Green Sports Hub Europe

CONTEXT As the central pillar of the European Commission’s strategy 2020-2024, the European Green Deal presents all European stakeholders with the challenge of how they can contribute. At many levels, sport organisations have been active on environmental sustainability (see UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, the French Ministry of Sports-led charter of eco-responsible commitments for sport event organisers, individual good practices as highlighted in the Playing for our Planet report). However, MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE to come up with a shared European vision & commitment to help sports organisations act to reduce their environmental impact & move towards decarbonisation. THE PROJECT SOLUTION The Green Sports Hub Europe (GSHE) includes four key pillars & a clear strategy for how the project will help the sports sector become more environmentally sustainable. More broadly, the project will test the potential of the sports sector, as a high-profile & news agenda-driving industry, to be a channel for the societal behavioural change needed to make the European Green Deal a reality. GSHE is focusing on good governance so that leaders have the knowledge and skills to place environmental sustainability at the heart of their strategy. WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE? The Green Sports Hub Europe will be a support system for organisations to share knowledge & best practices, so that they can learn from each other and develop. GSHE will (1) gather a set of recognised experts and activists in different fields bridging the gap between sport stakeholders, public authorities & environmental NGOs, (2) listen to the needs of the sector and (3) equip sports organisations and their events with the necessary tools (such as a self-assessment tool, a Playbook and a Charter) to translate existing ISO standards on environmental sustainability into concrete action. Our vision is that the GSHE approach and tools will become a central component of sports organisation good govenance.