Supporting global sports organisations to increase ambition and action on climate change
Tottenham Hotspur tops the 2020 Premier League Sustainability Table, published today by BBC Sport and the Sport Positive Summit
Sport Positive Summit Founder Claire Poole was interviewed for Episode 8 : The Solutions / The Future
This challenging eight-part series investigates the links between sport and climate change and asks the sporting community, including us as fans, to assess our contribution to an unfolding crisis. Athletes, clubs and governing bodies tell stories from three angles; the impact of climate change on everyday sport, the contribution of sport to the global emergency and the solutions sport can deliver to help make a difference. Can sport lead on this? Why are athletes afraid? What can we all do to help make positive change? Made by www.ninetyfour19.com.
Bayern Munich and Liverpool play in red. Real Madrid are in white. Brazil play in yellow, while France play in blue. Now, however, it might be time for football teams to start playing in green.
This is not about football kit. It is about sport showing its environmental colours. Sport can be a powerful force for improving people’s health, changing lives and stirring emotions. This force can also be harnessed to have a positive impact on the climate, people and the planet.
The Sport Positive Summit
The connection between sport and the environment was highlighted at the first edition of the Sport Positive Summit. The event was originally due to take place at Wembley in London was re-organised to be fully virtual. 500 representatives from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sports organisations from across the world gathered around a common theme of sustainability.
‘Sport reminds us of our collective ability to overcome the seemingly impossible,’ UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa told the summit. ‘The convergence of the two global crises, climate change and COVID-19, has opened a window of opportunity to not simply recover from the virus, but to build forward, to build cities and communities that are safe, healthy, green and sustainable.’
The summit also gathered research on various sport sustainability actions, looking not just at carbon footprints, but at plastic reduction and water efficiency. One example is the aptly named Forest Green Rovers in England’s League Two, which FIFA describes as the ‘greenest football club in the world’. The club is 100% powered by green electricity and carbon neutral gas, their football pitch is organic, and they collect rainwater to use for pitch irrigation.
The Sport Positive Summit is set to be an annual meeting for sports clubs, venues, tournaments, federations, associations and brands as well as UN and government bodies, NGOs and advocacy groups. The aim is to develop a climate action agenda for sport by exchanging good practices and sharing solutions and innovations.
Further climate support from Sport
This ties in with wider initiatives where more than 160 organisations have already joined the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, which has five commitments:
promote greater environmental responsibility
reduce their climate impact
educate for climate action
promote sustainable and responsible consumption
advocate for climate action through communication
The IOC, one of the signatories, says its estimated carbon emissions between 2017 and 2020 have already been offset, and it plans to make the Olympic Games climate positive from 2030 onwards.
This was also the theme of The Sustainability Report, whose latest paper, ‘The case for reporting: Why sports organisations should publicly disclose their carbon emissions’ argues that transparency is important for sports organisations, who show what they are doing to combat climate change. Sporting brands are developing their own initiatives, for instance by releasing kits for the 2020/21 season made from recycled plastic bottles.
All these initiatives recognise sport’s ability to increase public awareness, promote a sustainable future, and inspire fans and athletes to take action. They can drive positive change for the planet while encouraging people to #BeActive.
Representatives from United Nations Climate Change (UNFCCC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sports organisations from across the world came together last week for the first edition of the Sport Positive Summit – a global meeting place for sports effecting positive environmental impact.
Created in collaboration with the IOC and UNFCCC, the virtual Summit brought together over 500 participants to discuss the role of sport in the global fight against climate change and post-COVID recovery.
“Sport reminds us of our collective ability to overcome the seemingly impossible,” said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, addressing the participants. “The convergence of the two global crises, climate change and COVID-19, has opened a window of opportunity to not simply recover from the virus, but to build forward, to build cities and communities that are safe, healthy, green and sustainable.”
The Summit was designed as the annual meeting place for the signatories of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, a UN Climate Change initiative to develop a climate action agenda for sport, in which the IOC took on a leadership role. The event showcased the climate achievements made so far by the Framework’s signatories, with calls for more organisations to join.
Claire Poole joins Euronews tonight to speak about Sport Positive Summit 2020 and the role of sport in tackling climate change.
By David Lockwood, BBC Sport
BBC Sport has joined United Nation’s Sports for Climate Action Framework on the eve of a two-day Sport Positive summit to address climate change.
The two-day online summit aims to discuss how sport can reduce its environmental impact and educate fans about the climate emergency.
