World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI)’s Post

🌍 Sport and Physical Activity: Key Drivers for a Sustainable Future 🌿 This week at the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub side event at COP29, I had the opportunity to share how increasing levels of physical activivity and sport can be a key driver for a more sustainable future for people and planet. 🚴♀️ Why Physical Activity Matters The numbers are alarming—1.8 billion adults globally are physically inactive, and 81% of adolescents fail to meet recommended activity levels. This isn’t just a public health crisis; it’s a sustainability issue. Inactivity increases healthcare costs, weakens resilience to climate impacts, and contributes to unsustainable urban development. 💡 The Opportunity for the Sporting Goods Industry Physical activity, including active mobility like cycling and walking, is a high-impact, cost-effective solution. It improves health, reduces emissions, and advances multiple SDGs, including SDG 3 (Good Health) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities). ⚽ Our Call to Action To truly make a difference, the sporting goods industry and sports must: 1️⃣ Show up in key decision-making moments like COP discussions to advocate for sport and physical activity as sustainability solutions. 2️⃣ Align our voice as an industry to amplify our impact and influence. 🏅 We’ve already seen the power of collaboration in action: earlier this year, 48 companies joined World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) to issue a historic statement on addressing physical inactivity. And Cycling Industries Europe Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry - CONEBI and European Cyclists' Federation great work in delivering the European Declaration on Cycling. 👏 🚴🏻♀️ Together, we can push for policies and infrastructure that support active lifestyles—bike lanes, safer cities, and incentives for sustainable mobility. Sport still has the power to change the world. By uniting for a healthier, more active planet, we can address both the physical inactivity and climate crises. 🌏💪 Dennis Pamlin Caroline Brooks Linda Murphy Michelle Smyth Kevin Mayne Let’s ensure we show up, align, and drive real change. #Sustainability #PhysicalActivity #COP29 #SportForChange #WFSGI

🌍 Paris 2024: The Greenest Olympic Games Yet? 🌍 Paris 2024 - Comité d'organisation des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de 2024 is making history by pledging to host the greenest Games ever, aiming to halve the #carbon footprint compared to London 2012 and Rio 2016. 🚴♀️ From using existing stadiums to introducing a 60km cycling network, Paris is minimising its environmental impact. Only two new venues have been built, using low-carbon construction methods, including solar panels and recycled materials. 🌱 #Sustainability is at the heart of the Games. The athletes' village features eco-friendly furniture, like coffee tables made from recycled shuttlecocks and chairs from bottle tops. They're also doubling down on plant-based food options, sourcing 80% of ingredients locally. 💡 With a shift from diesel to public electricity, including EVs and hydrogen-fuel cell vehicles, the Games are setting a new standard for energy use. However, challenges remain, such as managing heatwaves and spectator travel emissions. Thomas Bach, IOC President, emphasised the importance of these initiatives, saying, "Climate change represents an extremely serious threat, not only for sport but for all our lives." As the city that hosted the pivotal 2015 climate agreement, all eyes are on Paris to deliver on these ambitious sustainability goals. 📣 Don't hesitate to contact me if you are searching for a job or looking to hire in the sustainability space https://gaiatalents.com/ #Gaiatalents #Paris2024 #Olympics #Sustainability #GreenGames #EcoFriendly #CarbonFootprint #ClimateAction #SportsAndEnvironment https://lnkd.in/gvN9r3uJ

🌍 A new era for calculating CO2 emissions in snow sports is here! ⛷️🏂 FIS has introduced an innovative tool to measure the carbon footprint of the snow sports events and activities. This CO2 calculator will enable us to take meaningful steps towards reducing emissions and contributing to a more sustainable future for winter sports. FIS is making its CO2 calculator available free of charge to all National Ski Associations, as well as the Local Organizing Committees of all FIS events. 🗨 “Our intention is to have as many stakeholders as possible adopting the FIS CO2 Calculator, which would provide snow sports with much more uniformity, transparency, and comparability when dealing with its emissions.” Susanna Sieff, FIS Sustainability Director Learn more about this exciting development and how it's set to reshape the way we approach sustainability in our sport! 💙 #FIS #FISSustainability #FISFuture #ClimateAction

