Unveiled in the latest edition of ATP Serves Spotlight, the ATP ESG Engagement and Support Programme will provide tournaments with specialist expertise, practical guidance and financial support as they seek to improve sustainability performance. The initiative has been developed with Enovation Consulting and will begin in 2027.

Turning strategy into tournament action

For a global tour, one of the biggest sustainability challenges is translating organisation-wide commitments into consistent action across events operating in very different countries, venues and circumstances.

ATP says the new programme emerged from listening to tournaments and understanding the practical challenges involved in staging events more sustainably.

“From listening to the views of our tournaments, gaining insights and understanding the global challenges of hosting events in a sustainable way, we’ve launched the ATP ESG Engagement and Support Programme.”

The programme will focus on three areas: operational enhancements, tournament resilience and creating wider community value. Alongside practical support, tournaments will gain access to peer learning, communications support and opportunities for recognition.

That combination is significant. Sustainability within sport increasingly requires more than individual environmental initiatives. Building capability, sharing knowledge and embedding sustainability within operational decision-making can help turn isolated projects into longer-term organisational change.

Removing the resource barrier

Perhaps the most important element is ATP’s recognition that ambition alone is not enough.

“Recognising that financial resources are often a barrier to sustainability, ATP will fund specialist support for all tournaments from 2027.”

Providing centrally funded expertise could help smaller tournaments in particular, where limited resources and specialist knowledge can make sustainability difficult to prioritise alongside the immediate demands of delivering an international sporting event.

ATP will also create a more intensive 2027 Tournament Pilot Cohort involving three or four events. Selected tournaments will receive direct consultancy support from Enovation Consulting, including sustainability assessments, regular meetings, training and dedicated consultancy days.

Leadership rather than existing performance

Importantly, the pilot is not being restricted to tournaments already regarded as sustainability leaders.

ATP says applications are welcomed from events at every stage of their journey and that existing sustainability performance will not determine selection. Instead, it is looking for tournaments demonstrating “a genuine commitment to embedding and building their sustainability practices” alongside clear internal leadership capable of driving change.

This shifts the emphasis from rewarding those already performing well towards helping tournaments build the capacity to improve – potentially creating a model that can subsequently be replicated across the Tour.

From individual events to systemic change

Enovation Consulting already delivers ESG activity at the Nitto ATP Finals, including its ISO 20121 certification, providing an established foundation from which the wider programme can develop.

The bigger test will be whether ATP can use the programme to create measurable and consistent progress across its tournament ecosystem. If it succeeds, central support combined with local implementation could provide a powerful mechanism for accelerating change across professional tennis.

ATP currently sits inside the Global Top 150 of the GSS SPI Index, achieving C: Purpose Established. The new programme represents another important step towards turning established sustainability commitments into practical action across the sport.