Council for Responsible Sport Developing Responsible Sport Standard
August 14, 2020
Since 2007, the Council for Responsible Sport has offered a framework that allows standalone sporting events to assess and certify their social and environmental impacts. Now, the Council is facilitating the development of criteria for organizations that produce and host events, seeking event professionals’ input on the social challenges they care about, so that they can become more socially and environmentally responsible.
As part of a stakeholder input process to develop the new Responsible Sport Standard for Organizations, sport industry professionals are encouraged to provide their opinions on the new program through a brief survey launched this week that asks, among other things, about their perception of organizations’ capabilities to act on social and environmental values.
The Council is seeking input from sport industry professionals who have worked for an organization that has produced or hosted sports events within the past three years on their perception of organizations’ capabilities to act on social and environmental values.
Survey participation is by invitation in order to maintain the integrity of the response data. However, if you are a sport event professional with interest in contributing to the next era of responsibility in sport, please request access to the survey here. The survey will remain open through October 2020.
The new program will be adaptable to different types of sport hosting organizations, from groups with various-sized event portfolios, to sport governing bodies and franchises. Organizations that enroll in the web-based system to track and report their actions will have the opportunity to be verified by a third-party to earn certification, thus obtaining license to use the Responsible Sport Certified seal of achievement and be publicly recognized by the Council for their efforts with a public-facing report.
“The sport sector has been one of the hardest hit by COVID and the subsequent economic fallout, but we have no doubt that sports will come back in time,” said the Council’s managing director, Shelley Villalobos.
“We are using this break from events to develop a program that helps sport entities streamline measurement, improve performance on social and environmental metrics over time and be recognized for those good works.”
The new criteria maintains the Council’s traditional five-category structure, including (1) Planning & Communications; (2) Procurement; (3) Resource Management; (4) Access & Equity, and; (5) Community Legacy. It will also include expanded guidance on governance, diversity, inclusion and climate action elements.
In addition to the survey, the Council is convening delegates from across the sport landscape to provide scrutiny via three channels. First, a 20-member advisory committee with representation by organizations that have strong reputations in social and environmental responsibility, including the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Sport Ecology Group, Track Shack Events, IRONMAN, New York Road Runners and Blue Strike Environmental. Second, technical advisors are providing expertise from varying stakeholder perspectives, and third, an expert review panel of sport executives and thought leaders will convene virtually in the fall of 2020 to review and finalize the new standard alongside the Council for Responsible Sport’s board of directors.
The program builds on recent contributions towards a more sustainable events industry by the Council, including a free 10-point ‘Practical Guide to Hosting Radically Responsible Events’ released in February 2020 in partnership with the hydration company Nuun.
Organizations that host or produce sport events that are interested in helping test the new standards and providing feedback can learn more here.