Green and blue; the two colours most widely associated with environmental sustainability. Attempting to bring them both together are two clubs at the opposite ends of Europe, İstanbul Başakşehir in Turkey and Real Betis in Spain, who are positioning themselves football’s representation of the ocean and Earth respectively. In this podcast, we speak with marketing executives from both clubs, Elif Aslı Koç and Rocio Ruiz Berdejo, to find out what this partnership and a focus on environmental sustai...
Mar 24, 2022•38 min•Ep. 70
Being a smaller or even medium-sized football club can be testing for all concerned. There’s often very little opportunity to challenge for the big honours and so much competition, particularly in European football, that it can be difficult to stand out for prospective fans and partners. In this week’s podcast, we sit down with Benedicte Halvorsen (FK Bodo/Glimt), Raphaële Moeremans (Royale Union Saint Gilloise) – both of whom are, incidentally, doing very well on the pitch – and Chris Staudt (F...
Mar 17, 2022•42 min•Ep. 69
How do you measure legacy and impact? Is it through quantitative trends, such as participation rates, viewership and economic impact? Or is it through stories of hope, transformation and inspiration? Probably a combination of both, but it’s the latter that can really capture the imagination and paints a picture. During episode #68 of The Sustainability Report Podcast Julia Fry, Kester Wilkinson (both Extreme E) and Dr. Matthew Bell (EY) illustrate the impact of the first season of the electric o...
Mar 03, 2022•47 min•Ep. 68
All sports want to grow: participation, fan base, revenue. But is growth for growth’s sake ethical on a planet that is facing ecological catastrophe? Should golf courses be developed in the desert? Is it right for indoor snowsport facilities to be built, with all the environmental implications that brings? Those are a few questions that are debated during this edition of the podcast featuring Sport Ecology Group duo, Dr. Madeleine Orr (Loughborough University) and Dr. Walker J. Ross (Florida Sou...
Feb 24, 2022•40 min•Ep. 67
Environmental and social performance has been a growing area of strategic importance for motorsport organisations. While it appears that Formula E has been setting the tone since coming on the scene just under a decade ago, the FIM has had an Environmental Policy in place for almost 30 years and F1 is starting to make inroads, with innovation and technical excellence as its basis for sustainability. A few episodes ago, motorsport engineer and sustainability expert Cristiana Pace joined us to dis...
Feb 10, 2022•32 min•Ep. 66
If you’re looking for a way to engage with climate science – and science in general – in a fun, accessible and unusual way, you could do worse than subscribe to The Poetry of Science Podcast. In each episode, climate scientist and associate professor at Edinburgh University, Sam Illingworth, recites poetry he’s written about a particular scientific topic. Illingworth, who is the guest for episode #65 of The Sustainability Report Podcast, explains why poetry is the perfect medium to connect scien...
Feb 03, 2022•35 min•Ep. 65
Just two months ago, The Sustainability Report sat down with rugby players Alena Olsen and Jamie Farndale to talk about why the sport should be at the forefront of sport’s climate action movement. Last week, following a year of consultation and development, World Rugby, the sport’s global governing body, published its response in the form of a 2030 Environmental Plan. In this edition of the podcast, the federation’s chief executive Alan Gilpin walks us through the plan, explaining World Rugby’s ...
Jan 27, 2022•34 min•Ep. 64
Apathy. The path to least resistance. It’s human nature for us to let some things slip through the cracks because of how much we have to process on any given day. While many of us have the intention of adopting more sustainable habits and behaviours, the fact that some don’t fit seamlessly into our everyday lives means we stop short at taking the required action. This week’s podcast guest, behavioural economist Christina Gravert, spends her time investigating what lies in the gap between intenti...
Jan 20, 2022•41 min•Ep. 63
In sport, data is everything. We try to measure everything; to improve sporting performance and commercial performance. With its growing importance and interest, it’s only natural that the industry wants to do the same with sustainability. But without any real standard benchmarks, measurement and progress is tricky. In this edition of the podcast, we speak with two guests who are trying to rectify this through the creation of indexes with robust and scalable criteria to discover how sustainable ...
Dec 02, 2021•48 min•Ep. 62
A number of key actors are playing a starring role in accelerating sport’s focus on sustainability and climate issues. But, in terms of being at the forefront for a sustained number of years, very few can match the achievements or commitment of Lew Blaustein. After launching Green Sports Blog almost a decade ago, and shaping it into a must-read publication for anyone interested in sport and the environment, Blaustein now is driving athlete activism and engagement through his recently-established...
