With its vast global audience of engaged fans, sport has a power to influence that is far beyond that of politicians and governments.
Football alone has an estimated 3.5 billion fans worldwide, most of whom interact regularly with their favourite clubs and players, while a recent research paper in The Journal of Social Media in Society highlighted that “the influence of professional athletes on societal behaviour has become undeniable”.
It is somewhat surprising then that at COP28 — the UN’s annual global gathering dedicated to generating better global awareness around climate change and its solutions that wrapped up December 12 2023– the presence of sporting organizations, officials and individual athletes was been negligible. Among the many sectors represented, it perhaps spoke volumes that any visitors looking for a representative from the sports industry was forced to long and hard.
One of the few sustainability champions from the sector was Alice Powell, a British racing driver who worked with the Envision Virgin Racing team in Formula E, a competition devised with sustainability at its core. Formula E was launched in 2014 as a championship specifically for electric racing cars and is now established as a compelling, greener alternative to Formula One.
“Envision is the greenest team on the grid,” Powell tells Livehealthy . “We have been encouraging people to make pledges that contribute positively to the environment; whether that is buying locally or recycling your old phones. For every pledge made, we plant a tree in Madagascar.
“I feel a responsibility to the natural environment because I live in the countryside, I see it every day. I love being in nature, walking my dog and breathing fresh air. I just hope that future generations will still have that opportunity too.”
Formula E has also been contributing to the improvement of the consumer electric car market by trialling technology that has gone on to be used for a wider audience.
“Motorsport has such a huge role to play for manufacturers in terms of the development of their road cars,” Powell explains. “From the batteries we use to the electronics and the constant battle to be more efficient.
“Sport is an entertainment product first but if we can entertain fans and help make the world a better place, that’s a win-win situation.”
Formula E is not alone in putting sustainability at the heart of its offering. Ahead of its Dubai race weekend, Sail GP had a number of representatives at COP28, with the global sailing competition keen to publicize its aim of becoming the world’s most sustainable and purpose-driven sports and entertainment platform.
“From day one, everyone was measuring carbon footprints and there were quite clear targets, including that we should only be using clean energy by 2025,” says Jo Aleh, 2012 Olympic gold medallist and competitor for the New Zealand Sail GP team.
“As a sailor, you see through your own eyes how things are changing. That can be in terms of weather patterns but also the biodiversity that I see out sailing, or that I used to see but not anymore. Climate change is an area that’s close to home, because I’m out there on the water every day.”
Sail GP’s athletes have a front-row seat to climate change on the world’s oceans and it is for that reason that the organization introduced a sporting first; running alongside Sail GP’s regular competition is an Impact League, which rewards and scores teams on their positive environmental and social action.
At every race, there are two podiums — one for sport and one for planet — and since the Impact League’s introduction, teams have cut their energy consumption by 50 percent.
“Team New Zealand actually won the Impact League last year and it means a lot as the ocean is what matters most for us,” Aleh says. “We were able to put all of our prize money back into restoration projects, as well as blue carbon and kelp research.
“There is a lot of money in sport and I think we can all do a whole lot better in terms of how we can drive direct action. It’s not just about expressing how we feel about things, as a sport we have a responsibility to divert money to projects that will take a difference.
“Our hope is that every series, every league can introduce some kind of environmental aspect. Athletes have powerful voices but often can be single-minded on producing their best performance so are not aware enough. The Impact League has helped Sail GP’s athletes become more aware of personal responsibility and the power we have.”
After noticing that sports organizations and brands were increasingly beginning to experiment in the sustainability space, Jess Rogers co-founded of climate content company Carbon Jacked with friends Jacques Sheehan and Jack Curtis in a bid to help sports properties better educate audiences on climate issues by using creative content.
“Carbon Jacked is about getting people clued up on climate, and out into nature. We work with businesses and their employees, and I personally work a lot in sports space, creating punchy content,” Rogers tells Livehealthy.
“Our aim is to add spice to sustainability and we’ve done this in different ways, including social media explainer videos like ‘WTF is net zero?’ or ‘what the hell is fracking?’
“COP28 is a great example of how using jargon and technical language isn’t going to get the majority of people on board. When you frame climate issues around improving health or having fun outdoors — suddenly you have a bigger, more engaged audience who wants to protect the planet for their own purpose.
“We get the serious stuff, we get the technical part of sustainability and we’ve got expertise in the area, but we also do it with a bit of a bit of edge and that’s what has resonated with people in sport who wants to do things differently.”
Rogers, who has worked with the likes of Sail GP and Lewis Hamilton’s Extreme E racing series on their social media messaging and content, presented a session at COP28 titled The Planet Is Our Playground. But despite some positive stories from those on her panel, she feels there is a golden opportunity for engagement still being missed by the sports industry.
“I think the sports organizations who have come to COP28 have benefitted big time from being here and I guarantee they will see commercial benefit from it as well,” Rogers says.
“What surprises me is that sport hasn’t fully grasped the commercial potential of sustainability yet. Advertisers and brands are desperate to link up with organizations that can show their sustainable credentials, yet so many sports properties aren’t even dipping their toes in the water.
“Obviously sports clubs and competitions should just want to help the planet because it is the right thing to do but of course money is a big driver and once they see that sustainability can also mean profitability, we will hopefully see more sports entering this space.”
