Sport can be a vehicle for change. In the face of the climate emergency, it's no longer just a question of reducing our ecological footprint but of learning how to organise sporting events that genuinely respect our planet. With the City, Green, Go! Toolkit, unveiled at the conference on 17 October 2024, organisers will have a practical guide to transforming their practices and meeting this challenge.

Sport and the environment, a shared challenge
Whether local or international, sports events generate significant CO2 emissions, mainly due to travel. Around 80% of an event's carbon footprint comes from transporting goods and participants. Yet many sports organisations have not yet adopted environmental strategies. The City, Green, Go! project aims to help these organisations make the transition.

What are the benefits for the world of sport?
Adopting these practices helps reduce CO2 emissions and the consumption of natural resources by promoting eco-responsible solutions such as using renewable energy and efficient waste management systems. Organising sustainable events also has a social impact, inspiring participants to adopt more environmentally friendly behaviour while raising public awareness of the climate emergency. By creating more pleasant living spaces and strengthening links with local communities, they become drivers of social inclusion and sustainable development. Finally, it stimulates the local economy by prioritising solutions proposed by players close to the event.

However, despite these advantages, there are still several obstacles for event organisers wishing to adopt an eco-responsible approach. These obstacles often include a lack of financial and human resources, difficulty accessing sustainable infrastructures, and the perception that the initial costs are too high. So, it's difficult, for example, to impact a gym's use of renewable energy when you're just an association or a school. On the other hand, you can adopt the right behaviours to reduce consumption. Here, as elsewhere, the association's project and the thought that goes into organising the event can help you overcome the obstacles, but you still need to know which realistic environmental priorities you can prioritise.

A turnkey solution: a step-by-step guide and a global impact
The City, Green, Go! toolkit is designed to provide a turnkey solution for all sports event organisers, whether or not they are new to implementing eco-responsible practices. It offers support at every stage of the organisation, from preparation to implementation, focusing on the seven principles for reducing the carbon footprint. Our sports model is fragile. To preserve it and equip it, it is not a question of asking event organisers to tackle all the problems but to act on the most important and the simplest ones to have a rapid and lasting impact, one that can be replicated at future events and is sufficiently firmly rooted to be able to put new actions in place gradually.

In this context, pooling these resources on a national scale becomes essential to federate the associative, private and institutional players. While some university courses are incorporating these lessons into their curricula, it is just as crucial to train volunteers and professionals who are already working so that they can be guided towards a greener sporting future.

Official launch of a toolbox
The CGG toolkit will be available in English, Hungarian and French. It was presented at the City, Green, Go! Conference on 17 October 2024. This event, accessible online on Youtube was a unique opportunity to exchange with international experts and understand how to organise eco-responsible sports events for a more sustainable future.

Ready to make your sports events eco-responsible?

Check the toolkit here!