Josh Imhof | features editor

As hundreds of thousands of people descend upon Pittsburgh for the NFL Draft, they will be bringing more than just their wallets and attention to the Steel City. They will also be contributing to the environmental impact that comes with hosting a large-scale event.

“There’s a lot of things that people really don’t think about when you’re thinking about the carbon footprint,” said Phillip Reeder, professor of environmental and energy engineering at Duquesne University.

This impact goes beyond fans traveling and includes the production of raw materials, refinement of gases, generation of electricity and more.

“When you look at a huge event like this, you look at it on a variety of different levels,” he said.

In an effort to combat these effects, the Pittsburgh Local Organizing Committee has created an environmental and sustainability legacy plan, which combines the efforts of multiple local organizations.

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), which has planted over 42,000 trees as part of the TreeVitalize Pittsburgh program, has pledged to plant 400 new trees between March 2026 and Spring 2027.

Marah Fielden, director of community greening projects at WPC, said that the organization often works with the community to see how they can be best assisted, which leads to long-term progress.

“They want to see trees planted. They want to see gardens involved,” she said. “If they’re invested, they’re going to protect it. The sustainability is built right in.

In addition to the trees planted by WPC, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will be planting 100 trees throughout the city in neighborhoods that lack adequate coverage.

The announcement comes after trees around the North Shore area were removed in preparation for the NFL Draft.

According to the City Forestry Division, 100 trees are being removed, but they will be replaced by over 200 across the city.

“Our method for tree replacement is inch for inch, rather than tree for tree,” they said in a statement. “This means that one old-growth tree can be replaced by multiple young ones.”

Lisa Ceoffe, city forester, said that this replacement will happen across both public and private spaces, and anticipates completing the project by the Fall of 2027. The city will be working directly with neighborhood groups to decide the right species and planting locations, and also work to install larger pit sizes and new irrigation systems on some of the right of ways around Pittsburgh.

Reeder said that the planting of new trees would help mitigate carbon emissions from the draft.

“You are having a big event, flying in, driving in, so you’re going to have negative effects on the environment because of that,” Reeder said. “But then you’re offsetting it by the fact that trees take in the carbon dioxide and give off oxygen as something to help offset the carbon footprint.”

The city will also see a larger demand for water between the draft kickoff event on April 17 up to its conclusion on April 27, according to David Kennedy, manager of marketing and communications for Pittsburgh Water.

Historically, April is one of the lowest usage months of the year, Kennedy said.

“This can be attributed to two factors: Temperatures are warming up, making weather-related breaks less likely, and the summertime demand for things like swimming pools and outdoor events hasn’t begun yet,” Kennedy said.

But because of the large influx of people, the city will see an increase in water consumption.

By using data from past large-scale concert and sporting events, Pittsburgh Water has estimated a roughly 125 to 150 million gallon increase in water usage compared to the same time last year.

Local organizations have also worked to address issues dealing with litter and food waste.

Allegheny Cleanways, headed by Executive Director Caily Grube, has worked to clean up 50 miles of state highway as part of their Immaculate Collection initiative. The organization raised more than $1 million to sponsor stretches of Route 28, I-376 and I-79.

“When rumblings of the NFL Draft coming into town started, there was suddenly some new energy around how we look at litter cleanup and resources that could help support that go even further,” Grube said.

Because of PennDot regulations, only qualified contractors are allowed to clean up litter on stretches of sponsored highways. Grube said that her organization has raised enough money to fund their stretches of road until March 2028, two years after the draft is over.

“It’s gonna be the first impression that a lot of visitors will have when they’re driving off highways,” she said. “But what’s more important for us is that it’s going to create a sense of civic pride for the people who travel these roads every day, regardless of the NFL Draft.”

Grube said she was hopeful that these efforts would improve the mental health of Pittsburghers and the physical health of the wildlife that lives in the Steel City.

“It’s imperative for the people that live here everyday to have clean communities,” she said.

Josh Weiland, vice president of operations at 412 Food Rescue, said that his organization will be giving back to these communities by collecting food donations that would have otherwise gone to waste during the draft.

“All that catering that is coming into town to feed all of these people, that’s a lot of hungry bellies,” he said. “They’re not bringing their refrigerators with them.”

The organization plans to work as the middle man between NFL Draft organizers, local restaurants, hotels and local nonprofits by collecting and transporting rescued food. While he did not know an exact number, Weiland hoped to rescue 60,000 pounds of food during the week of the draft.

“We work to support these organizations to not have to pool their time and their bandwidth from moving food from A to B,” Weiland said.

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu