The Minnesota Wild are taking a creative approach to tackle one of sports' biggest environmental challenges: the carbon footprint of team travel. By planting trees across the Twin Cities metro area, the NHL franchise is turning their road game emissions into a green opportunity for the community.

Partnering with Grand Casino Arena and St. Paul RiverCentre, the Wild have teamed up with Green Cities Accord, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit dedicated to building climate-resilient communities through expanded tree canopy infrastructure. This collaboration began in 2025, when the organization started looking for sustainable solutions to their unavoidable travel emissions.

"We looked at the hockey side of our business and said, 'We've got to fly our team around. We can't avoid that,'" explained Kate Setley, vice president and general manager of St. Paul RiverCentre. "So how can we get creative to offset that impact from our organization?"

The challenge is significant. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, transportation accounted for 28% of nationwide greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, covering everything from cars and trucks to commercial aircraft and railroads. For a hockey team that crisscrosses North America throughout the season, the environmental toll adds up fast.

Last season alone, the Wild offset more than 1,300 metric tons of carbon dioxide by purchasing carbon credits from Green Cities Accord. That's the equivalent of removing hundreds of cars from the road for an entire year. The nonprofit uses these funds to plant trees around the Twin Cities and restore the urban tree canopy, which naturally absorbs carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.

This initiative has inspired a new program called Trees for Travel at St. Paul RiverCentre. Now, events at Grand Casino Arena, St. Paul RiverCentre, and Roy Wilkins Auditorium can offset their attendees' travel emissions by purchasing carbon credits from Green Cities Accord. The process is seamless: event planners share attendee travel data, staff calculate the collective distance traveled, and carbon credits are purchased accordingly—all without any extra effort from the fans themselves.

For sports fans and eco-conscious shoppers alike, this story shows how teams can lead by example, proving that even the most carbon-intensive aspects of professional sports can find a greener path forward.