Oct 28, 2021•53 min•Ep. 61
Michael E. Porter is one of the most renowned academic thinkers in the field of business strategy. If you’ve ever studied business (or read publications like Harvard Business Review ), you’ve doubtless come across his thinking and work. Competitive advantage, says Porter, can be derived from two main sources: doing things at lower cost or differentiation. Sustainability has been touted as a form of differentiation – but if every organisation needs to get their environmental house in order to ali...
Sep 16, 2021•38 min•Ep. 60
Last year, more than 300 British Olympians and Paralympians put their signature to a letter addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging him to steer the country towards a ‘green recovery’ amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The letter was coordinated by Champions for Earth, a group of current and former sportspeople determined to make the athlete voice a key driver in the acceleration of the low-carbon transition. Melissa Wilson, one of the guests in this episode, is part of the core Champions for...
Jun 24, 2021•57 min•Ep. 59
Towards the end of 2020, a piece of research was published by Zoomph and Recipric highlighting the growing interest in plant-based diets from sports fans, and suggesting how professional teams could capitalise on this growing trend. When it comes to the plant-based diet and its impact on athlete performance, perhaps nothing has been quite so impactful as The Game Changers – a revealing Netflix documentary showcasing the connection between enhanced physical performance and the eradication of anim...
Jun 10, 2021•45 min•Ep. 58
Bushfires, extreme heat, drought. Australia, over the past few years, really has felt the wrath of climate change. Indeed, sport has often highlighted the nation’s plight to the rest of the world, with high-profile incidents occurring during the Australian Open with regards to players being badly affected by the soaring temperatures and smoke from the bushfires. But it’s Australia’s thriving recreational sport ecosystem that is bearing the brunt of the problems. Venues that bring people together...
May 06, 2021•54 min•Ep. 57
Data is absolutely everywhere in sport. The trick is knowing what data is meaningful, how to interpret it, and then putting it into action. Sustainability-related data may not be at the top of the priority list for most sports properties. But a look under the hood may demonstrate that those who continue to think that way could be missing a trick – and leaving a lot of money on the table. In this edition of the podcast, our guests, Kristen Fulmer (Recipric), Nick Cronin (Zoomp) and Chris Pyke (Ar...
Apr 08, 2021•50 min•Ep. 56
The reach of the English Premier League is mind-boggling. According to its 2019/20 annual review, 880 million homes in 180 countries have access to live matches. Quite simply, the Premier League is one of the most exciting and high-quality sports leagues in the world, featuring many of the world’s best players and coaches duelling it out on a weekly basis. The cultural impact of the clubs and players is immense. You only need to examine the case of young Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford...
Mar 11, 2021•47 min•Ep. 55
Petrol. Noise. Masculinity. If you had to think of a few words to describe motorsport, the above three would probably be close to mind. But, in recent time, competitions such as Formula E and now Extreme E have sought to change that. Climate action and gender equality are now the watchwords. Even F1 has launched its own carbon neutrality roadmap. A handful of teams within those competitions are attempting to push the envelope even further. Veloce Racing and Envision Virgin Racing are among the f...
Feb 04, 2021•44 min•Ep. 54
Finding solutions. That was the name of the game for 2020, and is likely to be our default mode for a reasonable proportion of 2021 as well. With best-laid plans out of the window, we searched for alternatives – and in many cases, we found better ways of doing things. Of course, once the worst of the pandemic is over major sporting events will, by and large, revert to their traditional form. People are yearning to see their heroes compete and enjoy the spectacle with fellow revellers. On the bus...
Jan 14, 2021•52 min•Ep. 53
There are many people in several industries who will feel 2020 was a somewhat wasted year. When it comes to professional development, some may have identified the previous 12 months as a good opportunity to study or complete a course. However, a significant proportion of the population will be feeling pessimistic about the consequence of the pandemic on their job security and industry in general. That’s why we’ve tried extra hard to infuse the last podcast of 2020 with plenty of optimism and gui...
Dec 23, 2020•48 min•Ep. 52
It used to be conventional wisdom that when building a career being a specialist in one area was the key to making it to the top. That notion is being challenged, with a broad selection of skills and experiences now highly desirable for prospective employees and entrepreneurs. Our guest for this podcast, Mathieu Muller, demonstrates this perfectly by plotting his education and career that has allowed him to experience strategy, communication, and sports law all before the age of 25. During this ...
