How can a “non-essential” sector like sport justify its existence on a planet with finite resources? It was a question posed by Damian Foxall, sustainability manager of the 11th Hour Racing Team, during episode 96 of the podcast that we try to unpack. Foxall reflects on a successful 2023, in which his team was crowned champions of The Ocean Race. A…

As we head into another COP, two major things remain unclear for our industry: on a macro level, what climate trajectory will we find ourselves on once all is said and done in two weeks? And, at a sector level, what role is sport expected to play to keep this trajectory as low as possible? COP28 is a key talking point in episode 95 of the podcast a…

Collectively, more than three-quarters of the fans of Bohemian FC, Club Brugge KV, FC St Pauli, FC Twente, Ferencvárosi TC, Real Betis and SV Werder Bremen believe their clubs and football in general need to do more to support and accelerate the shift to a lower carbon society. But how can football clubs position themselves as the drivers of this t…

A week after the Sport Positive Summit, Kate Chapman (London Marathon Events), Sara Kassam (UK Sport) and Rikke Rønholt Albertsen (Danish Olympic Committee) help us unpick some of the key talking points. Can growth and sustainability coexist in sport? How can sport wean itself off of fossil fuel sponsorship? What does the sports industry collective…

Protecting humans, animals and plants. That’s what climate justice boils down to, says Jessica Murfree. In this edition of the podcast, Murfree (sport ecologist and assistant professor at the University of Cincinati) and Claire Poole look ahead to the Sport Positive Summit, exploring how the industry can position itself best to promote climate acti…

In this podcast episode, we delve into the nuanced approach sports should take towards carbon emissions and question whether current best practices in carbon measurement and reduction are fit-for-purpose for an industry with such distinctive challenges. In the company of Nicola Barr, the decarbonising sport lead at FrontRunners, and a current playe…

Dr. Maddy Orr, Bob Ramsak and Dr. Sheila Nguyen were the three guests as The Sustainability Report Podcast came back after a six month rest. While Ramsak (head of sustainability for World Athletics) and Nguyen (head of sustainability for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia New Zealand 2023) spoke about managing the environmental impact of two of t…

Sport in Africa has huge cultural significance – and every single nation in the vast continent is impacted by significant environmental and social challenges. Sustainable Sport Africa, established by Rachel Aron and Tristan Niesslein, aims to position sport as a medium to address some of these challenges, which, in turn, should make African sports …

Football fans are often treated as a problem. But, actually, when it comes to throwing their weight behind large societal issues – such as anti-racism and refugee support – they can be a significant part of the solution. That’s according to Jenny Amann and Mark Doidge, doctoral researcher and senior research fellow respectively at the University of…

Calling the Wolverhampton Wanderers sustainability strategy ‘One Pack, One Planet’ was always going to be a winner with fans. But beyond the clever branding – and the launch of the strategy during a really successful Green Football Weekend – One Pack, One Planet was built on solid foundations of robust impact assessments, clear communications with …

A focus on purpose and sustainability is shifting sports partnerships from traditional transactional deals to deeper, strategic, holistic relationships. That’s according to Mya Doelling, the global partnerships manager for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). And in this episode of the podcast, she explains how purposeful partnerships are gai…

When Lorenzo Sacchetti was asked to embark on a project to increase biodiversity at a motorsports track by his Copenhagen Business School tutor Rikke Albertsen and project manager at the Dansk Automobil Sports Union (DASU), Michella Skov, he was a little surprised. How does nature conservation and motorsport – an unsustainable activity in Lorenzo’s…

“Part of the feast – not a spectator in it.” Using the words of the renowned Australian environmental philosopher and writer, Val Plumwood, Rebecca Olive reflects on the vulnerability she felt when swimming in the ocean, a few hundred metres away from the shore, with no one close enough to save her if something unexpected occurred. During episode 8…

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 r…

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 Olym…

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 Cha…

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 beh…

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…

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 bo…

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 2…

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 d…

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 Univer…

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, The Sustainability Report sits down with Galen Trail and Brian McCullough to explore their research which applies a traditional sports…

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 wit…

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 comp…

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 …

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 …

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 Sustainabi…

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…

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 t…

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…

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…

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 r…

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, …

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 pub…

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 differenti…

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 voi…

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 impact…

Bushfires, extreme heat, drought. Australia, over the past few years, really has felt the wrath of climate change. Indeed, sport has often highlighted the nation’s plight to the rest of the world, with high-profile incidents occurring during the Australian Open with regards to players being badly affected by the soaring temperatures and smoke from …

Data is absolutely everywhere in sport. The trick is knowing what data is meaningful, how to interpret it, and then putting it into action. Sustainability-related data may not be at the top of the priority list for most sports properties. But a look under the hood may demonstrate that those who continue to think that way could be missing a trick – …

The reach of the English Premier League is mind-boggling. According to its 2019/20 annual review, 880 million homes in 180 countries have access to live matches. Quite simply, the Premier League is one of the most exciting and high-quality sports leagues in the world, featuring many of the world’s best players and coaches duelling it out on a weekl…

Petrol. Noise. Masculinity. If you had to think of a few words to describe motorsport, the above three would probably be close to mind. But, in recent time, competitions such as Formula E and now Extreme E have sought to change that. Climate action and gender equality are now the watchwords. Even F1 has launched its own carbon neutrality roadmap. A…

Finding solutions. That was the name of the game for 2020, and is likely to be our default mode for a reasonable proportion of 2021 as well. With best-laid plans out of the window, we searched for alternatives – and in many cases, we found better ways of doing things. Of course, once the worst of the pandemic is over major sporting events will, by …

There are many people in several industries who will feel 2020 was a somewhat wasted year. When it comes to professional development, some may have identified the previous 12 months as a good opportunity to study or complete a course. However, a significant proportion of the population will be feeling pessimistic about the consequence of the pandem…

It used to be conventional wisdom that when building a career being a specialist in one area was the key to making it to the top. That notion is being challenged, with a broad selection of skills and experiences now highly desirable for prospective employees and entrepreneurs. Our guest for this podcast, Mathieu Muller, demonstrates this perfectly …

Handball is one of the most popular team sports in the world, particularly in Central Europe where it is played and watched with a tribal passion. That’s not quite the case in the US, but Melissa Zhang, the communications manager for USA Team Handball, is plotting the sport’s stateside explosion with its first Olympic medal at the LA 2028 Games the…

Bringing together sport, education and culture. That definition of Olympism, Paulina Fritz says, needs to be highlighted extensively for the true power of sport to shine through. Fritz is the second Global Sports Week Young Sports Maker of four to join us on the podcast, and this notion of exploring culture and learning about sustainable developmen…

Over the next few weeks, the podcast will shine a spotlight on some of the emerging bright young sports executives and entrepreneurs who will represent their generation as Young Sports Makers at Global Sports Week next year. Kimberly Fernandez, the social entrepreneur from Mumbai, India, is our first guest in this mini-series. Fernandez has been im…

There is a section of German football fans that dislike Bundesliga team TSG Hoffenheim by virtue of the fact that it’s owned by billionaire SAP founder Dietmar Hopp. In a nation where fan ownership is a big part of football culture, some supporters believe it signals growing commercialisation of the sport. However, when it comes to sustainability a…

Earlier this month, World Sailing won the first sustainability award established by GAISF (the Global Association of International Sports Federations) for its comprehensive Agenda 2030 Sustainability Strategy. In this week's podcast, Dan Reading, World Sailing’s head of sustainability and the man behind the strategy, charts the federation’s progres…