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Earlier this month, World Sailing won the first sustainability award established by GAISF (the Global Association of International Sports Federations) for its comprehensive Agenda 2030 Sustainability Strategy.In this week's podcast, Dan Reading, World Sailing’s head of sustainability and the man behind the strategy, charts the federation’s progress and explains how the plan was developed as well as how it is being executed.Consulting with stakeholders, setting concrete objectives, searching for innovation, and working with partners has been the story of the organisation’s success to date, according to Reading. During the episode he explains:How innovation related to electric support boats and alternatives to single-use plastic is accelerating sustainability within the €100bn marine industryWhy partners, suppliers and athletes are crucial to World Sailing achieving its sustainability visionWhat sports organisations can do to make sure their operations and events are environmentally responsible

Despite being one of the smallest international federations – representing a sport very much in its growth phase – the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) has been a sustainability pioneer in sport since 2014.It’s testament to the organisation’s leadership that, despite its limitated resources, social and environmental responsibility is very much a priority.In this week’s edition of the podcast, we talk with the federation’s chief executive, Michal Buchel, who charts the combat sport’s relationship with sustainability, and explains:Why the FIAS started to focus on sustainability in 2014How it is collaborating with partners, such as oil and gas company Rosneft, to accelerate sustainable changeWhat the objectives of its recently-published 10-year sustainability strategy are

Covid-19 < Climate change < Biodiversity collapse.The cartoon, in which each of the global problems is represented by a tidal wave, each one larger in size and looming over the Earth, will be quite widely-recognised by now. According to the United Nations, the “ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever”, posing a significant threat to humans and all we find dear. Including sport.Sport has an intrinsic relationship with nature. We play many sports on grass. We cycle and ski in the mountains. We swim and sail in lakes, rivers and seas. Recognising this, the IOC and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) teamed up to develop a number of guides to help the sports industry play its part in biodiversity protection.This week, we sit down with Giulia Carbone, deputy director of the IUCN, to discuss those guides and explore:How sports organisations can plan events and venues to cultivate a net biodiversity gainWhy leagues, clubs and federations should create a natural environment strategyWhat the consequences are for sport if nature collapses further

In 2018, the Philadelphia Eagles NFL franchise became the first regular season sports team to adopt the ISO 20121 sustainable event standard, which was developed for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.On this week’s podcast, we sit down with the person who encouraged the 2018 Super Bowl-winning team to take its sustainability credentials to the next level – Lindsay Arell of Honeycomb Strategies in Denver, Colorado.During the episode, Arell charts her sustainability career, from greening the 2008 Democratic Convention ahead of the election of Barack Obama to US president, to helping the Eagles and other sports properties incorporate her ECO – engagement and communication, community, and operations – methodology that shifts the focus to holistic sustainability.Arell explains:Why sports organisations need to start looking beyond the environmental aspects of sustainabilityHow integrating employees from diverse departments can help foster staff engagement and buy-inWhat the ISO 20121 sustainable event management system is – and how it works

Bringing fans back into stadiums and sports venues safely. That is the primary concern for most sports organisations and facility operators.But there’s a real concern that many may start to equate single-use products with human health as a result of Covid-19, ripping apart a lot of the good work done pre-pandemic around the phasing out of single-use plastic products like beverage cups.This week’s guest, Meegan Jones, has launched “pre-emptive strike” and published a set of guidelines and recommendations proving that reusable products are as safe as single-use products, if venue operators have the correct protocols in place.During the episode, Jones also discusses:How the event industry has changed over the last decade with respect to its sustainability credentialsWhy sporting events will need to become more environmentally responsible under their “social licence to operate”What event professionals can do, practically, to make sure their events are a low impact as possible

This week we celebrate our 40th podcast with a very special episode, providing expertise and insight from three of sport’s most knowledgeable and respected sustainability champions.Instead of the usual interview format, this episode features the recording from a panel at this month’s Sport Positive Summit in which Julie Duffus (Olympic Movement sustainability senior manager for the IOC), Omar Mitchell (the NHL’s VP of sustainable infrastructure and growth initiatives), and Jonathan Smith (founder and executive director of the GEO Foundation) discuss a topic many in sport are grappling with: data measurement and reporting.During the show, Duffus, Mitchell and Smith go into detail on the what, why and how of data measurement and reporting in sport, including:What data their respective organisations are measuring and reportingHow they are collecting data and presenting it to stakeholdersWhy it’s important for forward-thinking sports organisations to collect sustainability data and be transparent about it

