The event, attended by over 90 organisations and stakeholders from across the industry, made one thing clear: sport is not only measuring sustainability, it is also learning how to operate sustainably, engage communities, and plan for a climate-altered future.

Data Still Drives the Conversation — and the Challenge

GSBS CEO Christian Hartmann emphasised that robust data remains the foundation of progress. Strategies are improving, but Hartmann notes that “the actual gathering of quantitative data is still a challenge,” particularly around emissions, energy, waste and social reporting.

The 2025 results reveal familiar pressure points:

• Almost half of organisations provided no emissions data, and fewer than one-third measured their full Scope 1–3 footprint.
• Reported emissions increased significantly year-on-year—less a sign of worsening performance than a sign of widening disclosure.
• More than half of organisations expect material climate-related impacts on their operations, including extreme weather, energy volatility and disruptions to fixtures and broadcast calendars.

These are not abstract risks. Atlético de Madrid, one of the Gold-rated organisations in 2025, shared how heavy rainfall had caused extensive damage illustrating the immediate consequences of climate change on club operations. Comentating on the challenge Rocio Torres, Head of Sustainability & Responsible Business, stated: “Climate change isn’t theoretical for us. When floods hit our stadium and cause real damage, that becomes business-critical. We have to plan, adapt and invest for the long term.”

Social Sustainability: Persistent Gaps, Pressing Needs

The GSBS results again highlighted the sector’s ongoing challenges in social governance:

• The gender pay gap ranges from 1% to 37%.
• Women represent just 31% of the workforce—a figure that has barely changed.
• Female board representation averages 11%, with a median of zero.
• More than a third of organisations have no materiality assessment in place.

These indicators show that while climate adaptation and environmental strategy are accelerating, social sustainability requires renewed focus and long-term structural change.

From Strategy to Practice: Translating Ambitions into Action

The launch event highlighted how clubs and governing bodies are translating sustainability ambitions into tangible action. Several standout contributions offered insight into the complexity and creativity shaping the next phase of sustainability in sport.

Atlético de Madrid: Understanding and Reducing the Operational Footprint

Presenting remotely from Madrid, Torres outlined Atlético’s holistic approach to emissions measurement and reduction, from energy efficiency upgrades and solar installations to digital monitoring systems that allow real-time consumption analysis. The club’s experience shows how operational sustainability has shifted from project-by-project interventions to integrated, organisation-wide management.

BSC Young Boys: Mobility as the Sector’s Most Intractable Challenge

Representatives from BSC Young Boys in Switzerland demonstrated why fan mobility remains one of sport’s most significant and complex emissions sources: at their club, 53% of total emissions comes from supporter travel.

Their research-driven approach, mapping fan journeys, segmenting behaviour, and testing incentives such as expanded public transport access, provided a model for other clubs grappling with similar challenges.

Motorsport UK: Governing for a Sustainable Future

As the only governing body presenting at the event, Motorsport UK offered a unique perspective on sustainability without direct control over venues or events. Their work focuses on rules, accreditation, education and support, including a volunteer environmental programme that helps local motorsport clubs measure and reduce emissions. Their message was clear:

VfL Bochum: Embedding Sustainability into Identity and Community

VfL Bochum illustrated how sustainability can become part of a club’s cultural fabric, highlighting projects in youth engagement, community health, and child protection. Their work showed how clubs can act as trusted platforms for social impact, particularly in regions where traditional institutions struggle to reach young people.

FC Barcelona: Embedding Sustainability Across a Global Club

FC Barcelona presented their approach to integrating sustainability across one of the world’s largest and most complex sports organisations. Their focus is on embedding sustainability into the club’s internal structure, ensuring that every department — from football operations to commercial teams and infrastructure — shares responsibility for delivery.

The club emphasised that their challenge is organisational scale: aligning diverse teams, cultures and functions behind a single sustainability pathway.

These presentations collectively shifted the tone of the launch. Instead of sustainability being framed primarily as a reporting exercise, the narrative centred on impact: resilience, community value, innovation, and the human dimensions of environmental and social change.

Leaders Showing the Way

Despite the challenges, the 2025 results celebrate a growing cohort of organisations demonstrating maturity and depth in their sustainability programmes.

In this year’s Gold category:

• Formula E once again leads the global table with a score of 85.
• Borussia Dortmund follows with a score of 81.
• FC Porto, Atlético de Madrid, Real Madrid, and FC Barcelona all achieved scores of 80.

These leaders combine strong governance structures with credible emissions reporting, community engagement programmes and transparent decision-making processes.

Formula E: Leading the Table and Pushing the Technological Frontier

Formula E, which topped the GSBS rankings for the third consecutive year with a score of 85, also presented at the event — providing insight into how the electric racing series continues to push boundaries on and off the track.

Their presentation highlighted Formula E’s long-term investment in clean technology, sustainable event delivery, and the close integration of engineering, innovation and emissions reduction across the entire championship ecosystem.

This message resonated strongly in a year when Formula E once again set the global benchmark. Palle continued: “We’re proud to be recognised by GSBS again this year. But the real measure of success is how much of this innovation the rest of the industry feels empowered to adopt.”

GSBS: A Gauge on Sustainability Progress

For leagues, clubs, partners, investors and governing bodies, GSBS acts as a gauge on the industry. It reflects where some organisations stand, where progress is real, and where opportunity remains. It benchmarks not only performance, but also maturity, transparency and readiness for the structural challenges facing the industry.

As Hartmann summarised: “We are here to help organisations shine even brighter, not by dictating standards, but by reflecting effort, progress and commitment with the accuracy and respect they deserve.”

As the sector confronts intensifying climate risks and rising social expectations, the benchmark highlights not just how far sport has come, but how much further it must go.