array, high-efficiency lighting, waterless urinals and 50% annual landfill diversion rates. STAPLES Center, the first arena in the United States to receive an ISO 14001 certification, developed an environmental-management system to guide employees about how to reduce the environmental impact of the facility’s daily operations. The Draft included several additional environmental initiatives, such as the elimination of most paper collateral through electronic-only media guides; reduced transportation needs through strategic hotel planning for NHL personnel; and the purchase of Green-e Energy certified carbon offsets.

The 2011 NHL Draft was held in St. Paul, Minnesota at XCEL ENERGY CENTER, home of the Wild. Since 2009 the Xcel Energy Center has realized significant reductions in energy, water and waste through equipment retrofits, operational changes and the integration of renewable energy. For the 2011 Draft, the League partnered with the Wild to design several ecological measures aimed at promoting sustainable practices at the event and beyond. These efforts included providing preferred parking for hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles, free bus and rail transit, new on-site bike racks made of recycled content, an in-arena electronic waste recycling drive, and the purchase of wind energy to offset the electricity used at the Draft. Prior to the first selection of the Draft, an EPA representative publicly announced the League’s commitment to the agency’s ENERGY STAR and WasteWise programs. The Minnesota Wild and the Xcel Energy Center have since received awards from the EPA’s WasteWise on three separate occasions.

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ CONSOL ENERGY CENTER, the first NHL arena to receive LEED Gold certification for New Construction, was the site of the 2012 NHL Draft. The facility received high marks for water-use reduction, use of recycled and regional materials, demolition and construction- waste diversion, use of certified wood, and use of energy-efficient building equipment. Displays can be found throughout the arena describing these green building features. As part of the League’s commitment to preserve and support the local environments of host cities for NHL events, NHL Green introduced the Legacy Tree Project at the 2012 NHL Draft, donating 30 mature trees to support a neighboring community center.

The 2013 NHL Draft- held at the Devil’s PRUDENTIAL CENTER in Newark, NJ- marked the second annual Legacy Tree Project. In cooperation with the Devils Care Foundation, 30 trees were planted around the venue to symbolize each Club’s commitment to sustainability. This project featured cherry trees and pear trees, creating an aesthetic reminiscent of vintage Devils colors, with green foliage accompanied by red and white blossoms. Commissioner Bettman was joined by Devil’s ownership, Stanley Cup champion Ken Daneyko, and U.S. Senator Cory Booker to celebrate the planting.

The day of the Draft, NHL Green partnered with Restore Hockey to collect and refurbish used equipment. Fans generously donated hundreds of items- from helmets to goalie pads- to support youth hockey programs that promote the game to the next generation.

GREENER EVENTS AND COMMUNITIES: CLUBS

The Buffalo Sabres — through the BLUE & GOLD MAKE GREEN INITIATIVE launched during the 2007-08 season — are dedicated to protecting and preserving the environment of western New York and southern Ontario. Since then, the organization has developed and hosted many environmental activities and educational opportunities in the community, including annual spring cleanup events along Buffalo’s waterfront, tree plantings, e-waste drives and document-shredding events.

The Chicago Blackhawks annually hold GO GREEN GAMES during which all electricity used is matched with an equivalent investment in renewable-energy credits, enough to avoid approximately 63 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions (or roughly the equivalent of burning 146 barrels of oil). The events offer fans the chance to win tickets to future games by submitting their own Go Green tips via the Blackhawks Facebook page.

Among the robust recycling efforts at the 2011 NHL All-Star Game, held at PNC Arena, home of the Carolina Hurricanes, was the introduction of TAILGATE RECYCLING outside the arena. Volunteers from Wake County Environmental Services Hurricanes staff — who facilitated the collection of several tons of recyclable materials, such as glass, plastic and aluminum — engaged hockey fans who were tailgating in parking areas before the game.

Prior to Earth Day 2011, the New York Rangers, in partnership with the Garden of Dreams Foundation, transformed a local unused fitness center into a functional computer lab for youths. The ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS REFURBISHMENT included everything from new bamboo floors, eco-friendly clay walls, nontoxic paint, and solar shades to brand-new energy-efficient computers.