Hosting a large conference is a challenge at the best of times. Logistics, marketing, speaker liaison – the list of tasks needed to be fulfilled for an event to run smoothly – let alone be successful – can appear to be overwhelming.Throw a global pandemic into the mix, and the challenge becomes a mountain to climb.That’s why the sport and sustainability movement – and sports industry in general – is lucky to have Claire Poole, who battled against the obstacles 2020 threw in her way to host a successful first edition of the Sport Positive Summit earlier this month.The summit was created to be a convener for the signatories to the UNFCCC’s Sports for Climate Action Framework, and a learning platform for those sports organisations starting to dip their toes into the world of sustainability.During the episode, Poole talks about her journey putting the summit together and explains:Why sport’s collective response to climate change is more important than everHow the sport and sustainability movement has evolved over the past few yearsWhat content and topics were explored at the first summit

There’s only a handful of people to have ever lived who can claim to have competed at both a Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Oluseyi Smith is one of them.But even though he excelled as an athlete across multiple disciplines, his retirement from professional sport has brought him to what he believes is his true calling: engineering. Or, more specifically, engineering with a sharp focus on sustainability.However, during this episode of The Sustainability Report Podcast, Smith talks about one of the ‘extracurricular’ activities that have allowed him to remain in sport – the role of an IOC Young Leader.As part of his induction, Smith was tasked with conceiving and delivering a project that meshed the worlds of sport and social enterprise and, after seeing so much waste pile up at a grassroots event he attended in his home nation of Canada, he decided that he could take his passion of environmental stewardship into sport.In this episode, Smith explains:Why sustainability has always been a passion for him, throughout his athletic careerWhat role he thinks sport can play in reducing human apathy around climate changeHow he gamified sustainability processes to make it easier for small sports event hosts to adopt

Science. Technology. Ethics. Art and design. Culture. Media. Olympic sport.Just some of the topics that this week’s podcast guest, Professor Andy Miah, counts within his sphere of expertise and interests. Specifically for this episode, we’ll be focusing on innovation in the sports industry – primarily sustainable innovation – and what news tech and ways of thinking are best placed to help the sector generate engagement, become more financially sustainable, and less of a burden on the planet’s resources.Miah discusses the future of the Olympic Games, and how the current coronavirus pandemic and concerns around climate change may impact the way the Games is traditionally hosted. He also explains how eSports could help with that transition.Tune in to this episode to find out:Why the pandemic is the perfect time for sports organisations to innovateHow eSports can make the traditional sports industry more financially and environmentally sustainableWhat sports events and entities can do to become drivers of sustainable innovation

Next year, Afridun Amu hopes to represent Afghanistan in the Tokyo Olympic Games’ surfing competition. Amu is already the first person to compete for the landlocked, war-torn nation internationally in the sport and, in doing so, has overcome a unique set of challenges. It’s no surprise, then, that Amu is also a thought leader and coach in design thinking – a concept that enables individuals and organisations to approach complex (or ‘wicked’) problems with a different thought process to the traditional analytical or linear method of problem-solving.To overcome wicked problems the emphasis needs to be on empathy and creativity. Empathy because the problem-solver has to get into the minds of the people they are solving the problem for. And creativity because the answer is unlikely to be fathomable using the traditional tools.During this episode, Amu explains exactly what design thinking is (and what it’s not), and how the sports industry and other sectors can leverage this method to tackle some of the wicked problems they are facing. He describes in detail:What wicked problems are, and how they differ from basic problemsWhy design thinking is the best method to approach these types of challengesHow individuals and organisations can shift their thinking, from linear and analytical to empathetic and design-oriented

Covid-19 has had a devastating effect on several elements of public life, the job market included, with so many people being made redundant and businesses closing down.So it’s a nice change of pace to hear a story about someone who has recently started a new venture that is thriving. Particularly when that new venture brings together sustainability and sport.Vanessa Nord has done exactly that, and in a short space of time has brought sustainability to the forefront of the mind of organisations like FC Bayern Munich and the German Boxing Association.She has also created a networking group of some of the German sports industry’s most forward-thinking minds, called Project C, to discuss and find solutions to some of the sector’s most prominent issues.During the episode, Vanessa explains:Why the time was right to launch a sport and sustainability start-upHow her work caught the attention of sports brands like FC Bayern MunichWhat her sustainable sport event guide is – and how she put it together

