Mega events and their environmental sustainability

Events, like the football World Cup, involve a huge amount of resources and often alter the environment forever, but are there sustainable ways of running such events and can sport also support environmental causes?

sportanddev caught up with Paolo Revellino from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to find out more about the environmental sustainability of major sporting events.

sportanddev: What are the environmental effects of mega events like the World Cup?

Paolo: Due to their size and international scale, mega sport events like the World Cup or the Olympic Games present serious challenges regarding the management of transport, energy supply, emissions, noise, water, waste, construction activity and other aspects. Especially when venues of an event are spread out over a country and touch remote and often untouched areas they risk leaving behind a significant environmental footprint. In order to limit the potentially negative effects and turn them into opportunities it is necessary to “begin with the end in mind” and from the very start carefully plan the social and environmental legacy that the event will leave behind.

sportanddev: Are there policies in place to minimise the environmental effects such events have?

Paolo: The awareness of environmental issues linked to such events and the necessity to manage resources in a sustainable way has grown considerably over the last two decades. This has led to the publication of guidelines such as the “Guide to Sport, Environment and Sustainable Development” by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or the “Sustainable Sport and Event Toolkit” by AISTS.

Lately, new (internationally recognised) standards have been developed which allow companies or other structures to foster their social responsibility and manage resources sustainably (e.g. ISO 26000: 2012 Guidance on Social Responsibility, ISO20121: 2012, ISO 14001, GRI EOSS). Despite this progress made to date there certainly is room for improvement and we feel that event organisers need to proactively continue seeking ways for sustainable resource management.

sportanddev: Can football be used as a tool for positive environmental change and sustainability?

Paolo: Although the environmental challenges of events like the World Cup might seem daunting they also offer great opportunities thanks to the scale and visibility of the event. Sport can be a powerful social influencer with unique channels and responsibilities offering a communication platform to actively engage event visitors, suppliers, local communities and the public. WWF communicates environmental messages with the help of ambassadors. Among these are well-known football stars like Graeme Le Saux (played for England in the 1998 World Cup) or Alvaro Morata (striker for Real Madrid C.F. in 2014). The latter for example recorded a video (scroll down to number 12) message for Earth Hour 2014, combining football with a clear sustainability message.