ChangeNOW and 17 Sport unveil new co-ordinated effort to tie sponsorship to efforts to decarbonise the sports industry
Social enterprise ChangeNOW has announced it has partnered with sports impact group 17 Sport to launch the Sport Sponsors Climate Pledge - a new commitment which seeks to link sport's sponsorship deals to efforts to reduce emissions across the sector.
International sport sponsors EDF, Orange, Accor, and Sodexo are the first companies to sign up to the pledge, which aims to encourage more sport's clubs and related businesses to embrace science-based emissions targets. The social enterprise said it expects "several other signatories" to sign up in the coming weeks.
Kevin Tayebaly, ChangeNOW's co-founder, said that thanks to its high profile the sports industry could play a "key" role in tackling the climate crisis.
"It has the power to open our eyes to our own reality, but to do so, it must set the standards we aim to adopt globally," he added. "With this pledge, the sport ecosystem today shows the way forward."
Companies that sign the Sport Sponsors Climate Pledge agree to work in accordance with the Paris Agreement and science-based methodologies such as the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to set emission reduction targets for their business, ChangeNOW said.
In addition, companies which sign up will commit to act beyond their own footprint, including by calling on all the sports organisations they work with - such as clubs, federations, competitions, and event committees - to commit to setting their own emission reduction objectives and having these targets validated by 2025 using either the SBTi or a mutually agreed upon third party.
Signatories will also co-create a framework and toolkit to help their partners and the sports industry to take concrete steps towards decarbonisation and ensure that from 2025 all their sponsorship investments in the sports industry are contingent upon a set of sustainability criteria.
The requirements are set to include that sponsored private sports organisations with a turnover equal to or above €40m a year should have an emission reduction target which is aligned with the Paris Agreement and validated by the SBT initiative.
In addition, all other sponsored sports organisations should demonstrate a commitment to setting emission reductions targets which are aligned with the Paris Agreement, and that these are verified and validated by a third party that has been mutually agreed upon.
ChangeNOW said that approach would play a "vital role" in channelling capital towards the best-in-class climate friendly organisations in the sport ecosystem.
Fabien Paget, chief executive of 17 Sport, re-iterated the important role which sport plays in the fight against climate change and highlighted how "the corporate sector has a key responsibility in this transition."
"In order to drive systemic change at scale, we have to redirect financial investment towards committed climate friendly platforms," he added.
The Sport Sponsors Climate Pledge has received support from the French Minister of Sport and Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A number of athletes have also expressed their support for the initiative, acknowledging both the importance of decarbonising the sports industry as well as the influence they can have in helping to accelerate the net zero transition.
Athletes including professional handball player, three-time Olympic champion, and four-time world champion Nikola Karabati, synchronised swimmer, olympic medalist and three-time world champion Virginie Dedieu, and professional handball player, two-time world champion, European champion and Olympic champion Luka Karabatic have all publicly supported the pledge.
Tayebaly said that the athletes' call to action "will help us gain precious time in this race against climate change by accelerating exponentially our collective ability to respond to these global challenges".
The pledge comes as the sports industry continues to face criticism for its sponsorship deals with high emitters.
Earlier this year, advertising campaigners Badvertising called for an end to carbon-heavy and contradictory sponsorship deals for winter sports, highlighting the irony that the future of snow sports is being threatened by its own sponsors.
Its report, released in February, the group found that there are currently at least 107 high-carbon sponsorship deals across the European snow sports sector, with researchers suggesting major polluters are attracted to snow sport deals as it helps them establish a clean and healthy outdoor image.
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