Legacy. Whenever the subject of a major sporting tournament – past, present or future – is brought up, the subject of legacy has to be explored.Traditionally, that legacy has tended to focus on economic impact of hosting a tournament and sport participation rates (if they’ve increased as a direct result). And while Jon Dutton, the chief executive of the upcoming Rugby League World Cup, would love for the 2021 tournament in England to have a positive impact on both, they’re not the be-all and end-all when it comes to legacy.Physical and mental health. Environmental responsibility. Civic pride. Innovation. Dutton is making sure all of these and more are on the priority list. But in order to take these issues into account, the status quo of tournament organising cannot remain intact. That’s why Dutton and his team are doing things differently. They’ve garnered extensive insight about what fans want and how they can make a genuinely positive impact on the North of England (where the majority of the competition is taking place).In this episode, Dutton talks us through the sustainability charter that has been developed for the tournament and the innovation programme designed to upskill local youngsters. He explains:Why the Rugby League World Cup 2021 will be the biggest-ever edition of the tournament on every metricHow social impact, sustainability and innovation plays a crucial role in that visionWhat data and insight informed the organising committee’s strategy

The ‘well building’ is the new ‘green building’. Sustainability in the corporate real estate industry has gone up a notch and, rather than just focusing on the environmental sustainability credentials of a building, the way the building impacts the people that occupy it has become a serious consideration.Air quality, daylight, colour-schemes and healthy food options are important factors for workplaces to consider. There’s no shortage of data to demonstrate that a healthy working environment is conducive to productivity and performance.So why doesn’t sport take these factors into account as much?This week, Kristen Fulmer, the founder of Recipric and a commercial real estate sustainability expert, puts forward answers to that question, and explains why healthy venues should be an emerging priority – particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.During the episode, Fulmer discusses:How poor indoor conditions have the potential to drastically impact athlete performance What team and venue owners have to do to make sure their facility takes athlete and spectator health into accountWhy measures to make venues safe in the face of Covid could potentially have a positive environmental impact

There’s an old saying that many people in sport are familiar with: that athletes die twice instead of once – the first time, when their professional sports career is over.But although leaving their teammates, fans and coaches can be the most overwhelming and scary point of their lives, Danielle Berman is sure that transitioning sportspeople can thrive as they take the first steps into their new lives.Berman is the founder of Tackle What’s Next, a platform and community that helps athletes navigate life away from the field and have successful and fulfilling careers.During the episode, she explains the challenges and opportunities facing transitioning sportspeople and:What clubs, leagues and federations can do to better support themWhy education is crucial as they embark on their next stepsHow athlete transition fits into the wider duty of care conversation

Since Nelson Mandela said that sport had the power to change the world, his words have been used countless times to illustrate sport’s potential to do good – to the point that his moving speech 20 years ago has almost become a cliché.But Neill Duffy, the founder of 17 Sport – the world’s first sports impact agency – is adamant that those words are as true today as they were two decades ago – but sport has to step up to fulfil that vision.Sport’s business model, he says, is complacent and lazy, and has been exposed badly by the coronavirus pandemic.The industry has no choice but to build back better and move purpose from the fringes (such as foundations and CSR departments) to the centre of the organisation. During this episode, Duffy explains: Why sports will have to “do good to do well” in the post-Covid environmentHow sport’s organisations can authentically approach purposeWhat the role of leadership, athletes and employees are in that shift

In June this year, the Green Sports Alliance was meant to be celebrating its 10-year anniversary at its annual summit, this time hosted in Minneapolis. But, like so many events occurring in 2020, the gathering was curtailed by the Covid-19 crisis.The world – and the US in particular – is a different place and, in many ways, the remit of the Green Sports Alliance has grown as a result.While its original raison d’être revolved around the greening of teams and leagues it’s associated with (the organisation has more than 300 members), the coronavirus pandemic and the racial and social injustice coming to light in the US has presented other challenges for the American sports industry.And although environmental responsibility remains one of its key pillars, the Alliance has established its ‘Ready to play’ initiative, which has been designed to help its members put health and safety of fans and athletes first amid Covid, and is becoming more vocal about social justice.This week, we talk with Roger McClendon, the Green Sports Alliance’s executive director. During the episode, he discusses what he terms as the “three pandemics” of coronavirus, climate change and social injustice, and talks about how sport can have a positive impact on all three. He explains:How the Alliance is helping its members get prepared for life after CovidWhy sport is well placed to educate around social and racial injusticeWhat Green Sports Alliance members are doing to protect the environment

