Madaline Dunn

Globally, the sports sector is estimated to be responsible for the same emissions as a medium-sized country—and its emissions are only growing. But by failing to act on its environmental footprint, sports is jeopardising its own existence.

Research shows that around three-quarters of athletes are now directly impacted by the climate crisis, with rising temperatures increasingly threatening both winter and summer sports.

Indeed, this year, the Summer Olympics saw athletes battle against extreme heat, while by 2040, forecasts are that only ten countries will be capable of hosting snow sports. 

On the pitch, cricket is set to be the hardest hit by climate change, and with dangerous conditions, players falling ill, and an uptick in cancellations, its impact is already being felt.

Given sports’ impact and influence, the sector’s sustainability potential is huge but, as of yet, far from fully realised. 

Sean Morris, a former professional cricketer and the founder of 1.5 Degrees Sport, wants to change this. 

Seeking to catalyse change in the space, Morris, along with co-founders Michael Gietzen, the CEO of events agency Identity, and Grateful Lemon founder Mike Ford, is launching the Sport Impact Summit, a global event series aiming to leverage sports to support a healthier planet.

ESG Mena met with Morris to discuss the Summit, the sport-sustainability connection, and what’s required to scale impact in the sector. 

Bridging the Sports-Sustainability Knowledge Gap

Morris has spent 35 years in professional sports, beginning first as a cricketer before running a players’ association representing talent and running an IPL franchise.

“I covered the three core bases,” explained Morris. Adding: “I’ve spent most of the second half of my career on the desk side of sport, particularly around the commercial ecosystems.”

It was in this second chapter of his career that Morris began looking at the sustainability investment area through the lens of sport and realised there was a lack of sustainability expertise. 

According to the CEO, 1.5 Degrees Sports was founded to bridge this sports-sustainability knowledge and action gap.

“We teamed up with some really interesting academics at the [University of Oxford’s] Environmental Change Institute,” Morris said, explaining that these academics outlined a key challenge in realising real change: the sustainability learning curve is an “incredibly long, linear process.” 

“You end up with language or jargon that, frankly, the vast majority of the audience doesn’t really understand,” said Morris.

Indeed, one poll published earlier this year revealed that in the UK, terms such as “environmentally friendly” and “carbon-neutral” are not well understood by most consumers.

And when the language around sustainability and climate change is inaccessible to those outside the field, this hampers communication, conversation, and, ultimately, climate action. 

Morris said that the learning curve for sports, by comparison, is far steeper.

“The academics [told] us: “We need the sports learning practice if we’re going to solve this problem. We have not got time for what we’ve been talking about for 30 years. We need sport,”” said Morris. 

“Sport is threatened by climate change in particular because you’re getting matches cancelled or you’ve got marathon runners that can’t train. There are examples in every sport. So, if you look at that as a commercial threat, what can they do about it? They can’t do anything about it themselves. So they need to galvanise their audiences,” he added. 

Sport, Morris said, is the single biggest cultural activity on the planet, with a huge potential to engage a diverse audience on the topic of climate change. Leveraging that is a key part of scaling impact quickly, and this is what the Sport Impact Summit aims to achieve. 

Reaching One Billion People 

The Summit’s co-founder explained that the event, part of a global series that will follow the sporting calendar, will round up athletes passionate about climate change. 

“Athletes are now the most influential people on the planet,” said Morris. “Sports stars have hundreds of millions of followers.” 

Indeed, the potential reach of these individuals is vast. Morris gave the example of footballer Lionel Messi, a celebrity who has amassed over 500 million followers on Instagram alone and who recently partnered with the ​​’Join the Planet’ climate initiative. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, a vegan racing driver, reaches an audience of nearly 40 million through the image-based social media platform. 

“Our target is to hit a billion in two days,” said Morris, noting that the Summit will achieve this by bringing in sports industry heavyweights who will share insights and drive conversation across keynotes, panel discussions, and workshops.

“The participants have all understood that and understand which role they play, even if it is as a cheerleader,” said Morris.

