A quite dishonest ESG assessment of Roland Garros
All - Sep 06 2018
Lorenz Curve of Roland Garros prize Money
As the second tennis Grand Slam of 2018 enters its second week, at the time of writing we are not sure if Rafael Nadal already won his eleventh trophy on the clay courts of Roland Garros. However, we already have a good idea of the ESG performance of the tournament. First, we should point out the incredible inequality that players face. The winner of Roland Garros will win EUR 2.2 million, a whopping 733 times more than a player losing early in the qualification tournament.
Globally, Gini coefficient, which ranges between 0 (perfect equality) and 1 (extreme inequality: one person gets all wealth) reaches a terrible 0.74. For a matter of comparison, the worst country in terms of revenue inequality (South Africa) has a Gini coefficient of 0.63. The only positive element is the female-male salary alignment. However, some ball boys and girls are no more than 14 years old and, shamefully, are not even paid for spending hours under hot sun, running after yellow balls.
From an environmental point of view, 60,000 balls (changed every 9 games) are used (and recycled into flooring), 1 ton of bananas are eaten, and 100,000 bottles of water are sold during the two weeks of the tournament. On the top of that, the competitors are coming from all around the world, often by plane. A real environmental nightmare… Additionally, 26.4 tons of clay are transported from north of France to cover the 24 courts of Roland Garros. Fortunately, Wimbledon and its grass courts are coming, a good E point for the British Grand Slam.
Emeric Nicolas, Head of Statistics – Sources: Beyond Rating, Roland Garros, World Bank