Sustainability Huddle

Forest fires, melting ice caps, extreme storms. It’s easy to perceive climate change as an ‘environmental problem’, external from the everyday lives of humans, particularly for those of us who live in parts of the world where climate impacts aren’t quite so stark yet. But climate change is a human problem, with people’s health, jobs, security and recreation impacted. Some people are affected more...

Support and practical help, or lack of, is often the number one reason for inaction when it comes to sustainability. The will is there, but the fear persists that it won’t be done right, leading to a number of negative consequences. In episode #81 of the podcast, we explore the ASAP (As Sustainable As Possible) project, in which three National Olympic Committees (NOCs) with relatively mature appro...

Becoming a sustainability leader has been earmarked as a way to differentiate and attract new fans and partners for emerging sports. In this episode of the podcast, we discover how the sport of floorball is making environmental responsibility a key part of its growth strategy, principally through one of its key events: the Men’s World Floorball Championships in Zürich later this year. Daniel Kasse...

Instigating a large mangrove planting project. Free-diving to collect trash from lakes and ocean. Collecting unwanted table tennis equipment and giving it a new life. These are just some of the endeavours being undertaken by world-class, Olympic-competing athletes who also care strongly about the planet. In an effort to get more athletes to get behind the environmental cause, the IOC has told thes...

Around 80% of Winter Olympic sports and 50% of Summer Olympic sports use carbon fibre in their equipment. Indeed, according to Dan Reading, sport is the industry that uses the third-largest amount of carbon fibre for high performance equipment. The problem is that carbon fibre is very difficult to repurpose when equipment is broken or no longer fit for purpose. But as part of the Carbon Fibre Circ...

Olympic medal-winning racewalker Evan Dunfee started getting politically active around climate change when the Covid-19 pandemic put his competitions on ice. Jules Burnotte, the Canadian biathlete, has been a lover of the natural environment, and politically active to protect it, for as long as he can remember. Two athletes, two experiences. But both intent on using their influence to make a posit...

The Ocean Race is among the most progressive sports events when it comes to environmental sustainability, with its scientific microplastics analysis project from the 2017/18 winning several plaudits, and its Ocean Race Summits convening some of the foremost experts in environmental science and ocean protection. But a World Sailing Trust report in 2019 highlighted room for improvement across the wh...

Diversity of experience and opinion is crucial to effective dialogue and finding solutions. At Global Sports Week in Paris, key actors from the world of motorsport, major events, suppliers, and representing Africa, Europe and the Middle East, explored the question: can major sports events be compatible with sustainable development? The quality of discussion was so good (including the input of the...

All industries need new, fresh ideas, particularly when it comes to balancing out core business objectives and social and environmental impact. Sport is no different. That’s why students who spend time and effort producing research that goes some way to addressing this fundamental issue are so important.  Karina Mukanovo, a PhD student at the University of Paris-Saclay, is one such individual, and...

We often talk about sport’s cultural significance and its ability to influence a vast number of people, but how can we put this into practice when it comes to sustainable behaviours? For this edition of the podcast, T he Sustainability Report sits down with Galen Trail and Brian McCullough to explore their research which applies a traditional sports marketing model to sustainability campaigns and...

A mountain with a smile on its face will potentially go down as one of the most distinctive crests in the world of football. But it’s what sits behind the crest that is really remarkable. Vermont Green FC, a fledgling football (soccer) team about to make its debut in the USL League 2, will attempt to redefine what it means to be a football club with purpose, shaping its whole ethos and operations...

About a year ago, Kenneth P. Pucker’s article in Harvard Business Review suggested that the role of sustainability report was potentially being oversold, and that even though the number of companies disclosing and producing such documents had increased significantly over the last decade, so had carbon emissions. In this week’s podcasts, in the company of Rikke Rønholt Albertsen, the co-founder of...