For the past three years the San Jose Sharks have co-hosted BEACH CLEANUPS at Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz, a popular destination among locals. In 2012 volunteers helped pick up more than 140 pounds of trash and over 40 pounds of recyclables during the event.

CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE, home of the Ottawa Senators and host to the 2012 Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game, underwent A FULL-SCALE ENERGY AUDIT following this mid-season showcase. The audit identified potential improvements in operations and equipment to enhance efficiency and performance, and reduce energy and maintenance costs.

In 2012 the Dallas Stars hosted an ELECTRONICS RECYCLING EVENT at American Airlines Center, which provided Stars fans with a safe, responsible way to recycle their electronics. The first 100 participants who donated a recyclable item were offered two tickets to a Stars game. The Club also worked with one of its corporate partners to produce Green Team videos — aired in-game and on stars.nhl.com — which educated fans on topics such as home composting, eating local produce, and water conservation.

TRANSPORTATION

In 2012 THE LEAGUE PURCHASED 584 METRIC TONS OF VERIFIED EMISSION REDUCTIONS — ALSO KNOWN AS CARBON OFFSETS — to counter-balance emissions resulting from all Club air travel during the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. All offsets were from projects authenticated by the Verified Carbon Standard, an independent accounting program that validates, measures, monitors and ensures the environmental benefit of the carbon-offset projects.

The nature of our business requires us to travel — it is unavoidable for a professional sports league. The NHL recognizes the impact of travel on the environment, and we continue to investigate opportunities to lessen our impact through more-efficient scheduling, alternative modes of transport and the increased use of virtual meetings.

28 Clubs and arenas regularly offer fans and employees incentives for:

mass
transit

carpooling

alternativealt. fuel
vehicles

riding a
bicycle

At special events the league encourages fans to consider how transportation has environmental impacts on the game. At past premiere events, the League has teamed with sponsors and local transit partners to offer free alternatives to driving and has set aside preferential parking spots for hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles.

A few NHL facilities have improved on-site infrastructure to encourage more sustainable transportation by providing electric-car charging stations, secure bicycle parking or bike-share programs. Not captured in this first environmental report is the impact of emissions and other environmental impacts related to fan travel and the transportation aspect of food/vendor supply chains. We acknowledge that the GHG emissions from these categories might be significant, given that more than 22 million people attend NHL games each season and food supply chains operate in global distribution systems. Because of the complexity and challenges associated with understanding these emissions, our goal for future reporting is to explore methods to quantify fan travel impacts. Transportation — a scope 3 emission capturing the travel of teams during the season and of League staff throughout the year — constitutes approximately 18% of the League’s total carbon inventory.

TRANSPORTATION: LEAGUE AND CLUBS

LEAGUE

Because our business is based in 30 markets throughout North America, the majority of business travel originating at League headquarters is unavoidable. In response, we have developed guidelines promoting efficient environmentally sound travel and encourage the use of mass transit.

CLUBS

Each NHL season, the League’s 30 Clubs — spread throughout North America — play 1,230 regularseason games and more than 60 Playoff contests, logging over 3,800 chartered-flight hours, or nearly 2 million miles. Air travel is far and away the NHL’s most environmentally impactful mode of transportation. In an effort to reduce transportation impacts, the League continues to balance a multitude of factors, devising the most efficient circuit while effectively promoting the game. It remains within the League’s best interests — financially, environmentally, and for the sake of our players and staff — to limit the number of air miles traveled.

With the League’s transportation impacts in mind, in 2007, defenseman Andrew Ference, now with the Edmonton Oilers, and the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) initiated the NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge — a program designed by world-renowned scientist Dr. David Suzuki. Nearly 1,000 players signed on to the voluntary program in the first two years, purchasing carbon credits to offset the footprint produced by their travel schedule.

AVERAGE ANNUAL CLUB TRAVEL

In the Regular Season, an average NHL Club:

LOGS 130 CHARTER PLANE HOURS
or approximately 65,000 air miles — emitting 3,136 metric tons of CO2.