According to the former cricketer, the Summit will serve “both halves” of sustainability, the first being decarbonisation of the industry, through best practice and innovation.  

The second half, however, is where Morris said the “real value lies”: sport in sustainability and leveraging the power of sport for a wider cause.

“That’s because of its ability to communicate and engage people,” said Morris.

The Summit is centred around seven key pillars: innovation and technology; sustainability sponsorship, education and coaching; human health; footprint and net zero; equality and inclusion, and infrastructure and transport, through which it will showcase what he called “disruptive” technology partners across energy, recycling and apparel. 

“For example, innovation and technology. We’ve got the world record-breaking solar scientists talking about ….bringing new technology that could fundamentally change energy in stadiums,” he said. 

This is in addition to the likes of circular-focused fashion company Reflo, in which footballer Harry Kane is an investor.

“All attendees will get the opportunity to participate in new experiences and sustainability practices that will benefit them and their own communities,” said Morris.

However, while energy and recyclable sportswear are important topics, when it comes to sport, the elephant in the room is Scope 3 emissions. 

“I think it’s the area that scares me the most,” said Morris. “But it’s also the area [with] the most opportunity.”

Sports’ Scope 3 Emissions

Indeed, as with most sectors, in sports, Scope 3 emissions make up the lion’s share of emissions, often accounting for up to 90 per cent of total emissions.

“To put on an event, athletes have to travel,” he said, adding that “nobody seems to want a degrowth strategy.” However, according to Morris, solutions can be implemented to lower emissions. This includes streamlining how events are organised and where they’re hosted.

There has also been a push towards carbon offsetting in sport, a practice which has garnered its fair share of controversy over the years. 

Carbon offsetting schemes enable companies to invest in environmental projects intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Offset schemes come in many shapes and sizes, but common forms include tree planting schemes, renewable energy build-out initiatives, and conservation projects. 

However, over the years, many of these schemes have been slammed as low-integrity, lacking transparency, and even dubbed “worthless.”

One recent and high-profile carbon offsetting controversy happened at the Qatar World Cup, which FIFA claimed to be the first “fully carbon-neutral World Cup.”

At the time, the football association said this would be achieved, in part, by ensuring that the event’s emissions were offset.

However, last year, a Swiss regulator ruled these claims were false. 

“Fifa was not able to provide proof that the claims were accurate during the proceedings,” the Swiss Fairness Commission (SLK) said.

More recently, over 80 civil organisations called out the use of carbon credits for offsetting purposes, arguing that the practice could delay climate action.

Part of 1.5 Degrees Sport’s offering is what it calls the first sports-tailored carbon offsetting programme. 

Against this backdrop, when asked about the programme’s measuring and monitoring process, Morris said: “I think the key for us, the practical way for us [is] to start with very small areas where there’s a bit more control.”

Adding: “But you clearly [have] got to be good at data. You have to have that built-in. I think there’s some interesting stuff now around data control…[including] blockchain.”

“Ultimately, we want to be able to drive investment into good nature-based solutions,” said Morris.

On the fan side, Morris said that more innovation and incentives are needed, whether that’s cheaper tickets for those who travel via public transport or discounts on food at stadiums. 

“That’s where you can get the big change,” he added. 

Morris said the Summit will also examine its own Scope 3 emissions and is in advanced discussions with technology partners to conduct tracing.

“We need some really big thinking, and we need a lot of people to get on the pitch and help with it.”

Looking to the path ahead, Morris said: “I think our challenge is that it’s knock-out time…and we haven’t got time to wait until it’s too late.”

“We’ve got billions of fans across multiple sports who are also heavily engaged in it. We must be giving them the right stories, the right message and the right encouragement to change their own behaviour, even if it’s in a tiny little way.”

Adding: “We need participants, not spectators, and that’s our core message.”

The Sport Impact Summit will run from 4-5 December 2024 in Dubai. 

By Madaline Dunn, Editor, ESG Mena.