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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 Olympic Committees (NOCs) with relatively mature approaches to sustainability (Finnish, Danish, German) support three mentee NOCs who want to reach a similar level (Czech, Slovak, Hungarian), with comprehensive sustainability strategies. Jana Janotova (Czech Olympic Committee) and Igor Kovac (Slovak Olympic Committee) reveal what they learned from their respective mentors, while Karoliina Ketola (Finnish Olympic Committee) details her role as a mentor. Episode #81 talking points: – How sports organisations of a similar size and structure can work together to address sustainability challenges – What the six NOCs did to support each other with sustainability strategy creation and early implementation – Why existing tools are an important starting point for strategy work – and why the “wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented”

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 Championships in Zürich later this year. Daniel Kasser (Zürich 2022 organising committee), Kai Rassmus Landwehr (MyClimate) and Tero Kalsta (International Floorball Federation) talk us through the preparations to make the event climate neutral. Episode #80 talking points: – What the World Championships organising committee and MyClimate are doing to reduce carbon emissions by 56% compared with the 2018 event – How the fans will play their part in this reduction plan through “fun” initiatives – Why the International Floorball Federation believes its sustainability credentials can be leveraged to appeal to new fans and partners

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 behind the environmental cause, the IOC has told these stories and paired them with practical advice in its latest guide, ‘How to be a sustainable champion’.In this edition of the podcast, Julie Duffus, the IOC’s senior sustainability manager, talks us through it. Episode #79 talking points: – How athletes can speak up for the environment and be a friend to nature – What current athlete sustainability champions are doing to support the cause – Why the guide and athlete advocacy is important for the IOC’s overall sustainability plans

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 for purpose. But as part of the Carbon Fibre Circular Alliance, Reading has helped to accelerate a method to extract material from unwanted products to be used again in new pieces of equipment. In this podcast, Reading and Carbon Fibre Circular Alliance colleagues Bill Severa and Lourens Blok explain what they’ve done and how they’re taking the project forward. Episode #78 talking points: – Sport’s role in accelerating the repurposing of carbon fibre from unwanted or broken equipment – Progress made on the development of a tennis racket produced with 50% recycled carbon fibre – How the technology used to extract and realign the carbon fibre can scale up

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 both intent on using their influence to make a positive environmental impact. In this episode of the podcast, Dunfee and Burnotte detail their unique journeys that have helped them craft their voice. Episode #77 talking points: – How athletes can craft their voice, when to use it and how avoid “missteps” – What Evan and Jules do to balance climate activism and elite sports performance – Why and how sports organisations should support athletes wanting to be more vocal or involved

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 2019 highlighted room for improvement across the whole sailing industry when it comes to inclusion for women and girls. In this week’s episode, Anne-Cécile Turner (The Ocean Race sustainability director), Dee Caffari (World Sailing Trust chair) and Jonquil Hackenberg (The Magenta Project chair), explain how they’re working together to foster inclusion, with the ultimate objective of driving gender parity among The Ocean Race sailors by 2030. Episode #76 talking points: – What the World Sailing Trust review revealed about gender discrimination at sea – How The Ocean Race is facilitating inclusion through mentoring, shadowing and rule alterations – Why and how the Magenta Project will build on the research to gain new insights

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 discussion was so good (including the input of the Global Sports Week Young Sports Makers), that we decided to capture the best parts in this week’s podcast. Episode #75 talking points: – Cyril Abiteboul on why sport must be forced to innovate in areas that benefit society – Fatma Al Nuaimi explains how the FIFA World Cup is supporting Qatar’s 2030 development plans – Georgina Grenon and Nathalie Bellon-Szabo unveil the sustainable Food Vision for the Paris 2024 Athletes Village – Ibrahima Wade on Dakar 2026’s sustainability and inclusion policies

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 University of Paris-Saclay, is one such individual, and on this week’s podcast she explores how major sports events could improve their sustainable impact.  Episode #74 talking points: – The role of government, and why it is crucial in facilitating sustainability legacies of sports events – Where sustainable impact ends and greenwashing begins, and how events can avoid this – Why hosting a sports event in two or more nations could increase the chances of a positive legacy

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 marketing model to sustainability campaigns and messaging. How can sports organisations segment their fan audience and create sustainability messages that resonate and encourage them to adapt their behaviour? Find out in this episode. Episode #73 talking points: – How sports practitioners can apply marketing models to sustainability to engage fans– What sports organisations need to do to segment their audience to craft the appropriate messaging – Why professionals working in sports marketing should increase their knowledge in this space

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 with purpose, shaping its whole ethos and operations around climate and environmental justice. In this week’s podcast, The Sustainability Report sits down with Vermont Green’s two co-founders, Matthew Wolff and Keil Corey, to discover what it means to be a climate-justice focused sports property.Episode #72 talking points: – Why the founders decided to build a football club around environmental justice, community and distinctive design – How the club is making climate and environmental education available for all stakeholders – What Vermont Green is doing to walk the talk around net zero and circular merchandise

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 company of Rikke Rønholt Albertsen, the co-founder of the Global Goals World Cup and former elite athlete, we explore this gap between sustainability objectives and outputs and actual concrete action and outcomes. Rønholt Albertsen also talks about the need for sport to align more closely with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and how she is working with the Danish Olympic Committee to increase its focus on sustainability and inclusion. Episode #71 talking points: – The gap that exists between sustainability objectives and concrete action – and how to close it – How and why sports should align closer to the UN Sustainable Development Goals – What the Danish Olympic Committee is doing to increase its relevance and influence on society

