By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -Premier League champions Liverpool and Spanish soccer club Real Betis were amongst the winners of Sport Positive awards, announced during a two-day sports sustainability summit.
Liverpool’s Red Way initiative won the Transformation category while Real Betis’s Sin Azul No Hay Verde (Without Blue There Is No Green) project scooped the Best Campaign award.
Winners of 12 categories were announced in London during the two-day Sport Positive Summit in collaboration with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Olympic Committee.
“These winners exemplify what’s possible when sport steps up as a force for good,” Sport Positive founder Claire Poole said.
“As climate impacts escalate, their bold action, innovation, and leadership are not only safeguarding sport’s future but also delivering positive outcomes for communities and the planet.”
More than 500 industry leaders from some of the world’s biggest events, franchises, NGOs and local community initiatives gathered to debate how the sports industry can meet the growing challenge of climate change and become more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Sport is increasingly in the firing line of climate change with intense heat and storms impacting this year’s FIFA Club World Cup in the United States and the Wimbledon tennis Championships experiencing their hottest ever opening day.
Traditional Alpine ski resorts are also threatened with closure by a warming climate while former IOC president Thomas Bach said as few as 10 nations might be capable of hosting a Winter Olympics by 2040.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), in partnership with Green Producers Club, developed a CO2 Calculator designed to help snow sports stakeholders measure, manage, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, earning itself the Inspired Innovation category award at this year’s Sport Positive.
“It’s a living tool, shaped continuously by feedback from users, evolving and improving in real time,” Susanna Sieff, FIS Sustainability Director, said.
“Together, we didn’t just win an award — we advanced a tool for change, one that will keep adapting to serve the community and reduce emissions more effectively.”
Liverpool’s environmental, social and governance (ESG)strategy Red Way was launched in 2021 and has helped the club increase match-day recycling from 20% to 90% while reducing its carbon emissions by 15%.
Real Betis’s Sin Azul No Hay Verde campaign, part of the LaLiga club’s Forever Green initiative, has raised awareness about an invasive Asian algae along the Andalusian coast — a direct consequence of climate change.
The campaign centred around the release of a special-edition football shirt incorporating textile fibre from the algae.
“By integrating sustainability into the realms of merchandising, brand identity, and community engagement, Real Betis demonstrated how sport can promote ecological responsibility,” the Sport Positive website said.
Other Sport Positive award winners included Cricket for Climate, a collaborative movement founded by Australian Test captain Pat Cummins; Kicking for Nature, a Brazilian non-profit Taekwondo programme promoting environmental responsibility, and Logan Waddle, who won the Trailblazer award for his sustainability initiatives at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and across the INDYCAR Series in the United States.
The Biodiversity award went to the Ulster GAA Sporting Nature Project which has helped more than 30 community clubs in Northern Ireland create wildlife habitat, including wildflower meadows and tree planting.
(Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Toby Davis)
Comments