UK Sport’s new sustainability targets vital to mitigate climate change – chief

UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday insists ambitious new sustainability targets set by her organisation are necessary to mitigate climate change, which she believes “threatens the existence of high-performance sport itself”.

The government agency, responsible for high-performance sport in the UK, has outlined plans for both British Olympic and Paralympic sport and major events to have a net positive impact on the environment by 2040 as part of its ‘Team of Tomorrow’ strategy.

To achieve its ambitions, UK Sport has pledged to work with national governing bodies (NGBs) over the two-year period covered by the new strategy to identify each sport’s unique challenges, with an objective for every NGB to have a sustainability action plan in place by 2025.

Munday said: “Climate change is impacting all of us. We have seen tracks and pitches are being flooded and extreme heat is impacting athletes, their training and competitions.

“A failure to take action now is not only a threat to the long-term relevance and appeal of high-performance sport but it also threatens the existence of high-performance sport itself in the future. Without urgent action, our team of tomorrow is under threat.

“UK Sport is determined to reduce the impact of our own activities and operations, targeting net zero by 2030, as well as driving action and progress on sustainability across high-performance sport.

“Our goal is for British Olympic and Paralympic sport together with major sporting events that we host in the UK to have a net positive impact on the environment by 2040.

“Sport has the power to unite people across borders and inspire positive change.

“As well as taking meaningful action on sustainability ourselves, we must also use the voice, influence and platform of high-performance sport to advocate for action on environmental sustainability and inspire others to act and make a difference.”

UK Sport signed the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework in 2022 and had previously committed to halving NGB emissions by 2030.

It has already begun a pilot project, providing sustainability expertise and technical guidance to a handful of organisations including British Triathlon, British Athletics, British Swimming and British Hockey.

‘Team of Tomorrow’ also promises to “incorporate sustainability action into the bidding, hosting and delivery of major events”.

A UK Sport website launched alongside the strategy points to a number of alarming statistics, including several from a 2020 report by climate change think-tank The Rapid Transition Alliance (RTA).

That study – called ‘Playing against the clock’ – cites a University of Waterloo prediction that, of the 19 Winter Olympics hosts leading up to Beijing 2022, only 10 will remain viable winter sports hosts in 2050, dropping to just six by 2080.

The RTA report also warned that almost one quarter, 23 of 92 English league football grounds will be at risk from partial or total flooding every season by 2050, predicting Premier League grounds St Mary’s, Stamford Bridge and London Stadium could be among those affected.

The Premier League last week came under scrutiny for its environmental impact after a BBC report claimed to have revealed “evidence of 81 individual short-haul domestic flights made by Premier League teams to and from 100 matches during a two-month sample period this year” with the shortest taking just 27 minutes.