‘There will be no sport on a dead planet’ – BBC Green Sport Awards highlight need for action

Taking place on Monday, October 7, the third edition of the event celebrated current and former athletes, as well as sporting bodies and organisations aiming to accelerate and inspire change.

Grant is an Olympic rowing champion and converted from being a vegetarian to a vegan in 2023 in a bid to make a personal difference. Additionally, Grant became an ambassador for the Rivers Trust, and recently won an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Climate Action Award.

Australian race walker, and Paris 2024 bronze medal winner, Rhydian Cowley was awarded World Athlete of the Year. Cowley was a spokesperson for the Rings of Fire report, sharing his experiences with heat and competition, and the impact of climate change on athletes.

In June this year, Cowley was also one of 14 athletes to sign an open letter urging the IOC to drop Toyota as a major sponsor.

Sticking with athletes, Australian surfer Adrian Buchan was named Evergreen Athlete of the Year. Buchan is described as a “passionate climate advocate” by the BBC and has played a significant role in championing environmental activism.

Buchan was a founding board member of an Australian charity dedicated to combating climate change and educating fellow surfers, and is also an ambassador for a non-profit organisation that is working on climate-crisis mitigation, coastal and marine conservation, and addressing plastic pollution. In 2020, he won a large sum for an ocean advocacy award that he donated to the Climate Council. He also sits on the board at governing body Surfing Australia.

Speaking in a video shown at the awards, Buchan said: “I think when you derive so much joy from something you want to naturally protect it and you develop a sense of custodianship. Reflecting on my career I was lucky enough to come along at a time when that career path had been well established and I was going to beautiful locations. But at the same time, I guess as a surfer and being in the ocean, you are at the forefront of climate change. During the course of my two decades travelling the world I definitely saw a change, whether that was coral bleaching, whether that was coastal erosion or incredible plastic pollution across places like Indonesia or the Maldives. All events driven by climate change.”

Elsewhere, World Athletics was recognised for the launch of its Athletics for a Better World Standard, setting environmental, social and governance goals for host cities and venues.

World Athletics’ Director of Special Projects Jackie Brock-Doyle and Head of Sustainability Bob Ramsak attended the event to accept the Elite Organisation of the Year.

The Athletics for a Better World Standard includes 55 action areas around procurement, waste management, energy, food and water management, travel and more. Social elements are also incorporated, including accessibility and wellbeing.

Research-driven charity Pledgeball was crowned Grassroots Organisation of the Year for its efforts to eliminate waste and encourage fans to think about their own carbon footprint. Over the last year, Pledgeball has introduced a sustainable travel charter to help clubs choose a more sustainable way to travel, while founder Katie Cross has worked with major organisations such as UEFA and the International Biathlon Union.

Cross told the BBC: “One of the issues is we all feel incredibly overwhelmed by this, we feel climate change is such a big issue that we cannot take part and so we turn off to it. What Pledgeball does is show a clear way in which you can have an impact, illustrate what that is and help you see you are a part of a huge community that also cares and wants to take action.

“There is a huge desire for bold action that will change things and protect those things we care about.”

Event organiser, Dave Lockwood, Head of Editorial Sustainability at BBC Sport , received one of the warmest welcomes of the night.

He applauded all of the great work undertaken by the sport and sustainability people present in the room, but noted there was a notable absence of chief executives and senior executives at the awards. He felt that to really make a difference, senior management needed to engage in the discussion around climate change and the environment.

‘There will be no sport on a dead planet’

Rounding off the awards ceremony, BBC Springwatch presenter and environmentalist Chris Packham said in a video: “Us within the environmental sector, we’re bound to be banging on the door when it comes to climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, but we are a tiny sector with a tiny reach and what we know that sport has, what entertainment has, that music has, is a far greater reach. So we very much need your support. And let’s face it, sport could do better.”

“The World Cup is expanding to 48 teams from 32. It’s going to be spread across entire continents and will have a massive carbon footprint. We see the Champions League, again expanding with more clubs, more carbon footprint, more air flights all across Europe. When you think about it, we have had some great athletes, footballers, sportspeople, tennis players, everyone speaking out about environmental issues but too few of them and too infrequently.

“Frankly I don’t need to tell you there will be no football, there will be no tennis, there will be no golf, there will be no sport on a dead planet.”