Global Sustainable Sport - 22nd March 2024
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GSS 2024: Accelerating sustainability through sport
Global Sustainable Sport (GSS) 2024?is proud to announce the launch of its global sustainable sport accelerator programme – GSS 2024, which aims to encourage and assist sports stakeholders, from all sectors of the industry, to think and act more sustainably.
GSS aims to share knowledge and information on who is driving sustainability worldwide.?GSS 2024,?aims to improve this knowledge sharing through a series of online workshops and in-person events that will help sports organisations develop their sustainability strategies and?report on their activities.
GSS 2024,?will start in April with a series of online workshops covering the 7 Sustainable Pillars of Sport and Purpose, developed by GSS, followed by an in-person congress in Munich in June?during UEFA Euro 2024. The online workshops will start in mid-April with an introduction to GSS 2024 and the 7 Sustainable Pillars of Sport and Purpose followed by 4 workshops leading up to the Munich Congress.
The?Pillars have been split?into four workstreams with a variety of sub-streams:
An 'early-bird' registration rate for the congress?of?€695?is offered until?31 March 2024.? Rates for the online workshops and the congress are available through the online registration form, which you can access?here.
IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK
Top Story
Puma confident of strengthening financial wealth and environmental health
Sportswear company PUMA Group managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 24% in 2023 compared to the previous year, despite reporting a sales growth of 6.6%.
A major obstacle in the drive towards sustainability is the cost of adapting to new ways of operating, but Puma claims to have found the sweet spot.
“Our strategy is to decouple growth from our greenhouse gas emissions,” Puma’s Senior Director of Sustainability veronique rochet told?Global Sustainable Sport.
Features
Sport and the SDGs: Should we expect sport to solve the world’s issues?
Sport has a well-established status as a launchpad for societal change, and the industry’s businesses and organisations often cite the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a worthy framework to which they can aspire. However, is sport weighed down by these expectations, and are the SDGs truly applicable, relevant and achievable in a sporting context?
Tanja Ferkau is the Founder and Managing Director of climate-focused non-profit IMPCT gGmbH, while Stefan Wagner if the Founder and Managing Director of the Sports for Future e.V. consultancy.T
ogether, Ferkau and Wagner have collaborated on?Sports20, a consultancy that has created a framework utilising the SDGs to make them more tangible. The pair believe that the SDGs provide a useful framework, but require condensing to be more applicable in a sporting context.
“We very quickly realised that we were very much aligned when we think about sustainability, and the role of sports and what this should be like,” Ferkau tells?Global Sustainable Sport.“
Then there is the gap to what is actually happening in sports. We have a lot of pledges and nice things, but there was a lack of global and very ambitious approaches.
That’s the founding story of Sports20, because we both know that sport has a tremendous gift and the geographic advantage to change things. There is nothing in the market like that, that affects so many areas and sectors, not to mention the pure number of people.
“We thought about what kind of frameworks we have on the market, and we both think that the SDGs are a great framework. There are 17 very inter-connected goals, 169 under-targets and many indicators.”
Can technology and innovation drive sport sustainability?
Can #technology and #innovation drive sport #sustainability?
As #sport continues its mission to make the industry more sustainable, clubs, organisations and businesses are increasingly using technology to tackle some of the sector’s biggest sustainability challenges, from events to venues to fan behaviour.
Science, innovation and technology have always played a role in sport, from the development of high-performance kit to monitoring athlete health.
But now technology is being used to address some of the industry’s biggest sustainability problems, from elite sports to grassroots initiatives.
This includes developing new materials to improve kit and equipment, using solar technology to improve energy efficiency in stadia and venues, and using digital platforms and apps to track carbon emissions, optimise waste, and encourage sustainable behaviour.
Latest News
International Biathlon Union makes progress, but CO2 emissions increase
The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has published its third Sustainability Report, tracking its progress against the governing body’s 57 targets for 2030.
The targets are spread across five main focus areas including climate, sport, venue and event, people and communication, and awareness.
“In 2023, the IBU focused on implementing its sustainability strategy through collaborations,” said IBU President Olle Dahlin.
领英推荐
LA28 youth programme reaches 500,000 children
The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games youth programme #PlayLA has now supported more than 500,000 children in participating in sport across the city since 2018.
The initiative is funded by the International Olympic Committee – IOC and LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games, and aims to offer affordable and accessible sport to young people of all abilities.
Enrolment nearly doubled for the 2022-2023 programme compared to the previous year’s edition.
“Organising the Olympic Games goes hand-in-hand with the responsibility to deliver long-term benefits for people and cities, and is part of our commitment to building a better world through sport,” said the IOC’s Head of Olympic Games Impact and Legacy, Tania Braga.
Circularity a key focus in 2024 for London Marathon Events
London Marathon Events (LME) will work with the Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL) to collect discarded participant clothing across its portfolio of #participation events.
Volunteers will be collecting discarded clothing throughout this year’s events, including Brighton Marathon, TCS London Marathon, Ford RideLondon, The Big Half, The Vitality London 10,000 and The Royal Parks Half.
“We are fully committed to reducing our environmental impact and we’re working to introduce more initiatives every year to achieve this,” explained Kate Chapman, Head of Sustainability at LME.
Australian Grand Prix organisers drive for change with zero-emission tech
This weekend’s Formula 1? Australian Grand Prix in #Melbourne will see General Admission fan areas powered by zero-emission technology.
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation, organisers of the Australian Grand Prix, first implemented the use of EODev GEH2 hydrogen-fuelled generators to power certain areas last year.
For 2024’s race weekend, organisers have doubled the number of hydrogen generators, and have added a hybrid generator and two mass battery storage units. Two ovals within Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit will be powered using the EODev GEH2 hydrogen-fuelled generators from Blue Diamond Machinery LLC and Toyota Motor Corporation Australia.
“In 2023 we were proudly the first major event in Australia to use hydrogen cell generators operationally. Knowing this saved two tonnes of CO2 emissions gives us assurance we’ll be delivering an even greater reduction in 2024 as we expand the technology further across the site,” said Australian Grand Prix Corporation Sustainability Manager, Sarah Lowe.
News In Brief
This week: Arsenal, World Sailing, Two Circles
This week's sustainability round-up features Arsenal F.C, Planet League, Sustainable Mountain Alliance (SMA), World Sailing, #MotoGP, Michelin, Two Circles, Extreme E and more...
Sustainable Fact of the Week
56%
The target set by US President Joe Biden for all new vehicles sold in the country to be electric by 2032.
Read more?here...
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