A marathon not a sprint; inspiring circularity and activity

Across Europe, some 45% of those surveyed in 2022 by the European Commission said they did not exercise or play sport. Meanwhile, 38% of respondents said they exercised once a week and a minuscule 6% said they were active five times a week or more. 

The most prevalent countries for activity were Finland (71%), Luxembourg (63%), the Netherlands (60%), and both Denmark and Sweden (59%) – where respondents took part in sports at least once a week. On the flip side, over half of respondents said in eight countries that they did not play sport or exercise, including Portugal (73%), Greece (68%) and Poland (65%).

Earlier this year, sportswear and equipment provider Decathlon published a number of policy recommendations for the European Union to improve circularity within the sporting goods sector, while also boosting activity across the population over the coming years.

Those at Decathlon believe that the EU should focus its energy on promoting sport to the youth population as it is “vital to their development”. For instance, Decathlon has called for the likes of learn-to-swim and learn-to-cycle programmes to encourage younger generations to be more active.

Additionally, Decathlon has called for a heightened focus on active transport – using running, walking or cycling to reach places. The company applauded the European Commission’s adoption of the Declaration on Cycling, which recognised cycling as sustainable, accessible and inclusive, as well as an affordable and healthy means of transport. 

To build on this, Decathlon called for a safer cycling infrastructure for EU citizens so that cyclists are not placed in dangerous situations; initiatives to combat bike theft to make stealing a bike and selling it more challenging; and to support sustainability, digitalisation and circularity in the bicycle manufacturing sector.

“Decathlon is committed to promoting cycling as a means of enhancing physical activity and environmental sustainability. Cycling is more than just a recreational activity; it’s a lifestyle choice that improves health and wellbeing while reducing carbon emissions,” a spokesperson for Decathlon Group tells Global Sustainable Sport.

The spokesperson notes that there was an alarming rise in inactivity with one in three adults and 81% of adolescents not partaking in the recommended daily physical activity of 30 minutes. According to a 2022 report in The Lancet, a peer-reviewed general medical journal, one billion people worldwide were considered obese, including 880 million adults and 159 million children.

Encouraging those to be more active through cycling does not require reinventing the wheel, though. It simply needs a safer environment and access to equipment. The call for safe cycling infrastructure is imperative to encouraging the public to climb on two wheels. This will also help to improve air quality and ease traffic congestion.

“At Decathlon, we believe cycling is a key solution as an accessible way to engage in regular physical activity, especially for kids,” the spokesperson adds.

“While Decathlon provides services for accessible cycling products and accessible physical activity to the youth, roads and public spaces need to be adapted because practising physical activity should not be dangerous.”

The lack of physical activity can also be a strain on public expenditure. In Germany, Italy and France, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that a total of €4.2bn is set to be spent each year to treat inactivity-related diseases between 2022 and 2050.

Prolonged life and circularity

Sticking with wheels and circles, Decathlon is calling for support on creating less waste when it comes to sporting goods.

Promoting circularity is a key objective for Decathlon, and the company has been outspoken about its efforts to measure and reduce its environmental impact. In fact, the spokesperson noted that raw materials extracted to create Decathlon’s products generated 74.8% of its carbon footprint in 2023.

“We are shifting from a linear to a circular business model and we believe strongly in their competitive advantages. We are capitalising on our experience since day one, when we were selling bikes with workshops and repair services,” explains the spokesperson.

“Today our circular business models have expanded and opened new benefits through the rental or second-life business.

“We are facing the challenge of scaling up these business models especially facing the issue of reverse logistics where expenditure for keeping stocks is more expensive in Europe than elsewhere. Therefore, we need the support of policymakers to provide incentives for these circular business models and face their challenges.”

A number of recent ambitious initiatives have been introduced in the EU to target over-production, consumption and waste. For example, there has been the introduction of the ‘Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR)’, a revision of the ‘Waste Framework Directive’, the ‘Green Claims Directive’, and the ‘Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive’.

In reference to ESPR, Decathlon called for the adoption of delegated acts for priority products, in particular the development of ‘ecodesign’ criteria for textiles and footwear. Decathlon noted in its recommendations manifesto that this product group represented a high potential for environmental improvement as it is estimated that the textile sector must decrease its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to reach global targets.

As a response, the business has focused on ‘ecodesign’, which is an integral aspect of its plan to achieve net-zero by 2050 with a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

“In 2023, 38.8% of our products benefited from an ‘ecodesigned’ approach, compared to 23% in 2022 and 10.4% in 2021,” explains the spokesperson.

“This approach means choosing preferential materials like organic cotton, dope dyeing, recycled polyester, recycled rubber and Biton, to minimise our environmental impact.”

‘Biton’ is where fabric has only one dyed yarn out of every two to help reduce the use of dye.

“At Decathlon, we place a strong focus on innovation to develop sustainable design concepts and manufacturing techniques while producing evermore technical sports goods,” says the spokesperson.

“Finally, it is key to extend the lifespan of our products to reduce the quantities produced, and materials used promoting the usage over the property of sport equipment.

“The latter are shifting towards more durability with more resistant materials for example, and enhanced repairability characteristics providing documentation, spare parts accessibility, easy disassembling and a repair price which does not exceed 30% of the purchase price.”

Decathlon further called for support with repair schemes, and welcomed the inception of ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ schemes. Roughly 5.2 million tonnes of clothing and footwear are discarded each year in the EU; approximately 12kg per person.

The European sporting goods giant argues that the adoption of EU end-of-life criteria for textiles will help the functionality of EPR schemes, and has called for pre-sorted textiles intended for recycling or reuse to no longer be regarded as waste. Funding sustainable textile waste management via advanced sorting and recycling facilities within the EU could help to create new jobs and unlock a new profit pool.

According to Statista, in 2024 alone, the global sports equipment market has generated a revenue of $171.6bn. This is projected to experience an annual growth rate of 5.86%.

Additionally, Decathlon has focused on encouraging its suppliers across the supply chain to adopt practices that have less impact on the environment. Suppliers are encouraged to implement energy efficiency programmes and utilise renewable energy. In 2023, 48.1% of electricity consumed by production sites on the priority guidance list came from renewable sources.

“In 2023, 995 production sites measured their CO2 emissions and 549 production sites set a reduction trajectory in line with science,” says the spokesperson.

Elsewhere, Decathlon has committed to eliminating all coal use by its Rank 1 suppliers by 2025 and its Rank 2 suppliers by 2030. In 2022, 43 production sites were still using coal, but by the end of 2023, this had decreased to 30.

With the conclusion of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and in the run-up to the Paralympics later this month, it is clear the emotion and inspiration sport can drive – whether that is through the athletes themselves influencing the movement, or the organisers’ ambitions to reduce the event’s impact on the environment. It is time for leaders to build on this.

Images: Artem Stoliar on Unsplash, KBO Bike on Unsplash, Kenny Eliason on Unsplash, Jordan Whitt on Unsplash, Sylwia Aptacy from Pixabay