🌍🥇sports can no longer operate in isolation from the environmental crises affecting our world. This is especially evident as the world watches the #Paris2024Olympics, where significant efforts are being made to create the greenest Olympics ever, aiming to cut the carbon emissions of previous Games in half. Learn more 🌱🌟 https://lnkd.in/eWmdg4w2 🌿🧐 despite these efforts, reports of greenwashing by certain brands have surfaced. one example is Lululemon, accused of greenwashing ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eMra8xWj additionally, accusations have been raised against some Olympic sponsors, who are among the planet's biggest polluters. "The Olympic Games should be a celebration of the very best of humanity—but the Paris Games are celebrating those companies condemning humanity to more heat, drought, and rising seas," said Etienne Stott, British Olympic gold medallist. More details: https://lnkd.in/eN5H8U6a 🌡️⛅"With global temperatures continuing to rise, climate change should increasingly be viewed as an existential threat to sport," stated Lord Sebastian Coe, President of the World Athletics Association.  It's time for the sports world to truly commit to sustainability and win the greatest challenge yet, to join the fight for the future of our planet and humanity itself. 🏅💚 #Paris2024 #Sustainability #GreenSports #ClimateAction

#EveryMove is Sport England sustainability strategy to help support the sport and physical activity sector respond to climate change. Participation levels are being affected by the increasing prevalence of climate change events such as heatwaves and flooding. Here at Active Humber we are very proud to be featured in the new sustainability strategy, we continue to strive to make a difference but we need your help in doing so. We are extremely proud and honoured to be featured in the strategy (page 28) and here are a few words from our CEO David Gent: "The Humber region is at the very front of the UK’s approach to tackling climate change and we at Active Humber are doing all we can to ensure that sport and physical activity across the Humber is playing our part in making the Humber as environmentally sustainable as is possible. The Sport England ‘Every Move’ strategy gives us the opportunity to move at even faster rate of progress with our partners than at present, to ensure that as climate change affects the Humber, we can make community sport and physical activity as sustainable and inclusive for all as we can. We know that by walking and cycling more than we do as a place, taking care of our green and blue spaces, ensuring our built facilities are energy efficient that these are great ways to tackle the effects of climate change and make the place we all love to play in, more sustainable." We must act now, view the full report here: https://zurl.co/8QiR

Q: How can olympics be green, greener, the greenest ever ? 🌱 Here’s another reason to be excited about the #parisolympics2024 4) 95% of this Olympics venues are pre-existing or temporary, with the aquatic centre being the only new permanent venue that was built for the games which is completely 5000m2 of solar powered. 3) 2X times as many plant based offerings when compared to last year & 80% of the food will be of French origin. 2) Every competition venue is accessible via the public transport & additional 400kms of new cycle lanes. Also 80% of competition venues are within 10kms of the Olympic village making it super accessible for athletes 1) 600 000 pieces of furniture needed for the games are designed with circularity concept and 90% of them have been contracted for second life. Example: your top athletes will be sleeping on cardboard beds and using all recycled products. Wanna know more??? Read the sustainability legacy plan and be inspired to go greener or the greeenst 😉 #responsiblesports #responsibletourism #responsiblecitizens #responsibleliving #sustainbilitymatters #ESG #gogreen #ecoconscious

