Event Recap: The Sport for Climate Action Forum

April 16, 2021 

Yesterday, the Sport for Climate Action Forum presented by Beyond Sport and supported by the Swedish Postcode Foundation, brought together individuals and organisations from around the world for a series of showcases, workshops and keynotes focused on the key role sport can play in protecting our environment. 

Both Beyond Sport and the Swedish Postcode Foundation believe that the unifying and energizing nature of sport can help combat the lack of cooperation that hinders significant action on climate issues. In order to make the Global Goals a reality by 2030, we know that sport must play a bigger role. 

That’s why in 2019, we partnered to launch the Sport for Climate Action Collective Impact Award – a programme designed to support a group of organizations that are promoting Global Goal 13 through sport with grant funding and year-round facilitated support. As we close out the collective impact programme, the Sort for Climate Action Forum broadened the conversation to the wider sector in hopes of continuing the real action to protect our planet. 

The forum began with an opening keynote by David Given-Sjolander, Project Manager of the Swedish Postcode Foundation and was hosted by Radha Balani, Director of Design and Facilitation from Beyond Sport. The Swedish Postcode Foundation is a grant making organisation aims to promote positive social development and seeks long-term solutions to local and global challenges. They use the UN Sustainable Development Goals as the basis for the framework of their efforts.

"Sport has the potential to reach hundreds of millions of people. If we're able to mobilize and educate even a fraction of that to promote collective action; that's a loud and powerful voice that's difficult to ignore," said Given-Sjolander. 

“We’re absolutely on the right track now and now we need to talk about the next step, what the action is. What is the impact you’re creating, what is the change that’s taking place and what is it in the intervention that’s creating that change?”

This introduction then followed by an expert panel on the role of professional sport in climate action, which was moderated by David Garrido, Sky Sports News Anchor and Sustainability Expert. The panel line-up consisted of Roger McClendon, Executive Director of Green Sports Alliance, David Thomas, Chief Commercial Officer of Southampton FC and Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu, Sectors Engagement Lead at UNFCCC. 

Xhaferi-Salihu talks on the UN’s Sport for Climate Action Framework: "Diversity across sectors allows sports to learn from each other. We have a lot of signatories from Europe, US & parts of Asia but we need more globally to create a real change. The idea is to understand where challenges lie and how to address them collectively.” 

Following this, was a second panel on achieving more together through the impact of cross-sector partnerships. This panel was moderated by Radha Balani and featured Cyndi Mendoza, Development Director of I AM WATER, Dan Reading, Head of Sustainability at World Sailing and Doc Mabila, Program Manager of Youth Zones. 

“The Sport for Climate Action Collective Impact Award helped us promote our work globally and provide COVID relief for coaches. It showed us the power of building relationships in a non-profit space. We came from all different spaces within the sector, but sport brought us together," said Mendoza. 

Attendees then got an opportunity to create solutions and ask questions in the breakout sessions, one led by thinkBeyond and Green Sports Alliance on sport, business and sustainability and the second session on solutions from the Swedish sport industry led by David from the Swedish Postcode Foundation and speakers from Ski Team Sweden; Alpine and Skicross Swedish Ski Federation, Swedish Sailing Federation and MIstra Sport and Outdoors. 

The forum closed with a final panel discussion with Will Flint, Founder and CEO of Energym on looking towards the future and building a more sustainable world through business. Energym uses the concept of human power to tackle efficiency, with the goal of harnessing energy from people's workouts and simultaneously motivate people to stay fit. 

“'We want to get people to really consider their own impact. It's important to make a conscious effort to look at your own personal carbon footprint. It's not just on companies to address the effects of power consumption,” said Flint.