Sustainability in the Olympic movement: recent inspiration and guidance

Even though the world of sport, and in particular sport events and competitions, came to nearly complete halt during the COVID 19 crisis, many development-, good governance-, and other related activities and initiatives of the sport movement went well ahead. Perhaps co-incidentally, the “corona crises times” saw the publication and launch of a number of sustainability guides, strategies and projects by major Olympic movement organisations. Below is a brief outline of some of them, which can serve as a great inspiration and resource.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), leader on all matters sustainability and sport related, added to its impressive account of guidance document a new guide for sport organisations on Mitigating biodiversity impacts of sports events. Developed in cooperation with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and published on Earth Day, the Guide offers advice to sports event organisers on how to reduce the impact on biodiversity and promote its conservation throughout all phases of event planning. 

World Athletics, the international body governing the sport of athletics, which clearly sees the impacts of climate change on its events and activities, launched its first comprehensive sustainability strategy in April 2020. With a central goal of making the organisation carbon neutral by 2030, the Strategy „addresses global issues that pose a threat to the quality of our lives, using the power of sport and athletics to create a better world for communities." The form, methodology and content of the strategy can serve as a great example and inspiration for any sport organisation wishing to develop their own sustainability strategy.

Another international sport governing body, World Triathlon, has launched, as part of its commitment to minimise its impact on the planet, a new document designed to help local event organisers adopt more environmentally friendly approaches to hosting events. The Sustainability Guidelines for Event Organisers „set out a range of best practices and approaches to everything from public transport provision to waste management, all based around the ‘three-tree’ certification system that will be a requirement of all events in the future.“

Moving to the level of resources and good practices, a very welcome “new kid on the block” is the sustainability.sport database. Developed by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) and supported by the IOCs, the free online platform offers a vast array of resources on sport and sustainability to “inform, educate and inspire”. The platform presents a great go-to source of information for any sport organisation working on integrating sustainability into its operations and activities.