🌍 The Greenest Olympics Yet? As the Paris 2024 Olympics kick off, the organizing committee aims to make it the greenest Games in history, with a carbon footprint half that of London 2012 and Rio 2016. Key Initiatives: 1.   Sustainable Construction: o  Two new stadiums with low-carbon methods. o  Aquatics center seats made from recycled plastic. 2.   Eco-Friendly Accommodations: o  Beds made from recycled cardboard. o  Tables from recycled shuttlecocks, chairs from bottle tops. 3.   Plant-Based Menus: o  Increased plant-based options. o  80% local ingredients to reduce transport emissions. o  Vegetarian-only food at Place de la Concorde. 4.   Energy Efficiency: o  Connecting stadiums to the public electricity network to avoid diesel generators. 5.   Cycling Infrastructure: o  60km cycling network linking Olympic venues. Paris 2024 aims to set a new standard for sustainable sports events. 🌿✨ How do you think these initiatives will impact the future of sustainable sporting events? #OlympicGames #Paris2024 #Sustainability

As I shared in this AP article, “They are trying to do something that is indicative of how many organizations will be holding themselves accountable.” What tactically does this mean for the Olympics and others?? Here's some additional insights from our work at Clarasight. ⚡ Step 1: The Olympics started by looking at historical emissions and then setting a big ambitious goal. Reduce overall emissions by X by far off date Y. This is where many orgs start, but the challenge is in the #carbonplanning. ⚡ Step 2: You have to confidently build a near term forecast that's reliable. This requires at minimum a leader to define tops-down planning and ideally includes bottoms-up contributions from functional leaders to say "here's the emissions budget I need to be successful in my area of responsibility." ⚡ Step 3: Once high-level targets/budgets are defined, you need to #cascade them across the org so everyone has visibility into their own slice of the pie. With this knowledge, give people autonomy to make tradeoffs and choices. ⚡ Step 4: Give people tools to model scenarios based on real-time choices, which will enable smart decisions and ongoing performance tracking. You can't hit a goal if you don't know your real-time progress towards it! ⚡ Step 5: Transparently celebrate wins and acknowledge shortcomings. By educating your people about what's gone well vs challenges, you can collectively drive the type of #transformation that leads to #emissionsreductions. #parisolympics #sustainability #carbon #emissions #esg #olympics #clarasight https://lnkd.in/d-pYv9MM

Home to the landmark global #climateaction treaty, the #ParisAgreement, #Paris2024 Olympic Games has committed to be the most #sustainable, let’s take a look again of it’s #sustainability game plans. Without a doubt, realities of these lofty sustainability plans and goals could be challenging, we still applaud 👏 its #sustainabilityleadership for future Olympics and sporting events. https://lnkd.in/grGjwfhx

In Other News... Over 70 organisations from across the sport and physical activity sector, including The Football Association, England Athletics, and Paddle UK, have committed to becoming greener by signing Sport England's "Going for Green" pledge. The pledge aims to tackle climate change and sustain grassroots sports for the next generation. Every signatory agrees to: 🍃 Reduce energy and water usage 🍃 Promote walking, cycling, and lift-sharing for travel to activities 🍃 Drastically reduce reliance on single-use plastics 🍃 Recycle waste and increase the reuse of sports equipment and kits 🍃 Boost activities that nurture nature and wildlife Sport England's Chair, Chris Boardman CBE emphasised the urgency: "From ferocious heatwaves making it hard for children to play outside, to tens of thousands of grassroots football matches being cancelled due to flooded pitches, climate change is already impacting our ability to be active. In fact, 3 in 5 people in England report that severe weather is negatively affecting their sport and physical activity levels. Without action, we risk losing even more opportunities to be active, to look after our health, to play with our friends. We have a duty to act now to protect these things we love." To gather more pledges and showcase green innovators in the sporting world, Chris is leading an epic, eight-day bike ride from Manchester, the home of cycling, to Paris, the host city of the Paris 2024 - Comité d'organisation des Jeux Olympiques et Paralympiques de 2024. This journey started on July 16th. For more information on the "Going for Green" pledge and their progress, visit: https://lnkd.in/gkcp-Cui #PedalForParis #SportEngland #GoingForGreen #Sport #UnitingTheMovement #SEA_theChange #noplanetnoplay