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Sustainability round-up: May 4
This week’s sustainability round-up includes Puma’s offer of a platform to the younger generation, UEFA discussing the financial sustainability of European football, sustainable development across Oceania, the impact of sports tourism, and one tennis club’s efforts to be more environmentally friendly.
FIFA is threatening a broadcast blackout in Europe’s top five football nations for this year’s Women’s World Cup in response to what president Gianni Infantino has described as “disappointing” rights offers – but former Matilda Moya Dodd alleges the global governing body is part of the problem.
Sportswear company Puma has recently revealed a new initiative that will help to evolve how the brand navigates its sustainability journey, while also focusing on the next generation’s perspectives and recommendations. The project is called ‘Voices of a RE:GENERATION’ and will start by offering a ‘seat at the table’ to four, young environmentalist voices from across Europe and the US. The new voices will enable Puma to connect and engage with a younger audience surrounding sustainability.
The UEFA Club Licensing Committee gathered recently at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland to address topics relating to club licensing and financial sustainability. Stakeholders increasingly feel that financial sustainability is critical to the future of European football and the committee stressed the need to implement UEFA’s regulatory frameworks consistently. The committee also agreed to explore new ways to enhance long-term sustainability and competitiveness within European football.
Ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane in 2032, regional leaders, development organisations and Olympic committees have committed to using sport as a tool for sustainable development across Oceania. The commitment was made during the recent Sport and Sustainable Development Strategic Partners Forum, which was convened by the Oceania National Olympic Committees and the International Olympic Committee, in conjunction with the Pacific Regional Sports Taskforce.
The second edition of the World Sports Tourism Congress, which was organised by the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation, the Government of Croatia’s Ministry of Tourism and Sport and the Affiliate Member Croatian National Tourist Board, welcomed leaders and experts from across the sports and tourism sectors to discuss sustainability. The theme was ‘Tourism and Sports United for Sustainability’ with a focus on key issues such as sports tourism’s economic impact and its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Halton Tennis Club, based in Buckinghamshire in the UK, recently celebrated Earth Day, but its sustainability efforts span all the way back to 2014, when it launched Halton Project Zero. Since then, the club has managed to reduce its overall energy consumption by 33%. Further goals included the installation of six EV car charging points; reducing energy consumption and introducing renewables that allow the club to power the EV charging points with clean energy; replacing boilers with alternative options, including air source and ground pumps; solar energy and switching two air halls to fixed structures with solar panels.
Image: Alexandra Lowenthal on Unsplash