The Sustainability Report Podcast

How can a “non-essential” sector like sport justify its existence on a planet with finite resources? It was a question posed by Damian Foxall, sustainability manager of the 11th Hour Racing Team, during episode 96 of the podcast that we try to unpack. Foxall reflects on a successful 2023, in which his team was crowned champions of The Ocean Race. At the end of the season, it also produced a sustainability report full of achievements and case studies. In addition, Kristen Fulmer, head of sustainability at Oak View Group (operator of the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle), lifts the lid on the organisation’s GOAL sustainability platform and explains how she plans to bring sustainability to a new generation of sports analytics students.

As we head into another COP, two major things remain unclear for our industry: on a macro level, what climate trajectory will we find ourselves on once all is said and done in two weeks? And, at a sector level, what role is sport expected to play to keep this trajectory as low as possible? COP28 is a key talking point in episode 95 of the podcast as we talk to SailGP’s Fiona Morgan about its Race for the Future takeover in Dubai. Russell Seymour of BASIS talks about the new Game Changer II report, which lays bare the extent to which climate change is playing havoc with British sport. Cricket, which features heavily in Games Changers, is also a focus of the episode, with Kathy Gibbs of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) talking through its new Environmental Sustainability Plan.

Collectively, more than three-quarters of the fans of Bohemian FC, Club Brugge KV, FC St Pauli, FC Twente, Ferencvárosi TC, Real Betis and SV Werder Bremen believe their clubs and football in general need to do more to support and accelerate the shift to a lower carbon society. But how can football clubs position themselves as the drivers of this transition – and crucially, how can they ensure that transition is just and beneficial for their local communities. That’s what we try to unpack in this episode of the podcast alongside Sean McCabe (Bohemian Football Club), Róisín Greaney (Think-tank for Action on Social Change), Matheus Cavalcanti (European Football for Development Network) and Rafael Muela Pastor (Real Betis Foundation).

A week after the Sport Positive Summit, Kate Chapman (London Marathon Events), Sara Kassam (UK Sport) and Rikke Rønholt Albertsen (Danish Olympic Committee) help us unpick some of the key talking points. Can growth and sustainability coexist in sport? How can sport wean itself off of fossil fuel sponsorship? What does the sports industry collectively need to say when we reconvene again in 12 months time? We cover it all.

Protecting humans, animals and plants. That’s what climate justice boils down to, says Jessica Murfree. In this edition of the podcast, Murfree (sport ecologist and assistant professor at the University of Cincinati) and Claire Poole look ahead to the Sport Positive Summit, exploring how the industry can position itself best to promote climate action and justice through thoughtful discourse. The episode focuses on the importance of diverse perspectives, risk management and using nuance language when it comes to sustainability claims. And Poole, founder and chief executive of Sport Positive, lifts the lid on some of the summit’s key session and a hotly-anticipated debate to round things off.

In this podcast episode, we delve into the nuanced approach sports should take towards carbon emissions and question whether current best practices in carbon measurement and reduction are fit-for-purpose for an industry with such distinctive challenges. In the company of Nicola Barr, the decarbonising sport lead at FrontRunners, and a current player for the Greater Western Sydney Giants, and Alice Ashpitel, head of sustainability at Mercedes F1, we explore the practicalities of investing in sustainable fuels, the shift from high-polluting sponsors and the influential role of athletes in this endeavour.

Dr. Maddy Orr, Bob Ramsak and Dr. Sheila Nguyen were the three guests as The Sustainability Report Podcast came back after a six month rest. While Ramsak (head of sustainability for World Athletics) and Nguyen (head of sustainability for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia New Zealand 2023) spoke about managing the environmental impact of two of the year’s biggest sporting events, Orr discussed the disruption sport had experienced as a result to extreme weather in recent months. All three guests also explored the evolving role of the sustainability professional in sport and the changing media approach to climate action in sport.

Sport in Africa has huge cultural significance – and every single nation in the vast continent is impacted by significant environmental and social challenges. Sustainable Sport Africa, established by Rachel Aron and Tristan Niesslein, aims to position sport as a medium to address some of these challenges, which, in turn, should make African sports properties more appealing to potential investors. In this episode of the podcast, Aron and Niesslein discuss the launch of the organisation and some of its key objectives.

