The sports industry has a large responsibility towards global environmental pollution (Triantafyllidi, 2018). Over the last decade, some initiatives have been developed to incorporate monitoring and benchmarking of environmental footprint in sports events without a concrete sustainable result.
“Greencoach– Incorporating sustainability in the governance of sports organisations” was a Cooperation Partnership project under the Erasmus + Sport programme, aimed at improving good governance in sport organisations related to their environmental impact, by monitoring their environmental footprint and adopting sustainable behaviours in their daily management strategies.
It involved 8 different organizations, including NGOs, Universities and Football Federations, based in different countries (Italy, Spain, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Lithuania and France), in order to maximize the use of their expertise for the creation of the monitoring and educational tools created.
Objectives:
“Greencoach” aimed at improving good governance in sport organisations by incorporating the monitoring and benchmarking of their environmental footprint, and sustainability as a cross-cutting element in the daily management of sports organisations.
Moreover:
- To develop user-friendly tools to increase competences of sport organisations on monitoring and benchmarking carbon footprint indicators
- To incorporate monitoring of environmental footprint in sports organisations through these tools and encourage continuous improvement
- To enhance education and awareness of sportspeople, spectators of events, and staff on the environmental footprint of sports and promote ethical behaviours and codes of conduct among them.
- To generate evidence on the different impacts that can be achieved by implementing specific measures in sports organisations.
Description of the Practice:
Greencoach worked practically on the creation of 4 different tools for monitoring environmental footprint of sport organizations (namely grassroots football clubs) and raising awareness of athletes, staff and other connected people on environmental sustainability.
The 4 tools are:
- The Greencoach Tool: an online platform that allows sport organizations to understand their environmental footprint, monitoring and benchmarking where they are in terms of environmental sustainability
- Educational Tools: two manuals, for athletes and for managers&staff of sport organizations, containing information on topics related to environmental sustainability in sport organizations and in sport events, and practical educational activities for the mentioned target groups
- An Evidence based study and Action Plan to decrease the environmental footprint of grassroots sports, containing practical suggestions and tips
- Other support documents to better explain and campaign for introducing the importance and relevance of these topics to the mentioned target groups.
The project was financed by the Cooperation Partnership action of the Erasmus + Sport programme. The coordinators of Ecoserveis, an NGO expert in working on environmental issues, provided the framework to the idea; the University of Sant’Anna worked on the research, collection of data and the creation of the tool to measure the environmental impact of football clubs; TDM 2000 International created the educational tools; the other 5 partners, football federations from Belgium, Norway, Sweden, France and Lithuania, worked as the practical users of the produced outcomes, both providing ideas, data and feedback, and testing the various activities implemented.
Impact and Results:
- Increased Awareness on environmental sustainability of the football community, including clubs, federations, fans, athletes, staff and managers
- Creation of educational programs for environmental sustainability for football clubs
- Raising in the thinking about the impact on environment of the sport organizations
- Creation of 4 tools for monitoring and educating environmental sustainability
- Creation of a community around the Greencoach project.
Conclusions and Recommendations for Youth Workers:
Greencoach showed that there is a lot of care in the sport world about environmental sustainability, considering the concern for their impact.
As a learnt lesson, we understood that sport has a big power in influencing people’s behaviour and can be used as a tool for educational purposes. Also, that sport is a matter of global interest, as it should be with the environment as well.
The educational activities are ready to use in any country and can be adapted to other sports and other target groups (including young people).
Greencoach can be used as a good base for other sports or sectors. The workshops created are useful in different contexts with young people and are engaging and fun. Find out more on the website.
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