Dec 17, 2020•37 min•Ep. 51
Handball is one of the most popular team sports in the world, particularly in Central Europe where it is played and watched with a tribal passion. That’s not quite the case in the US, but Melissa Zhang, the communications manager for USA Team Handball, is plotting the sport’s stateside explosion with its first Olympic medal at the LA 2028 Games the goal. Zhang is also the third of four Global Sports Week Young Sports Makers to share her experiences with the podcast over the last few weeks. Durin...
Dec 16, 2020•47 min•Ep. 50
Bringing together sport, education and culture. That definition of Olympism, Paulina Fritz says, needs to be highlighted extensively for the true power of sport to shine through. Fritz is the second Global Sports Week Young Sports Maker of four to join us on the podcast, and this notion of exploring culture and learning about sustainable development is a key theme throughout the conversation. Becoming an IOC Young Change Maker at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games – and an IOC Young Leade...
Dec 15, 2020•36 min•Ep. 49
Over the next few weeks, the podcast will shine a spotlight on some of the emerging bright young sports executives and entrepreneurs who will represent their generation as Young Sports Makers at Global Sports Week next year. Kimberly Fernandez, the social entrepreneur from Mumbai, India, is our first guest in this mini-series. Fernandez has been immersed in sport since childhood, and when the time came to embark on a career she wanted to find a role that combined her passions of sport and social...
Dec 08, 2020•36 min•Ep. 48
There is a section of German football fans that dislike Bundesliga team TSG Hoffenheim by virtue of the fact that it’s owned by billionaire SAP founder Dietmar Hopp. In a nation where fan ownership is a big part of football culture, some supporters believe it signals growing commercialisation of the sport. However, when it comes to sustainability and governance, TSG Hoffenheim is among the pacesetters in European football – perhaps even sport in general. Last year, before the coronavirus pandemi...
Dec 01, 2020•39 min•Ep. 47
Earlier this month, World Sailing won the first sustainability award established by GAISF (the Global Association of International Sports Federations) for its comprehensive Agenda 2030 Sustainability Strategy. In this week's podcast, Dan Reading, World Sailing’s head of sustainability and the man behind the strategy, charts the federation’s progress and explains how the plan was developed as well as how it is being executed. Consulting with stakeholders, setting concrete objectives, searching fo...
Nov 24, 2020•34 min•Ep. 46
Despite being one of the smallest international federations – representing a sport very much in its growth phase – the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) has been a sustainability pioneer in sport since 2014. It’s testament to the organisation’s leadership that, despite its limitated resources, social and environmental responsibility is very much a priority. In this week’s edition of the podcast, we talk with the federation’s chief executive, Michal Buchel, who charts the combat sport’s relat...
Nov 16, 2020•36 min•Ep. 45
Covid-19 < Climate change < Biodiversity collapse. The cartoon, in which each of the global problems is represented by a tidal wave, each one larger in size and looming over the Earth, will be quite widely-recognised by now. According to the United Nations, the “ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever”, posing a significant threat to humans and all we find dear. Including sport. Sport has an intrinsic relationship with nature. We play man...
Nov 10, 2020•33 min•Ep. 44
In 2018, the Philadelphia Eagles NFL franchise became the first regular season sports team to adopt the ISO 20121 sustainable event standard, which was developed for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. On this week’s podcast, we sit down with the person who encouraged the 2018 Super Bowl-winning team to take its sustainability credentials to the next level – Lindsay Arell of Honeycomb Strategies in Denver, Colorado. During the episode, Arell charts her sustainability career, from green...
Nov 03, 2020•42 min•Ep. 43
Bringing fans back into stadiums and sports venues safely. That is the primary concern for most sports organisations and facility operators. But there’s a real concern that many may start to equate single-use products with human health as a result of Covid-19, ripping apart a lot of the good work done pre-pandemic around the phasing out of single-use plastic products like beverage cups. This week’s guest, Meegan Jones, has launched “pre-emptive strike” and published a set of guidelines and recom...
Oct 27, 2020•43 min•Ep. 42
Snowsports, of course, are feeling the impact of climate change more keenly than other sports. Some studies have shown that the Alps could lose up to 70% of their yearly snow cover by 2100 – placing huge question marks against the futures of a number of sports. Biathlon is one of those sports. Indeed Europe’s Alpine region is the global epicentre of the sport. But, instead of turning a blind eye and accepting its fate, the sport’s governing body – the International Biathlon Union – has decided t...
Oct 20, 2020•35 min•Ep. 41