Green and blue; the two colours most widely associated with environmental sustainability. Attempting to bring them both together are two clubs at the opposite ends of Europe, İstanbul Başakşehir in Turkey and Real Betis in Spain, who are positioning themselves football’s representation of the ocean and Earth respectively. In this podcast, we speak with marketing executives from both clubs, Elif As...

Being a smaller or even medium-sized football club can be testing for all concerned.  There’s often very little opportunity to challenge for the big honours and so much competition, particularly in European football, that it can be difficult to stand out for prospective fans and partners. In this week’s podcast, we sit down with Benedicte Halvorsen (FK Bodo/Glimt), Raphaële Moeremans (Royale Union...

How do you measure legacy and impact? Is it through quantitative trends, such as participation rates, viewership and economic impact? Or is it through stories of hope, transformation and inspiration? Probably a combination of both, but it’s the latter that can really capture the imagination and paints a picture. During episode #68 of The Sustainability Report Podcast Julia Fry, Kester Wilkinson (b...

All sports want to grow: participation, fan base, revenue. But is growth for growth’s sake ethical on a planet that is facing ecological catastrophe? Should golf courses be developed in the desert? Is it right for indoor snowsport facilities to be built, with all the environmental implications that brings? Those are a few questions that are debated during this edition of the podcast featuring Spor...

Environmental and social performance has been a growing area of strategic importance for motorsport organisations. While it appears that Formula E has been setting the tone since coming on the scene just under a decade ago, the FIM has had an Environmental Policy in place for almost 30 years and F1 is starting to make inroads, with innovation and technical excellence as its basis for sustainabilit...

If you’re looking for a way to engage with climate science – and science in general – in a fun, accessible and unusual way, you could do worse than subscribe to The Poetry of Science Podcast. In each episode, climate scientist and associate professor at Edinburgh University, Sam Illingworth, recites poetry he’s written about a particular scientific topic. Illingworth, who is the guest for episode...

Just two months ago, The Sustainability Report sat down with rugby players Alena Olsen and Jamie Farndale to talk about why the sport should be at the forefront of sport’s climate action movement. Last week, following a year of consultation and development, World Rugby, the sport’s global governing body, published its response in the form of a 2030 Environmental Plan. In this edition of the podcas...

Apathy. The path to least resistance. It’s human nature for us to let some things slip through the cracks because of how much we have to process on any given day. While many of us have the intention of adopting more sustainable habits and behaviours, the fact that some don’t fit seamlessly into our everyday lives means we stop short at taking the required action. This week’s podcast guest, behavio...

In sport, data is everything. We try to measure everything; to improve sporting performance and commercial performance. With its growing importance and interest, it’s only natural that the industry wants to do the same with sustainability. But without any real standard benchmarks, measurement and progress is tricky. In this edition of the podcast, we speak with two guests who are trying to rectify...

A number of key actors are playing a starring role in accelerating sport’s focus on sustainability and climate issues. But, in terms of being at the forefront for a sustained number of years, very few can match the achievements or commitment of Lew Blaustein. After launching Green Sports Blog almost a decade ago, and shaping it into a must-read publication for anyone interested in sport and the en...

Michael E. Porter is one of the most renowned academic thinkers in the field of business strategy. If you’ve ever studied business (or read publications like Harvard Business Review ), you’ve doubtless come across his thinking and work. Competitive advantage, says Porter, can be derived from two main sources: doing things at lower cost or differentiation. Sustainability has been touted as a form o...

Last year, more than 300 British Olympians and Paralympians put their signature to a letter addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging him to steer the country towards a ‘green recovery’ amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The letter was coordinated by Champions for Earth, a group of current and former sportspeople determined to make the athlete voice a key driver in the acceleration of the low-car...

Towards the end of 2020, a piece of research was published by Zoomph and Recipric highlighting the growing interest in plant-based diets from sports fans, and suggesting how professional teams could capitalise on this growing trend. When it comes to the plant-based diet and its impact on athlete performance, perhaps nothing has been quite so impactful as The Game Changers – a revealing Netflix doc...