Football fans are often treated as a problem. But, actually, when it comes to throwing their weight behind large societal issues – such as anti-racism and refugee support – they can be a significant part of the solution. That’s according to Jenny Amann and Mark Doidge, doctoral researcher and senior research fellow respectively at the University of Brighton. Their latest piece of research, titled ‘Mobilising Football Fans on Climate Change’, explores how this diverse group of people, brought together by the love of the game or a team, can hold the key when it comes to positive behaviour change related to climate. The key is communicating with them effectively. And that’s what we discuss in this edition of the podcast.

Calling the Wolverhampton Wanderers sustainability strategy ‘One Pack, One Planet’ was always going to be a winner with fans. But beyond the clever branding – and the launch of the strategy during a really successful Green Football Weekend – One Pack, One Planet was built on solid foundations of robust impact assessments, clear communications with club staff and giving departments the agency to develop their own action plans to achieve targets in four main areas: carbon, waste, nature and culture. In this episode of the podcast, Thom Rawson, the project lead, explains the work that went on behind the scenes.

A focus on purpose and sustainability is shifting sports partnerships from traditional transactional deals to deeper, strategic, holistic relationships. That’s according to Mya Doelling, the global partnerships manager for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). And in this episode of the podcast, she explains how purposeful partnerships are gaining traction in sport, using the IOC’s Climate Action Awards partnership with Airbnb, Deloitte and P&G as cases in point. Together with her colleague Julie Duffus, the IOC’s senior sustainability manager, Doelling reveals how more than two years of preparation – which included the mapping of the IOC’s sustainability objectives with those of its TOP partners – is starting to culminate with partnerships that work towards authentic and mutual commitments.

When Lorenzo Sacchetti was asked to embark on a project to increase biodiversity at a motorsports track by his Copenhagen Business School tutor Rikke Albertsen and project manager at the Dansk Automobil Sports Union (DASU), Michella Skov, he was a little surprised. How does nature conservation and motorsport – an unsustainable activity in Lorenzo’s mind – fit together? Alongside Albertsen, Skov and his friend and biodiversity expert Matilde Montagna, Sacchetti tried to find out by developing a biodiversity pilot project as one of DASU’s tracks – a pilot project that could form the foundation for a wider biodiversity strategy for the organisation. During this episode of the podcast, they all tell the story.

“Part of the feast – not a spectator in it.” Using the words of the renowned Australian environmental philosopher and writer, Val Plumwood, Rebecca Olive reflects on the vulnerability she felt when swimming in the ocean, a few hundred metres away from the shore, with no one close enough to save her if something unexpected occurred. During episode 84 of The Sustainability Report Podcast, the senior research fellow at RMIT University talks about her research, which investigates the relationship between sportspeople like swimmers and surfers with nature, and whether these feelings of connection and vulnerability provide a greater incentive to protect the natural environment. In the second part of the podcast, we check in with Stefan Raimund, science lead at The Ocean Race, to find out more about its expanded science programme for the 2022/23 season.

Forest fires, melting ice caps, extreme storms. It’s easy to perceive climate change as an ‘environmental problem’, external from the everyday lives of humans, particularly for those of us who live in parts of the world where climate impacts aren’t quite so stark yet. But climate change is a human problem, with people’s health, jobs, security and recreation impacted. Some people are affected more than others. In general terms, people who are poorer economically, who come from certain ethnic backgrounds and live in certain neighbourhoods or nations feel the negative consequence more keenly than richer counterparts living in more developed nations and regions. That’s where climate justice comes into play. In this episode of the podcast, Jessica Murfree, visiting professor at Texas A&M University and academic focusing on the intersection of sport, climate and justice, and Sean McCabe, the climate justice officer for Bohemian Football Club in Ireland, discuss how sport can shine a light on this inequality. Episode #82 talking points: – What climate injustice is and how people experience it – How leagues, clubs and federations can help to bridge inequalities when it comes to the impact of climate change on human beings – Why climate justice should be a key consideration for sports organisations putting together sustainability plans

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