News article
This Week: UCI, Marseille, Canadian Olympic Committee, FIH
Also in the news: England Golf, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, World Rugby…
The International Cycling Union (UCI) has published a study on the socio-economic impact of hosting the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow and across Scotland. Some 79% of Scottish residents said they intended to cycle more, while 86% of the event’s stakeholders felt the Championships were organised in an environmentally friendly manner. Additionally, 35% of participating National Federations intended to offset the carbon footprint of their travel to the event.
Scottish football club Inverness Caledonian Thistle has secured planning approval from its local authority to build a battery farm. The 52 battery storage containers will be capable of storing up to 50MW of electricity and can be used during periods of high demand.
England Golf has launched a new initiative with sustainability platform Zellar in a bid to help 1,700 golf clubs across the country to be more green. The collaboration has the potential to help England Golf affiliates reduce their total carbon emissions by over 1,200 tonnes of CO2 by 2026.
The Canadian Olympic Committee has awarded C$100,000 to some 15 Olympian-led not-for-profit initiatives, with each focusing on access to sport, safe sport, or sustainability in their communities.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) will stick with watered turf for the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup after its global partner, artificial turf provider Polytan, provided an update on its ongoing work to develop a more sustainable dry playing surface. In hockey, water consumption reduced by 40% from the 2016 to 2020 Olympics, and more recently, the FIH Hockey5s World Cup took place on dry turf – the first major competition to do so. However, following feedback, the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup will be played on watered turf, while work continues on supporting research into more sustainable alternatives.
French Ligue 1 side Olympique de Marseille will install solar panels at its training centre as part of a deal with local companies Soleio and DualSun. The Robert Louis-Dreyfus training centre will be able to utilise renewable energy and therefore lower its carbon footprint.
Research-backed sports sustainability charity Pledgeball has partnered with Scottish Championship football club Dundee United. It is the first deal struck by Pledgeball with a Scottish club.
World Rugby has launched its 2024 call for applications to fund player welfare research projects. Research funded by World Rugby has seen the game benefit from sport-specific insight into player welfare. Since 2015, World Rugby has awarded more than £1.5m to fund bespoke research projects by independent bodies.