Source: National Hockey League analysis of Club air travel based on information from air travel charter companies.

TRANSPORTATION: CLUBS

BELL CENTRE, where the Montreal Canadiens play, provides reserved and priority parking for hybrid cars.

THE PEPSI CENTER, home of the Colorado Avalanche, has preferential parking spaces designated for hybrid cars. Additionally, signs posted on Chopper Circle in front of the Pepsi Center box office now promote a No Idling Zone to help reduce automobile emissions.

Prior to the opening of the PRUDENTIAL CENTER in 2007, the New Jersey Devils designed a transportation plan to increase mass-transit ridership to games. By encouraging season-long rail passes and offering up-to-the-minute in-arena train schedules, plus improving the pedestrian experience between the arena and transit stations, the Club found that mass transit ridership to the Prudential nearly doubled preopening estimates.

Given its urban location in the heart of midtown Manhattan, above Pennsylvania Station, MADISON SQUARE GARDEN boasts that New York Rangers fans have among the highest mass-transit rates in the League.

New, recycled-content bike racks are located in multiple locations around XCEL ENERGY CENTER, providing secure storage for bike-riding Minnesota Wild fans and staff. Bus stops are located close to the facility, and staff members are offered bus vouchers as a benefit, to encourage the use of public transportation. Also, two electric-vehicle charging stations have been installed in preferred parking locations.

TRUE NORTH SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT, owner of the Winnipeg Jets, promotes employee wellness programs such as an annual ride-your-bike-to-work campaign, in which individual and companywide efforts are recognized in carbon dioxide emission savings. The campaign expects to save more than 4,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions during its first two years.

"I REALLY DO THINK ALL OF THIS COMES DOWN TO RESPECT. Either you respect your kids, your neighbors, your city and our future — either you respect it enough to get off your ass and do something about it — or you don't.”

— ANDREW FERENCE

OUR PLAYERS

Hockey players — both active ones and alumni — are often lauded for their social consciousness. Many have developed a passion for environmental issues because they want to see future generations receive an opportunity to play hockey outside, as they once did.

This section describes the work of some of the most visible and vocal players taking a stand for the environment.

ANDREW FERENCE

Stanley Cup champion defenseman Andrew Ference has led the environmental movement within sports for years. In 2007 he launched the NHLPA Carbon Neutral Challenge, garnering support from fellow players to help offset GHG emissions associated with team travel. Since then, the Oilers' captain has showcased his personal devotion to living a sustainable lifestyle through a National Geographic web

series and as the keynote speaker in July 2012 at the Green Sports Alliance Summit in Seattle. Ference has visited elementary schools to talk about the benefits of composting, met with MIT grad students to discuss the future of renewable energy and can be found riding his bicycle to the arena on game days.

WILLIE MITCHELL

Stanley Cup champion defenseman Willie Mitchell, currently of the Los Angeles Kings, is an avid outdoorsman from coastal Port McNeill, British Columbia. Growing up in rural B.C., Mitchell developed a deep affinity for the ocean, where he spent much of his time when away from the rink.

Mitchell's primary off-ice battle has been in the fight for the future of the wild Pacific salmon. Once found in great numbers, these fish have become dangerously depleted because of open-net farming and the rapid spread of aquatic diseases, which can have deadly repercussions for the young of this species.

Compelled to help protect the wild Pacific salmon and his local ecosystem, Mitchell became involved with and eventually joined the board of directors of Save Our Salmon (saveoursalmon.ca), an organization dedicated to preserving stocks of wild Pacific salmon, which are essential to the ecological, cultural and economic well-being of British Columbia.

"FOR ME, THE BEAUTY OF A FROZEN LAKE IS MORE THAN FREE ICE TIME; IT IS FREEDOM ITSELF.
As enjoyable as the simple act of skating is - its efficiency, rhythm and speed - to skate outside is altogether different. It is pure magic.”.

- MIKE RICHTER

MIKE RICHTER

In his 15-year professional career in the National Hockey League, goaltender Mike Richter was a three-time NHL All-Star and in 1994 led the New York Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Championship in 54 years. For Richter, retirement was only the beginning. He is now a champion of the environment.

