How Rising Temperatures Worldwide Are Changing Sport Forever

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in global or regional climate patterns, mainly due to human activities that increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. These GHG emissions trap solar radiation and raise global temperatures. This has severe implications for human activities. None more immediately than sports.

How Does Climate Change Affect Sports?

Firstly, the increased temperature in the atmosphere and frequent heat waves pose a significant risk to sports athletes. These conditions can lead to heat stress, dehydration, and heat-related illnesses like heat stroke. The severity of these risks underscores the urgent need for action to mitigate the effects of climate change on sports.

Secondly, due to the effects of climate change, extreme weather events such as floods, wildfires, and thunderstorms frequently disrupt and postpone sporting events. The 2018 US Open had to introduce a new heat break policy due to extreme heat, and the 2020 Australian Open struggled with air quality issues from wildfires. The 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan was even cancelled due to a typhoon.

How Does Climate Change Impact Sporting Venues?

Climate change threatens to render iconic sports venues, such as the Olympics and winter sports arenas, unsuitable. Recent research and reports indicate that several winter sports venues could become unusable by 2050 due to a lack of snow and rising atmospheric temperatures. This potential loss should serve as a wake-up call for all stakeholders to take immediate action.

Indirect Environmental Effects on Sports

Many Indirect Environmental Effects impact sports. These include increased air pollution, the spread of allergens and disease vectors, and water scarcity, all of which can significantly disrupt sports events and affect the health and performance of athletes and spectators.

Increased Air Pollution: Human activities lead to increased ground-level ozone and smog, and thus, air pollution. Poor air quality outdoors or in buildings affects sports/athlete health and performance, especially for endurance sports, and can harm spectators at outdoor events.

Spread of Allergens and Disease Vectors: Climate change can catalyse the spread of allergens and disease vectors like mosquitoes to new locations, exacerbating the health risks for sports team personnel and spectators who are competing across the world. As a result, these occurrences can lead to health cases of asthma, allergies, and vector-borne diseases like malaria at sporting events.

Water scarcity: Climate change impacts on the environment, such as increased droughts and water shortages, threaten water-intensive sports such as swimming, field irrigation for turfs, and stadiums, affecting the ability of climatic locations that are prone to droughts to host certain water-intensive sports.

Sporting Events Impacts on the Environment

Reversely, sporting events can have a huge impact on the environment. Major international leagues and tournaments significantly generate carbon emissions and have environmental impacts.

The FIFA World Cup has been reported to be one of the most well-known single-event contributors to carbon emissions. For example, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is estimated to have generated 3.63 million tonnes of GHG emissions, most emanating from attendees' accommodation and the different forms of internal and international travel. Also, the Olympic Games have a significant carbon footprint. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics was estimated to have generated between 1.96 and 2.42 million tonnes of CO₂, while the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics emitted 0.49 million tonnes of GHG emissions.

Moreover, major sports leagues, such as the English Premier League, Formula One, and the UEFA Champions League, are reported to emit millions of tonnes of GHG emissions yearly, primarily from operations, travel, logistics, and accommodation. Nonetheless, local sports activities and grassroots contribute their share of greenhouse gas emissions, with one estimate suggesting that leisure centres contribute up to 40 % of local government or council’s GHG emissions.

Factors Driving Emissions Increase in Sports Events

The significant factors and activities driving GHG emissions in sports events include air travel for athletes, sports teams/staff, spectators, and Play the Game reports. These account for well over 50% of GHG emissions from major world sports events. The construction and operation of sports facilities and associated infrastructure emit significant embodied carbon, which forms part of the life cycle of GHG emissions. Moreover, supply chain activities related to food, equipment, and beverages have a sizeable environmental impact, and the advertising and promotional offerings significantly impact the environment.

To combat the impact of climate change on sporting activities, all stakeholders, including event organisers, athletes, and fans, must play a role. This can be done by reducing GHG emissions by installing clean, renewable energy and implementing sustainable practices. The starting point for this is undertaking the appropriate environmental training.

Event organisers should seek to complete the IEMA Certificate in Environmental Management below. The course covers various environmental and sustainability issues to enable you to drive change in an organisation. A practical approach is adopted to allow organisations to improve their environmental performance and reduce their impacts strategically and operationally.