Sports, in whatever form – amateur or professional, indoor or outdoor, individual or team have been evolving over the years and became what they are today. The number of various stakeholders and actors involved in the world of sports today, reflecting all the different operations required to keep the sport surviving and evolving further, surely bypasses what one could imagine some 20 years ago. This results in an ever increasing environmental impact sports have on the environment which urges sport entities not only to acknowledge that, but also “up their game” in terms of sustainable environmental management and improve their overall environmental performances. Solutions exist, examples of good practices are being shared across the continent, knowledge bases and capacity building opportunities are out there waiting for their uptake. Comparing sports is difficult and the current level of environmental management performances vary across Europe and across sports. However, once the opportunities are identified and ideas start flourishing, everyone can progress on its own pace contributing to an overall objective – better and more sustainable environmental management in sports. Either as a frontrunner and a beacon of excellence or a newcomer to the world of environment – the time is now for sport entities to embark on this journey.
We, as sports entities, have the power to make it happen!
It isn’t only often difficult to assess one’s own environmental and climate performance but many of us are also wondering: What are our strengths? What are our needs? What initiatives can we put in place according to our specificities? Combining these questions with a whole array of environmental aspects such as waste, mobility, biodiversity, energy, resources and much more than needs to be paid attention to, certainly makes things more complicated. There can’t be a simple answer to various questions as solutions and answers depend on so many factors.
To help sport entities with these challenges, the Green Sport Hub Europe has been working designing and developing two tools.