Richter studied ethics, politics and economics, with a minor in environmental policy, at Yale University and now sits on the board of directors for a number of prestigious nongovernmental organizations. In 2010 he began collaborating with the NRDC in its efforts to bring best ecological practices to the sports industry. Together they launched Athletes for a Healthy Planet, an organization dedicated to fostering an understanding of the connection environmental issues have with human health, the economy, social justice and well-being.

Richter's current private venture, Healthy Planet Partners, is a project-finance fund that supports and manages the deployment of renewable-energy technologies and energy-saving retrofits for commercial facilities of all sizes. It also supports and manages procurement of green energy for facilities ranging from professional arenas to high school and municipal athletic complexes. Healthy Planet Partners reduces both the operating costs and ecological footprint of these facilities.

“I GREW UP OUTSIDE — HIKING, FISHING, SKIING IN THE WINTER, REALLY ENJOYING THIS AMAZING PROVINCE [BRITISH COLUMBIA], THIS AMAZING COUNTRY THAT WE HAVE. As I traveled around the world and saw different places, I always came back in the summer and realized what an amazing, special place this is. Because I enjoy being out there, because I realize these places aren't everywhere in the world, I just feel it's important that we do our best to protect them.”

- SCOTT NIEDERMAYER

SCOTT NIEDERMAYER

Scott Niedermayer, four-time Stanley Cup champion defenseman, now an assistant coach for the Anaheim Ducks, has had success at every level of his hockey career. Today, Niedermayer brings that same spirit and winning record to his work as a World Wildlife Fund Freshwater Ambassador, and especially in his role as spokesperson for Canadians for the Great Bear (a region of British Columbia's north coast), championing one of the richest and most spectacular ecosystems in the world.

During his playing career, Niedermayer was one of the first to drive an electric car to the rink. It's the same ride he used to pick up carpool partners including brother Rob Niedermayer and defenseman Chris Pronger. It was hardly a typical car choice for a world-renowned professional athlete. As teammates began to understand the benefits of an alternative-fuel vehicle, some purchased similar models for themselves.

“Being outdoors, it goes back to my childhood. It's where I learned to play. A lot of fond memories. You're just playing for fun. There's no pressure, nobody watching and you're just out there having fun with your friends.”

DUNCAN KEITH, CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

“Ramsey Lake, up in Sudbury, Ontario, where my family's from, being a little kid my dad used to bring me out there. Minor hockey too... we used to play once a week outside on just a local outdoor rink. It wasn't so much practice, we would just go out there and play shinny and have fun and just enjoy playing the game. We played a lot outside.”

JOHN TAVARES, NEW YORK ISLANDERS

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Through the advancement and adoption of new technologies, the refinement of operations and procedures, and an ever-increasing level of environmental awareness, the League will continue on the journey toward greater environmental sustainability.

ADVANCED REPORTING

A primary goal of the League is to advance the standards, mechanisms, scope and quality of reporting of our operations data, which will provide us with more accurate information to improve facility management.

Currently, utility and waste data are gathered manually; information prepared by utility and service providers is relayed through the facility operations teams of all 30 Clubs and assembled at the League. This process can be improved to avoid errors in reporting and transmission, and to extract more refined data. The League encourages more specific data reporting at the facility level using real-time utility tracking. These solutions have the potential to lower energy and water use, and allow for more intelligent maintenance of facilities and equipment.

more specific data reporting at the facility level using real-time utility tracking. These solutions have the potential to lower energy and water use, and allow for more intelligent maintenance of facilities and equipment.

For our next environmental report, we hope to expand and improve on certain categories of collected data, such as refrigerants and fan transportation.

