UK Sport calls for sport to have net positive impact on environment by 2040

UK Sport hopes its new environmental sustainability strategy can help protect its sports stars of the future ©UK Sport

UK Sport has called for high-performance sport to have a net positive impact on the environment by 2040 after launching its own environmental sustainability strategy.

The strategy, which also includes UK Sport aiming to reduce the negative environmental impact of its own operations, through a goal of achieving net zero by 2030, has been launched with the aim of protecting the Team of Tomorrow, a term used to describe the next generation of British sporting stars.

The strategy covers the period of 2023 until 2025 and includes priorities such as for national governing bodies to develop an Environmental Sustainability Action Plan by the end of March 2025.

Other priorities in the strategy include incorporating action on environmental sustainability into the bidding, hosting and delivery of major events, and the continued annual reporting of environmental impacts.

Part of the strategy includes helping partners, national governing bodies and the high-performance sports community to reduce emissions and have a net positive environmental impact.

UK Sport is already providing environmental sustainability expertise to bodies including British Triathlon, UK Athletics, British Swimming and England Hockey.

Sport has the power to forge communities and foster pride.

It breaks boundaries, uniting and inspiring us all.

But we can’t compete on a broken planet.

We want to ensure we can all continue to create extraordinary sporting moments for years to come.#TeamOfTomorrow pic.twitter.com/amqjMY5o2d
— Thomas Young MBE (@thomasyoungt38) March 28, 2023

Writing in an exclusive guest blog for insidethegames UK Sport’s head of social impact Tom Baker said: "Our target for the British Olympic and Paralympic sport sector and major sporting events hosted in the UK is that collectively they have a net positive impact on the environment by 2040.

"That will require an entire sector working together to deliver on this goal, but we are committed, and we hope our colleagues and partners across British sport share that commitment.

"We are already working with a number of national governing bodies to pilot projects which are focused on embedding environmental sustainability expertise and support within sports.

"As we learn from this work, we expect to be able to accelerate our collective progress in driving forward the environmental sustainability agenda in the coming years.

"We have a collective responsibility to act and accelerate our work to ensure sport is sustainable for future generations.

"I urge leaders from across Olympic and Paralympic sport to join us and be bold and ambitious in transforming our sector."

You can read more about UK Sport’s strategy in our guest blog here.