Cast your mind back to 2008 – a year largely remembered for the global economic crisis that caused panic and uncertainty. With the economy in tatters, it probably didn’t seem like the best time to strike out and start a new business.But that’s exactly what Jaime Nack – this week’s guest – did. Not only that, but her fledgling consultancy, Three Squares Inc, specialised in something called ‘sustainability’ – a concept that was not even close to going mainstream yet.The year 2008 was also a year of hope. The US elected its first-ever African American president in November. And as Barack Obama was being nominated by his political party a few months beforehand, during August’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Nack was getting her business off the ground by ‘greening’ the major political event.Nack has been the sustainability director for every subsequent convention and has seen Three Squares Inc go from strength to strength, working with brands, events and venues such as Honda, the Los Angeles Marathon and Exposition Park – a venue earmarked for the LA 2028 Summer Olympic Games.During this episode, she discusses her journey and reveals why strategy and conviction are crucial to achieving bold sustainability objectives. Nack explains:Why she makes it a priority to work across a number of industries – including sport – to increase her positive impactHow and why it’s important for organisations to give employees responsibility and autonomy when it comes to sustainabilityHow to turn a strong sustainability strategy into a positive legacy

In 2016, US publication Sports Business Journal reported that only 11% of sports organisations had a formal strategic plan in place. The number with a standalone sustainability strategy is probably even smaller.A significant proportion of companies on the stock market publish non-financial reports every year and, with many of these organisations involved in sport in some way (either suppliers or commercial partners), it’s becoming inevitable that sports entities will have to follow suit sooner rather than later.But there’s an art and a science to good strategy. Strategy is not a one-size-fits-all, and sustainability goals that one sports organisation may pursue may not be applicable or feasible for another.In this week’s podcast, sport and sustainability strategist Susie Tomson explains why a well-thought-out strategy is crucial for sports teams and events to generate a genuinely positive impact and helps them measure their progress.During the episode, Tomson discusses:The characteristics of a good sustainability strategyWhy it’s important for sport to be bold in its pursuit of sustainabilityHow transparency can help a sports organisation achieve its goals

Innovation and ambition are two words that are synonymous with Formula 1. Sustainability not so much – at least until now.But that could all be about to change. Since being acquired by Liberty Global outright in 2017, the popular motoracing format has undergone something of a transformation, at least on the business side. Now, reducing its carbon emissions and becoming a bastion of sustainability within the sports industry is one of its aims.To be exact, Formula 1 has the explicit objective of becoming net zero carbon by 2030 which, with its extensive travelling around the globe and racing of cars with combustion engine motors, is no mean feat.In this week’s podcast, the organisation’s director of strategy and business development, Yath Gangakumaran, details its roadmap to get there. Not only that, but he discusses a wider sustainability blueprint that includes a focus on youth education, and diversity and inclusion.During the episode Gangakumaran explains:How Formula 1 is working with partners to develop low-carbon solutions, such as more sustainable fuelsWhy the organisation is establishing a STEM education programme to stimulate diversity and inclusionWhere Formula 1 can leverage its technical knowledge and specialisms to reduce carbon in other sectors

Athlete health and wellbeing has become a topic of growing importance in sport, particularly in the fields of mental health and safeguarding. However, one of the factors that has the potential to be truly detrimental to athlete health and performance is being overlooked by most.Poor air quality is responsible for the deaths of seven million people per year, according to the World Health Organization, with four million of those deaths attributed to outdoor air pollution. Athletes who train outside – particularly in big polluted cities – breathing in a larger amount of air than sedentary people could be putting themselves at risk.World Athletics, the international sports federation, has recognised this, and put air quality at the heart of a wide-ranging sustainability strategy that it unveiled earlier this year.It builds on work already started, with the implementation of air quality monitors within several certified tracks, and a pilot project launched during the 2019 World Relays in Yokohama.This week our guest is Paolo Emilio Adami, World Athletics’ health and science department medical manager, who is at the heart of this air quality project.During the episode, Adami explains:Why air quality is such an important issue for athletics, and sport in generalWhat has been discovered during initial research projectsHow World Athletics will correlate air quality and athlete performance during future events