EXPLORING NEW TECHNOLOGY

NHL arenas continue to explore new technologies that improve efficiency or generate cleaner energy onsite. Here are some examples:

Lighting

During the 2012-13 season, Montreal's BELL CENTRE piloted new sports-arena LED game lights. The brightness of the facility was increased, yet it consumes 60 percent less electricity than its old metal halide system did. Each of the new system's light fixtures is expected to last for 54,000 hours, as opposed to 3,000 hours for each fixture in the old system, reducing replacement costs, labor cost, and waste. In addition, because the lights emit no heat, the facility can reduce air conditioning costs. The League is in the process of reviewing feedback from players, officials, broadcast partners and facility managers to evaluate the quality of the LEDs for game use.

ON-SITE ENERGY

THE HONDA CENTER, home of the Anaheim Ducks, recently announced an on-site solid oxide fuel cell technology installation. The 750-kilowatt project generates 80% of the arena's base load power and 25% during a Ducks game. The power is generated using multiple fuel sources, including natural gas and biogas, and will account for 51% of the total power required annually for the arena. On average, the arena expects the project to offset 2 million pounds of CO2 emissions annually. The Honda Center is the second NHL arena to deploy such technology, following the Sharks' SAP Center at San Jose.

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

THE MTS CENTRE, home of the Winnipeg Jets, is developing a process to recapture heat from the ice plant, reusing the heat energy to boil water for ice resurfacers and for use at the loading-dock area. The heat will be used in pipes under the loading ramp as well, to keep it from icing up in the winter. Plus, MTS Centre plans to purchase a heat-recovery ventilation system, to improve indoor air quality and climate control, while also saving energy by reducing heating (and cooling) needs.

SETTING GOALS

Each season, the League's 30 Clubs set out with one goal: to win the Stanley Cup. When it comes to environmental sustainability in our arenas, however, greening is an ongoing process that does not end with each season. All Clubs and their arenas face a

unique set of circumstances and challenges. Though we have aggregated operations data in this first environmental report, we recognize that sustainability goals are not ‘one size fits all.

In 2008 the AIR CANADA CENTRE, where the Toronto Maple Leafs play, launched a five-year plan that set ambitious environmental goals:

Reduce energy use by 30%.
Reduce the carbon footprint by 30%.
Increase the waste diversion rate to 95%.

The facility recorded impressive results by 2011, including a 48% reduction in waste and a carbon-footprint reduction of 34% — and was presented with the 2011 Stadium Business Awards' Sustainability Award.

In 2009 the XCEL ENERGY CENTER campus, home to the Minnesota Wild, announced a long-term, multifaceted sustainability plan:

Reduce the carbon footprint by 80%.
Make the arena 20% more energy efficient than similar buildings within three years.
Reduce trash generated at the facility by 50%, and increase the recycling rate to 50%.

Within three years the campus reduced carbon emissions by more than 7,100 metric tons (a 35% carbon-footprint reduction) and increased its waste diversion rates beyond the 50% target.)

As a League, it will be our goal to assist Clubs and their facilities in setting environmental-sustainability targets specific to their operations and their individually benchmarked data. A number of NHL Clubs already have set clearly defined goals that are specific, quantitative and time-bound. These Clubs and their arenas have made

substantial progress, reducing their environmental impacts and realizing cost savings. Other Clubs and arenas are in pursuit of standards set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or U.S. Green Building Council (developers of LEED).

FUTURE ARENAS

The New York Islanders will move to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, in 2015. The venue, which has achieved LEED Silver certification, boasts significant energy- and water- efficient technologies, including waterless urinals and a stormwater-retention system. Barclays Center has access to one of the most comprehensive transportation networks of any sports venue in North America. The facility estimates that more than 75% of its customers take public transit.

The Edmonton Oilers are under way with plans for a new arena in the city's downtown. The arena is expected to receive LEED Silver certification. Early proposals for the facility, which is slated to open in 2016, maximize the use of natural light throughout and feature a number of energy efficient building systems and technologies.

Afterword: Mike Richter

To this day, hockey fans of all ages cherish the tradition of the outdoor game. The NHL annually honors this pastime in events such as the NHL Winter Classic, NHL Heritage Classic and upcoming NHL Stadium Series. As fans, we must remember that we rely on nature to provide us with such perfect conditions for hockey in its purest form.