“Like the rest of the industry, we have a duty to ensure we are doing everything we can to keep our environmental impacts to a minimum,” Barbara Slater , director of BBC Sport said.
“Signing up to the UNFCC demonstrates the importance we attach to strengthening the great work we have already done in this area.”
BBC Sport becomes the 157th organisation and only the second broadcaster to sign up to the framework – which has five commitments:
Promote greater environmental responsibility
Reduce their climate impact
Educate for climate action
Promote sustainable and responsible consumption;
Advocate for climate action through communication.
Many other signatories are taking part in this week’s summit. Attendees include the International Olympic Committee (IOC), NBA, Uefa, Premier League clubs and the NFL.
Sport Positive Summit founder Claire Poole said: “No one organisation in sport or elsewhere has nailed sustainability or climate change, we’re all on a journey and we all still have a lot to learn”.
“Covid-19 and the issues around it have brought into relief the greater need for sustainability, for resilience, for dealing with these efforts more systemically.”
Susan Groh who is Associate Director of NFL Green said “The climate crisis is huge, It’s going to take all of us to solve it. And I think if we can share best practices and work together, that’s what it’s going to take.
“Sports is a powerful entity, more people pay attention to sport than to climate or science, so if we can use the power of sports to get that message out about the environment that can have a huge impact and we can all come together to work together on that I think that’s significant.”
Niclas Svenningsen, manager for Global Climate Action at the UN welcomed BBC Sport, saying: “Prominent sports broadcasting companies, such as BBC Sport, have a tremendous reach and impact in terms of informing viewers and influencing sports actors.
“We look forward to their contribution as they walk the talk on climate and use their broadcast power to influence awareness, attitudes and knowledge of climate change”
Claire Poole and Ed King believe football – and sport in general – can re-emerge in a way that delivers not just for the clubs, players and fans, but for the planet we all call home.
First the Bundesliga, now the Premier League. Football is coming home – quite literally – as that’s the only place you’ll be able to watch it for now.
With the sport facing financial armageddon the focus of the FA and Premier League has to be player safety, ensuring that – subject to government approval – games can be played.
Yet, as we often learn more from defeat than victory, so this blow can serve as a wake-up call to a sector that often circumnavigates global problems.
Just 12% of Brits polled by Savanta-Comres strongly approve of how Premier League football clubs have handled this crisis, compared to 29% for the UK government and 72% for the NHS.
If COVID-19 has taught us anything it’s that no-one and no sector is immune to its global impacts, rich or poor, mighty or small.
How the sport is waking up to a more sustainable world.
Published in Rouleur
words by
IAN PARKER
illustration by
TOM JAY
February 17th, 2020 – London: One month ahead of the largest gathering to date of global sports organisations affecting positive environmental change, Sport Positive Summit announces it’s partnership with UK Government’s Year of Climate Action in the run up to UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).
The UK Year of Climate Action 2020 provides an opportunity, during a critical year for the future of our planet, to make changes to stop the activities which are polluting our land, water and skies; impacting people’s lives, and making parts of our planet uninhabitable.
The first Sport Positive Summit, which takes place March 17-18 at Wembley Stadium in London, promises to be unique among Green-Sports conferences with its laser-like focus on climate change.
GSB spoke with Claire Poole, the event’s organizer and guiding spirit, about what attendees can expect to experience.
GreenSportsBlog: Where did the germ for the idea that became Sport Positive Summit come from?
Claire Poole: Well Lew, as you know I was a consultant to the U.N. on the effort that would become the Sports for Climate Action framework back in October 2017. Then, when we saw the success of the framework when it launched in December 2018, I thought that, for sport and climate to really move forward, we needed to catalyze the global interest and momentum. Having worked in events for nearly 15 years, a Summit sounded like something I could make happen to support the movement. So that’s where it started and, here we are!
GreenSportsBlog: It sounds so easy when you say it but pulling off a Summit that will draw people from the UK, Europe and far beyond is a heavy lift. So, kudos! How will the Sport Positive Summit differentiate itself versus Green Sports Alliance Summits and other Green-Sports events?
Claire: We’re a global Summit, we’re aligned with UNFCCC Sport for Climate Action Framework and want the momentum we are working to build to support the other green sports events out there. As you can see when you visit our website, all of the global green, sustainable sports alliances and associations are supporters of Sport Positive Summit, and their voices all are on the agenda.
