This year’s Principal Charity Classic is designed to be a carbon-neutral golf tournament, thanks to a new partnership with MidAmerican Energy Co. and Waste Management Inc. The event will be held June 1-5 at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines. The partnership’s “Shoot for Zero” initiative employs several tactics, including electric golf carts, solar-powered skybox televisions and more, to reduce the tournament’s environmental impact.

“The Principal Charity Classic is the kind of event that showcases the Greater Des Moines area as a great place to live,” said Mary O’Keefe, Principal’s chief marketing officer and chair of the tournament’s board. “‘Shoot for Zero’ will enhance the area’s reputation as a community that is committed to environmental stewardship and vibrancy.”

Other ways organizers will reduce the event’s carbon footprint in 2011 include on-site recycling centers for both recyclable and organic materials and the use of solar compactors. To offset the remaining carbon emissions associated with the event, MidAmerican Energy will provide and permanently retire renewable energy credits.

“On the course, no one can shoot a zero. But by reducing the event’s carbon impact where we can and offsetting what we can’t, the carbon footprint of the 2011 event is expected to be zero,” said Kevin Dodson, director of environmental programs, compliance and permitting for MidAmerican Energy.

The nearly 74,000 spectators expected to attend the event will be encouraged to “look before they throw’ so they put recyclables in one container and organic materials in another. Spectators also can stop by the MidAmerican Energy booth at the tournament to learn more about energy efficiency and purchase souvenir T-shirts made of 100 percent organic cotton. For every 10 T-shirts sold, a tree will be planted in commemoration of the 2011 event.