Growing up in a northwestern suburb of Philadelphia, I always dreamed of one day playing in the NHL. Ice time of any sort was hard to come by, so when the ponds froze over, my world began.

I used to picture myself as a young Guy Lafleur on the frozen St. Laurence River, or Rocket Richard on a farm somewhere in Quebec. I remember practicing kick saves all alone for as long as there was daylight.

For me, the beauty of a frozen lake is more than free ice time; it is freedom itself. As enjoyable as the simple act of skating is — its efficiency, rhythm and speed — to skate outside is altogether different. It is pure magic. Here is where young players, limited only by their imagination, develop their true genius for the sport.

So it is truly a loss when these opportunities vanish in the shifting terrain of climate change. In a paper published in 2012 from the Institute of Physics' Environmental Research Letters, researchers found a 20 to 30% decrease in the length of Canadian skating seasons over the past 50 years, with the biggest drops in Alberta, eastern British Columbia, and the southern Prairie regions. That same year the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, the world's largest natural frozen skating rink, had to close before March 1, making its skating season a much-abbreviated 28 days.

While one specific weather event isn't necessarily a function of climate change, there is now a documented impact being felt in backyard rinks around the world. Regardless of whether you are a 15-year-old kid or a 60-year-old hockey veteran releasing your inner teenager on the outdoor ice, we as hockey fans have much at stake.

As the founder of a financial company that focuses on energy efficiency, I know that market-based solutions exist that can reduce our environmental footprint, while generating business and boosting the economy.

I also know that NHL fans are the most passionate and loyal of fans. Together, the hockey community has the power to address this issue. We can demand policies and pursue projects that help keep our air clean, communities green and ponds frozen. As hockey fans, it is imperative that we take the time to understand these issues and make the effort to become strong environmental stewards. The future of our sport, and your local pond hockey game, depends on all of us.

LETTER FROM THE NHL GREEN TEAM

IT IS WITH GREAT PRIDE THAT WE PRESENT THIS SUSTAINABILITY REPORT — one that aims to document the activities of NHL Green and provides a road map for our future ambitions. The success of NHL Green is primarily due to the leadership of our Clubs and their venue partners, and we are appreciative of their engagement and support. We continue to advance the mission of NHL Green by sharing best practices in operations, facilitating dialogue during our monthly sustainability calls and adopting operational sustainability throughout the League.

In particular, we would like to thank our NHL Club Sustainability Representatives and facility managers, all of whom continue to be integral partners in promoting environmental awareness throughout the NHL: Adam Fullerton, Adam Sinclair, Al Hutchings, Andrew Higgins, Andrew Wilkinson, Angelo Ruffolo, Anne Merriman, Beth Liberty, Bill Herman, Bill Martino, Bob Hunter, Brent Mater, Brett Stafansson, Brian Magness, Tim Owens, Brian Magness, Brian McBride, Brian McPartland, Bryan Leslie, Chris Jones, Chris Werner, Christina Reeves, Dan McGowan, Darryl Benge, Dave Touhey, David Kells, David Martella, David Sherrill, Don Newman, Ed Healy, Ed Meichsner, Gail Clark, Howard Saffan, Indira Fisher, James Cefaly, Jason Beckett, Jay Roberts, Jennifer Regan, Jerry O’Shea, Jim Foss, Jim Ibister, Jim Koehler, Jon Trzcienski, John Marler, Julie Dailey, Katie Bailey, Keith Shattenkirk, Kenneth Erney, Kerryann Tomlinson, Kevin Starkey, Krista Ballard, Lynette Klingenmeier, Merit Tully, Mark Gheduzzi, Mark Vaillant, Mary Milne, Matt Abbott, Matt Chmura, Matt Silberman, Michael Doyle, Michael Stuver, Mike Rock, Mike Tierney, Mose Boyer, Nicole Vandenburg, Patrick Reeves, Paul MacDonald, Renee Richardson, Rich Arcangel, Rich Jureller, Rich Sotelo, Rob Blanchard, Sam Carr, Sandra Yallop, Sean Langer, Stan Makowski, Stuart Low, Tim Beach, Tim Landis, Tim Owens, Tom Conroy, Tom W. Cornwall, Tripp Turbiville, Tyler Schmitt and Xavier Luydlin.

