Sustainability is one of the most pressing topics, nowadays, at the global level. As highlighted in the latest Climate Change Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), our ecosystem is reaching a no-returning point: biodiversity is declining; global temperatures have risen by 1.1°C since the pre-industrial period, and air and water quality are deteriorating. These factors will impact many aspects of our daily lives soon and create even more disparities than those already present.
The global emergency generated by the current climatic situation requires global action that engages all sectors, including sports.
The sports sector is both a victim and contributor to the climatic crisis: phenomena such as extreme weather events, the energy crisis, and climate change are increasingly affecting participation levels, scheduling, and venues for sporting activities.
A recent example is the Australian bushfires that disrupted some tennis matches at the 2020 Australian Tennis Open due to the smoke; or the typhoon that struck Japan in 2019 and also affected the Rugby Union World Cup held there; in 2016 the worst drought in 100 years hit India and forced thirteen Indian Premier League games (IPL) moved from Maharashtra to another safer location and again in 2018 Maharashtra Cricket was compelled to not use the water because of a major drought.
If this is the current situation, the future one appears even worse: winter sports are threatened by rising temperatures and only half of the cities that now host the Winter Olympic Games will be able to do it by 2050; all south California beaches will be gone by the end of the century, and so the beach sports too; of the 92 league teams in England almost one in four can expect partial or total annual flooding of their stadiums by 2050.
These are just a few of the specific predictions based on the current data on climate change in the Rapid Transition Alliance. However, it is easy to deduce that the sports sector will struggle more than others: when climate change threatens food security and crucial sectors such as the healthcare, education or infrastructures a global reallocation of economic resources will be necessary, and it will probably not benefit sports.
As mentioned before, sports sector could also be a partial actor of the Climate emergency: general global sports’ carbon emissions are equivalent to that of a country the size between Angola and Spain.
Given the current problematic situation, in 2018 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) promoted the initiative Sport for Climate Action as part of the strategic plan to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Agenda 2030.
In the Sports for Climate Action Framework, the UN pointed out two main objectives and five key principles to follow for an effective action.
First of all it’s crucial to align the international sports community actions to fight Climate Change by promoting collaborations and concrete commitments such as measuring and reducing carbon emissions; then it’s important to use sports as a tool to raise awareness on Global Warming.
The five core principles that should be incorporated into sports community strategies and policies are:
- Undertake systematic efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility;
- Reduce overall climate impact;
- Educate for climate action;
- Promote sustainable and responsible consumption;
- Advocate for climate action through communication.
These five principles represent the starting point for sports organizations to take responsibility for their contribution to Climate Change and also to set the stage for wider diffusion of the message and long-term success beyond the context of sport.
Finally, the world of sport plays a pivotal role in the battle against Global Warming, being both a victim of its effects and a contributor through its practices. Although extreme weather events are already reshaping the global sports landscape, sports organizations have the ability to mitigate and contribute to inverting this trend.
References
IPCC, 2023: Sections. In: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IPCC_AR6_SYR_LongerReport.pdf
Matt McGrath 2020, BCC. Climate change: Sport heading for a fall as temperatures rise Climate change: Sport heading for a fall as temperatures rise BCC
David Goldblatt 2020, Rapid Transition Alliance. Playing Against the Clock: Global Sport, the Climate Emergency and the Case For Rapid Change Playing against the clock | Rapid Transition Alliance
UNFCCC, 2018, Sports for Climate Action Framework Version 02.0 Sports_for_Climate_Action_Declaration_and_Framework.pdf