As the world’s attention turns to sport this summer and with the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics now right around the corner, Sport England’s first-ever environmental sustainability strategy, Every Move is starting to make waves in supporting the sport and physical activity sector respond to climate change.
Unveiled back in May this year, Every Move comes with major investment worth more than £45 million of new National Lottery funding to build on the previously announced £80 million joint investment from Sport England and the British government into the Swimming Pool Support Fund to make hundreds of swimming pools across the country more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
The new funding will be used to help more people get active in nature, restore flooded sports pitches, and help sports clubs become more sustainable.
New research forming part of Sport England’s latest Activity Check-in report has found that three in five adults and children (60%) say extreme weather has had a negative impact on their ability to be active.
The FA has estimated that as many as 120,000 football games will be lost to extreme weather events like flooding each year with substantial efforts to fight climate change and mitigate its impacts. The long-term impact on the health of the UK’s sports sector is anticipated to be severe.
Chris Boardman, chair of Sport England, said: “There is no doubt our changing climate is already impacting our opportunities, motivation, and ability to be active.
“Extreme weather is increasingly making it difficult for us to live healthy, active lives by creating a ‘doom loop’ where people become less motivated and more fearful of injury, with sporting opportunities increasingly cancelled and disrupted.
“Without change now, the government’s target to get 3.5 million more people active by 2030 is very much in jeopardy – and our children will be the ones to suffer most.
“If places to play are unavailable, people will go and do something other than sport and physical activity, leading to small clubs going under and vital community organisations disbanding.”
Sport England’s Every Move sustainability strategy therefore comes with a long list of commitments and ambitions. This includes the requirement of 130 system partners – including the national governing bodies of all major recognised sports in England – to have robust sustainability action plans in place by March 2027.
Sport England has also committed to work with partners and stakeholders to ensure end-of-life recycling for all newly funded replacement artificial grass pitches from June 2024; become a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and act as a global advocate for positive change; and reduce its own carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2040.
Sport England research has found that 80% of those engaging with sport in some capacity want their organisations to be ambitious on environmental sustainability. However over half of organisations cite ‘lack of funding’ as the greatest barrier to acting on environmental sustainability.
Chris added: “It’s not too late to make a difference. This strategy launch is a vital moment for the sports and activity sector and together we can unite against the impact of climate change.“We know the sector wants Sport England to provide support, guidance, and leadership on this issue and Every Move sets out how we have listened. As a contributor to climate change through major events and travel , it’s time for us to become part of the solution.”