In addition, we thank our environmental advisor, the Natural Resources Defense Council. Dr. Allen Hershkowitz and the NRDC Sports Greening Program – including Darby Hoover and Alice Henly – have been exceptional in their encouragement and technical support of our efforts, and we are inspired by their leadership in the greening-in-sports movement.

We also thank our greener partners who have been instrumental in accelerating the momentum of this movement. In particular, the Green Sports Alliance has been a significant ally and resource, and we thank the GSA’s Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board Scott Jenkins, Executive Director Martin Tull, David Muller and Sara Hoversten. We also appreciate the support of our other non profit and governmental partners including, Beyond Sport, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, US Environmental Protection Agency, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, US Department of Energy, Natural Resources Canada, USA Hockey, Restore Hockey, HEROES Hockey and You Can Play.

To continue our forward momentum, we need the engagement of all stakeholders. We look to our own fans, employees, corporate partners and players to partner with us in this endeavor. This is the initial stage of a much longer journey toward greater sustainability, one which we are confident we can achieve together.

NHL GREEN TEAM

Craig Harnett, Senior Executive Vice President and CFO
Bernadette Mansur, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Executive Director, NHL Foundation
Omar Mitchell, Director, Sustainability
Alexander Townsend-Mitchell, Senior Manager, Team Reporting
Paul LaCaruba, Coordinator, Public Affairs

INDEX

GRI Indicator	Standard Disclosure Items for GRI Level-C	Report Location
1.1	Statement from the most senior decision-maker of the organization	Letter From the Commissioner
2.1	Name of the organization	About the National Hockey League
2.2	Primary brands, products, and/or services	About the National Hockey League
2.3	Operational structure of organization, including main divisions, operating companies, subsidiaries, and joint ventures	About NHL Green
2.3	Location of Organization's headquarters	Arenas and Offices
2.4	Number of countries where the organization operates and names of countries with major operations	About the National Hockey League
2.6	Nature of ownership and legal form	About this report
2.7	Markets served (including geographic breakdown, sectors served, and types of customers / beneficiaries)	About the National Hockey League
2.8	Scale of the reporting organization	About the National Hockey League
2.9	Significant changes during the reporting periods regarding size, structure, or ownership	About the National Hockey League
2.10	Awards received in the reporting period	About NHL Green
3.1	Reporting period (e.g., fiscal/calendar year) for information provided	About this Report
3.2	Date of most recent previous report (if any)	N/A for this report
3.3	Reporting cycle (annual, biennial, etc.)	Letter from the Dir. of Sustainability
3.4	Contact point for questions regarding the report or its contents	Building for the Future
3.5	Process for defining report content	About This Report
3.6	Boundary of the report (e.g., countries, divisions, subsidiaries, leased facilities, joint ventures, suppliers)	About This Report
3.7	Limitations on the scope or boundary of the report (See completeness principle for explanation of scope)	About This Report
3.8	Basis for reporting on joint ventures, subsidiaries, leased facilities and outsourced operations, etc.	About This Report
3.10	Explanation of the effect of any re-statements of information provided in earlier reports	N/A for this report
3.11	Significant changes from previous reporting periods in the scope, boundary, and or measurement methods applied in the report	N/A for this report
3.12	Table identifying the location of the Standard Disclosures in the report	Index
4.1	Governance structure, including committees under the highest governance body responsible for key tasks	About NHL Green
4.2	Indicate whether the Chair of the highest governance body is also an executive officer	About NHL Green
4.4	Mechanisms for shareholders and employees to provide recommendations to the highest governance body	About NHL Green
4.14	List of stakeholder groups engaged by the organization	About NHL Green
4.15	Basis for identification and selection of stakeholders with whom to engage	About NHL Green
EC-2	Financial Implications due to climate change	About This Report
LA-XX	Social impact on Community	Our Environmental Impact

