Environmental Sustainability

SIX THINGS TO NOTE ON SPORT AND CLIMATE CHANGE…..

1. Farnham Sports Council, a voluntary organisation supporting and promoting sport and active lifestyles, are keen to be an advocate for environment sustainability by encouraging local sports clubs and organisations to play their part in tackling climate change, the chairman stating ”it’s our corporate and social responsibility to do so”

2. The United Nations state that ‘a long list of sports organisations have signed up to a UN-led framework – Sports for Climate Action – seeking to move the sports sector to a carbon economy, and in doing so ”use sport as a unifying tool to drive climate awareness and action among communities”

3. The British Association for Sustainable Sport – supported by many sports organisation and sports players in the UK –  state that ‘Climate change is a global problem that requires the whole of society to collaborate and coordinate to find solutions’

4. The European Union state in their report ‘How Climate Changes Sport’ that ‘Sport’s relationship with climate can be described as complicated: on one hand, emissions from sport make a significant contribution to climate change, but on the other hand heatwaves and other extreme weather phenomena negatively affect competitions and impact athletes’ health and performance

5. Sport England, at it’s national conference in October 2024 [through its chairman, Chris Boardman] praised sporting organisations driving change on environmental sustainability but warned that the sports sector needs to lift its ambition. He said ‘The status quo is no longer an option. Fundamentally we have to move from a position of ‘inform and encourage’ to one of ‘enable and require’

6. The Centre for Sustainable Design, led by Professor Martin Charter, is based at the UCA, Farnham are leading the way on the evolution and trends related to product design, including sport. Martin has driven the award-winning Repair Cafe project in Farnham and started a successful initiative with a number of clubs for the re-use of cricket equipment

SO WHAT TWO THINGS CAN SPORTS CLUBS IN FARNHAM DO…..

Farnham Sports Council hosted a ‘Sport and Climate Change’ seminar aimed at local sports clubs [and any interested sports participants] in November, 2021, and then carried out a ‘Sports Clubs in Farnham’ survey in 2022. The response to the climate change action question showed that, though some clubs were quite pro-active on sustainable matters, many clubs in Farnham didn’t regard it as a priority. After all, there’s more than enough to do already in running a sports club.

It’s particularly challenging for any public organisation, including Farnham’s sports council, to try and be prescriptive and come up with a ‘one size fits all’ set of guidance because, of course, sports clubs in Farnham come in all shapes and sizes and with differing levels of ownership and volunteer support. However, the organisations mentioned above [and many others] do offer advice and support online and there are local and national grants available for environmental projects [Active Surrey have a list of potential funding bodies]

However, to make a difference and do our bit in Farnham, the sports council are encouraging, wherever possible, local sports clubs and organisations to consider TWO THINGS to help:

1. We’d encourage, for the club AGM and all committee meetings, incorporating ‘Environmental Matters’ as a regular agenda item [providing an opportunity for club members to have an input at any time]

2. We’d encourage clubs to have a dedicated committee member to be an advocate and champion for the environment [expectantly, every club has members who are passionate about the environment]

Farnham Sports Council would like to thank all those clubs and key individuals who are prepared to support this initiative, or any step-changes that positively supports Farnham’s contribution to climate action