Emily Barrett, Corporate Innovation Director of Sustainable Ventures opened by setting out SV’s mission to “build the world’s most impactful climate-tech ecosystem”, backed by community workspaces, investment and hands-on growth support, an approach that has already supported more than 1,000 start-ups across the UK.

She added that SV is not in the business of one-off events: the goal is to make it easier for sports stakeholders to discover credible solutions and then pilot and scale them. “The hardest thing is not finding the solutions,” she noted, “it’s piloting in your environment and deploying at scale.”

FuturePlus co-hosted the session. Alex Smith, CEO of FuturePlus, explained how the FutureImpact platform combines data with human expertise to help organisations understand where they are, where they want to go and how to get there—across five themes: Climate, Environment, Social, Diversity & Inclusion, and Economic Governance.

Crucially, it measures both “Actual” and “Ambition” to turn intent into a transparent roadmap. “You can’t pass or fail sustainability, but you can constantly improve,” Smith said, as FuturePlus presented Impact Certified awards to organisations progressing through the programme. Recipients included the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Majesticks GC, the Arena Group and Sustainable Ventures.

A Mentimeter warm-up captured the room’s pulse: plenty of optimism about opportunity, but also realism about risks, from reputational damage and regulatory headwinds to the existential threats that climate change poses to sport.

Case Study: A Partnership Approach to the Supply Chain

The first case study of the day featured Kathy Gibbs, Sustainability Manager for the ECB, who shared how they are tackling one of sport’s biggest challenges: the supply chain. With over 1,000 suppliers, the complexity is immense. “The weird thing about sport is the types of suppliers are so diverse,” Gibbs said. “You have everything from a major tech company… to a face painter, who’s a sole trader”.

Years of flooding and droughts have driven grants for solar, water harvesting and insulation at clubs; the Ukraine-related energy price shock accelerated uptake. “A third of our clubs are at risk of flooding,” she said, “so resilience isn’t a ‘nice to have’—it’s survival.”

To manage this, the ECB partnered with FuturePlus to engage its top 50 suppliers, who represent 80% of their total spend, in a programme focused on “future-focused improvement rather than judgment”. By using the platform, the ECB have gained a clear, comparable dataset of its supply chain’s impact. More importantly, it started a conversation. Gibbs shared that the process has had a real ripple effect, noting that for many of their partners, it “had made them think about developing their own sustainability programmes”.

Case Study: Powering Venues with Smart Innovation

Next, Charlie Armitage, Business Development Manager from Solivus, a climate-tech start-up based at Sustainable Ventures, demonstrated how innovation can solve seemingly intractable problems.

Many older sports stadiums have roofs that cannot support the weight of traditional solar panels. Solivus’s solution? Ultra-lightweight solar panels that are just two millimetres thick.

Their installation at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club showcased the compelling business case for sustainability.

“This system is going to save North Hampshire County Cricket Club around £850,000, and it’s going to pay for itself in five years,” Charlie explained.  His key message was that this technology isn’t just an environmental choice; “this is like smart business advice. You’re saving money that you can then reinvest into other parts of the club”.

Case Study: Closing the Measurement and Communication Gap

The final session was led by Mike Laflin, CEO of Global Sustainable Sport, also based at Sustainable Ventures, who addressed the critical issue of measurement and communication. He presented GSS’s new Positive Impact Assessment (PIA) programme, which is based across GSS’s 7 sustainable pillars of sport. The aim of the programme is to help sports organisations understand how best to measure and communicate the positive impact of their organisations on society and the planet.

Laflin also showed how through the GSS PIA programme sports organisations could see how they are doing against other sports organisations in the key areas of sustainability and good governance.

He revealed how there are huge inconsistencies in the way that sports organisations report on their sustainability efforts, pointing to a number of key examples from organisations like the International Olympic Committee, and Premier League clubs, Arsenal and Tottenham. Laflin argued that sport is often too focused on its commercial value, failing to articulate its massive social and environmental impact.

With its global reach, sport has an unparalleled opportunity for positive influence. “We could actually influence so many organisations to think and act more sustainably and to help them communicate the positive impacts they have on society and the planet and inspire the 5 billion fans who follow sport.” he concluded.

Collaboration and Connection

The workshop was designed to be highly collaborative, establishing a powerful network of sports organisations and climate-tech innovators ready to build on the day’s momentum.

Participants identified four key pillars to ensure the connections made would translate into ongoing, meaningful action:

Leveraging Connections for Action

The event successfully brought together a diverse group of sports stakeholders, including major national governing bodies (ECB, LTA, British Triathlon, British Rowing), venue operators, (MCC/Lord’s), teams (Majesticks GC) and innovators/suppliers (Signify, Solivus, Arena Group, Sony Sports, Kit Revolution, Air Aware Labs).

This newly reinforced network is now positioned to facilitate direct introductions for pilots, demonstrations, and new commercial opportunities, turning conversation into tangible projects.

Promoting Knowledge Exchange

 A key outcome is the commitment to sharing knowledge and best practices. Through the collaboration established between SV, FuturePlus and GSS this will ensure an ability to “cross pollinate the work and the understanding, the learnings that we have into different businesses,” allowing best global practices to be adapted and applied directly to the sports industry.

Focus on a Shared Ambition

The new partnership will remain centred on a shared ambition: to accelerate commercial innovation that solves the challenges of climate change and resource scarcity. This involves maintaining a clear focus on what each organisation’s sustainability goals are and the most effective ways to achieve them.

Inspiring Positive Influence

By nurturing these partnerships, the new network will help the sports industry not only protect its own future but also use its global reach and 5 billion fans to inspire other organisations and fans to act more sustainably.