Team Case Study Index

Anaheim
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Arizona
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Boston
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Buffalo
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Calgary
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Carolina
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Chicago
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Colorado
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Columbus
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Dallas
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Detroit
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Edmonton
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Florida
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Los Angeles
Minnesota

Montreal
Nashville
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New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
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New York Rangers
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Ottawa
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Philadelphia
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Pittsburgh
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San Jose
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St Louis
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Tampa Bay
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Toronto
Vancouver
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Washington
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Winnipeg

NHL.com is the official web site of the National Hockey League. NHL, the NHL Shield, the word mark and image of the Stanley Cup, Center Ice name and logo, NHL Conference logos and NHL Winter Classic name are registered trademarks and Vintage Hockey word mark and logo, Live Every Shift, Hot Off the Ice, The Game Lives Where You Do, NHL Power Play, NHL Winter Classic logo, NHL Heritage Classic name and logo, NHL Stadium Series name and logo, NHL All-Star Game logo, NHL Face-Off name and logo, NHL GameCenter, NHL GameCenter LIVE, NHL Network name and logo, NHL Mobile name and logo, NHL Radio, NHL Awards name and logo, NHL Draft name and logo, Hockey Fights Cancer, Because It's The Cup, The Biggest Assist Happens Off The Ice, NHL Green name and logo, NHL All-Access Vancouver name and logo, NHL Auctions, NHL Ice Time, Ice Time Any Time, Ice Tracker, NHL Vault, Hockey Is For Everyone, and Questions Will Become Answers are trademarks of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and NHL team logos and marks depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. © NHL 2014. All Rights Reserved. All NHL team jerseys customized with NHL players' names and numbers are officially licensed by the NHL and the NHLPA. The Zamboni word mark and configuration of the Zamboni ice resurfacing machine are registered trademarks of Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc. © Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved.

LETTER FROM COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS REPORT

ABOUT NHL GREEN

OUR PLAYERS

ABOUT THE NHL

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

LETTER FROM COMMISSIONER GARY BETTMAN

GARY B. BETTMAN

ABOUT THIS REPORT

BOBBY ORR

BOBBY ORR

GLOBAL REPORTING INITIATIVE (GRI)

BOUNDARIES AND LIMITATIONS

ASSURANCE

LETTER FROM DR. ALLEN HERSHKOWITZ, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL

ASSURANCE STATEMENT, MICHAEL P. TOTTEN, ASSETS FOR LIFE

STATEMENT OF VERIFICATION

INTRODUCTION

PROCEDURES OF LIMITED ASSURANCE

REPORTING CRITERIA

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

CONCLUSION

MICHAEL P. TOTTEN

OUR FANS

OUR FANS

ABOUT THE NHL

THE NHL HAS 68 MILLION FANS IN NORTH AMERICA

22

401

10

12+

ARENAS AND OFFICES

PACIFIC

ARIZONA COYOTES

ANAHEIM DUCKS

EDMONTON OILERS

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

CALGARY FLAMES

LOS ANGELES KINGS

SAN JOSE SHARKS

CENTRAL

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

DALLAS STARS

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

WINNIPEG JETS

COLORADO AVALANCHE

MINNESOTA WILD

ST. LOUIS BLUES

ATLANTIC

BOSTON BRUINS

DETROIT RED WINGS

MONTREAL CANADIENS

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

BUFFALO SABRES

FLORIDA PANTHERS

OTTAWA SENATORS

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

METROPOLITAN

CAROLINA HURRICANES

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

NEW YORK RANGERS

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

WAYNE GRETZKY

The National Hockey League is committed to promoting sustainable business practices

The National Hockey League is committed to promoting sustainable business practices

ABOUT NHL GREEN

NHL GREEN TIMELINE

FAN ENGAGEMENT

NHL FAN'S ENVIRONMENTAL INVOLVEMENT VERSUS THE AVERAGE U.S. ADULT, NHL FANS ARE:

11x

13x

19x

20x

Awards

Comprehensive refrigerant selection criteria include
safety, environmental, functional, performance and cost requirements.

over 6 million gallons of water donated each season^†