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 with marketing executives from both clubs, Elif Aslı Koç and Rocio Ruiz Berdejo, to find out what this partnership and a focus on environmental sustainability is a key priority. Episode #70 talking points: – How İstanbul Başakşehir, a relatively young club, is building its identity and brand around environmental protection – What Real Betis is doing to bring its players into sustainability activations – Why both clubs want to grow a European football network around the environment

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 (FK Bodo/Glimt), Raphaële Moeremans (Royale Union Saint Gilloise) – both of whom are, incidentally, doing very well on the pitch – and Chris Staudt (FC Wiltz), who explain how and why they have made sustainability a strategic priority to bridge this gap. Episode #69 talking points:  – Why FK Bodo/Glimt it attempting to position itself at the centre of sport’s sustainability grassroots movement – How FC Wiltz has knitted together a number of important strategic partnerships with environmental protection as the core objective – What Royale Union Saint Gilloise is doing to engage fans (86% of whom believe the club should take more action to address environmental issues)

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 Sustainability Report Podcast Julia Fry, Kester Wilkinson (both Extreme E) and Dr. Matthew Bell (EY) illustrate the impact of the first season of the electric off-road racing series with three amazing stories. Fry recounts the time she was approached by a young girl who had been inspired to get into motorsport by Extreme E’s gender-equal format. Wilkinson explains how Extreme E’s sustainable transit requirements influenced other organisations to follow suit. And Bell recalls a conversation he had with an individual who was moved to transition into a new profession and use his skills to combat climate change after watching a race. Episode #68 talking points: – Why “deeply uncomfortable questions” posed by EY gave Extreme E a platform to push sustainability boundaries – How Extreme E’s team “embraced inconvenience” to reduce the competition’s environmental impact – What the racing series plans to do in season two to take its sustainability work a step further

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 during this edition of the podcast featuring Sport Ecology Group duo, Dr. Madeleine Orr (Loughborough University) and Dr. Walker J. Ross (Florida Southern College). We also explore their latest piece of research, which investigates the climate implications for future editions of the world’s most high-profile sporting events: the Olympic Games and the Men’s FIFA World Cup.Episode #67 talking points: – How future editions of the Olympics and Men’s FIFA World Cup will be affected by climate change – and what organisers can do to mitigate impact – Why sports federations and local organising committees need to work together to create adaptation plans to safeguard athletes, spectators and volunteers – What sport needs to do to balance its desire for growth and need to reduce its environmental impacts

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 technical excellence as its basis for sustainability. A few episodes ago, motorsport engineer and sustainability expert Cristiana Pace joined us to discuss her Sustainable Circuits Index – a rundown of the motorsport tracks with the best credentials in this space. For episode #66, Pace has joined us again to talk through her latest piece of research which explores the sustainability operations of globally-recognised motorsport championships. Joining Pace on the show is Paolo Taticchi, a UCL professor of strategy and sustainability and prominent academic in this field, who helped to define and validate her methodology. Episode #66 talking points: – Why motorsport championships are a good benchmark of where the industry broadly is regarding sustainability – Which motorsport championships scored well for social and environmental performance – and what the difference is between FIA and FIM events– How the data was collected, analysed and presented

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 topic. Illingworth, who is the guest for episode #65 of The Sustainability Report Podcast, explains why poetry is the perfect medium to connect scientists and non-scientists as it breaks down the hierarchy of intellect, gives scientists the opportunity to express emotion and helps to develop a sense of shared vulnerability. He adds that sport could be another good medium in which to create a safe and engaging space for dialogue around climate change. Episode #65 talking points: – Why poetry and games are perfect mediums to facilitate dialogue between scientists and non-scientists – How sport can adopt similar sensibilities to engage people in climate science and climate change solutions – What sports clubs could do to harness personal identity and collaborate with scientists

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 Environmental Plan. In this edition of the podcast, the federation’s chief executive Alan Gilpin walks us through the plan, explaining World Rugby’s motivation for creating it and addressing its three key priorities: climate action, circular economy and the natural environment. Gilpin touches on the “ambitious but realistic” goal of reducing World Rugby’s carbon impact by 50% across all three scopes without offsetting, and how the organisation will work with event organising committees and other stakeholders to achieve the plan’s objectives.

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 required action. This week’s podcast guest, behavioural economist Christina Gravert, spends her time investigating what lies in the gap between intention and action, and how to potentially close it. Hard measures, such as regulations and incentives, may drive people towards behaviour change. But Gravert’s research demonstrates that softer ‘nudges’ – where people are asked to make decisions in a slightly altered environment – may be just as effective, if not more, if executed well. In this episode, Gravert explains how any organisation can use the technique to support policy, and help people make better decisions for the environment. She explores some of her research, and reflects on how nudging could be adopted in the sports industry, using a stadium setting as an example.Episode #63 talking points: – Why people don’t make optimal decisions, and how nudging can support them – How nudging can be used to support sustainable behaviour change in various settings, including sport – What organisations can do to develop a good nudging strategy

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, we speak with two guests who are trying to rectify this through the creation of indexes with robust and scalable criteria to discover how sustainable sport is, and where the opportunities for improvement lie. Our first guest, Cristiana Pace, a motorsport engineer of more than 25 years and founder of strategic sustainability agency and pending B Corp Enovation, talks about the Sustainable Circuit Index she put together alongside Right Hub, which assessed major motorsport race tracks on their sustainability credentials. Sport and sustainability professional Tim Trefzer joins us for the second half of the podcast to explain how and why he helped create the Sustainable Sport Index 2021 Benchmarking Report, exploring the state of play across US sports venues. Pace and Trefzer discuss: – How they designed their methodologies to gather and analyse sustainability data – Why indexing and benchmarking is crucial for sport to improve its environmental and social performance – What motorsport circuits and sports venues need to do to address sustainability regulations and stakeholder expectations