Lecture on sports and climate change at COP29.
Sport has the power to unite people in the fight against the climate crisis. This was the sentiment expressed during a session on sport and climate change at the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan on Monday.
Former British cyclist and current chairman of Sport England, Chris Boardman, said 65% of children who took part in the survey wanted sports stars to speak out for a clean and sustainable future, adding that footballer Harry – He said he would like to hear stars like Caine talk about climate change and climate change. environment.
Panel members spoke about how global sporting events drive up greenhouse gas emissions, although there are various efforts underway to combat this.
“About 94% of the emissions from last year's Rugby World Cup in France came from transport,” said Olivia Wessendorf of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's International Transport Forum.
Partnering with public transport is one way these emissions can be reduced, she said, citing the example of traveling by train to venues within five hours away, rather than using a plane or bus. Ta.
Wessendorf added that this is equivalent to “taking a million cars off the road.”
Filippo Verrio, UEFA's head of social and environmental sustainability, pointed out that at the Euro 2024 tournament held in Germany earlier this year, “81% of fans attending Euro matches used public transport.” .
Impact on athlete performance
Sports are not immune to the effects of climate change, with high temperatures, air pollution, weather events, and water cleanliness posing challenges for high-performance athletes.
“Training in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius and even reaching 50 degrees Celsius is extremely dangerous. Air pollution makes you feel like you've smoked a cigarette, and bodies of water are filled with pesticides,” says an Indian triathlete. , Prajna Mohan said.
“Climate change is pushing us athletes and global citizens at every level.”
She was concerned that climate change would have a severe impact on sports such as triathlon, and that records may not be broken because athletes in some events are pushed to their limits.
New Zealand soccer player Katie Roode said 120,000 grassroots matches a year are canceled due to weather conditions.
“Sometimes it is not possible to train because the air quality is not good enough. For the Tokyo Olympics, we trained in the intense heat. Before the games, we had to prepare ice and slush. It also means shortening the warm-up from 25 minutes to 10 minutes,” she said.
Samoan sailor Eloni Lelua said wind and weather patterns in the Pacific make training difficult. “Climate change will make event preparation more difficult as hectic weather becomes more frequent.”
Partnership with fossil fuel groups
Participants warned of the issue of partnerships with fossil fuel organizations. More than 130 female professional players with more than 2,700 caps from 26 countries came together to call for an end to FIFA's sponsorship agreement with Saudi Aramco.
“Aramco is the world’s largest state-owned oil and gas company, and plays a key role in fueling the climate crisis. The oil giant is also 98.5% owned by Saudi Arabia, which also “Aramco sponsorship is a middle finger to women's football,” they said in a statement titled “Aramco sponsorship is a middle finger to women's football.” .
“As the world's largest state-owned oil and gas company, Saudi Aramco is one of the companies most responsible for burning the future of football. Grassroots football around the world has been hit by extreme heat, drought, fires and floods. But while we all pay the price, Saudi Arabia is raking in the profits with FIFA as its cheerleader.”
Athletes at Monday's event said that sport has the power to inspire millions of people, and that partnerships like this help those facing the dangers of climate change, many of them fans. ) is shown to be ignored.
Athletes called for a move away from fossil fuels and forging new partnerships with organizations that do good for the environment.
