Sporting Organisations Sign Up To Un Climate Targets At Cop26

Some of the world’s biggest sports organisations have pledged to reduce their carbon emissions and reach NetZero by 2040.

The targets were unveiled as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and include a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030.

“Four years since we launched the Sports for Climate Action Framework, more than 280 sports organisations have committed to the overarching objectives of aligning sport with the goals of the Paris Agreement,”  Patricia Espinosa, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, said at the launch of the targets.

“The sector eagerly took up the challenge, but also told us that they want to do more and to do it faster.”

Sport is seen as particularly vulnerable to a warming of the earth’s climate with several high-profile examples of rising temperatures impacting events such as the Australian Open tennis and the Winter Olympics.

The English Premier League, the world’s richest domestic football competition, also confirmed it had signed up to the Sports for Climate Action Framework pledges.

“In signing up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, the Premier League is demonstrating its commitment to a more sustainable future,” Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said in a statement.

“Working alongside the UN and other leading sports organisations, we aim to help achieve the targets set by the Paris Climate Change Agreement for a low carbon future.”

As part of their commitment to the goal of the Sports for Climate Action Framework, all the signatories, which include the IOC, FIFA and UEFA, have agreed to submit concrete plans of action they will take to meet the targets and to report annually on their progress.

However, FIFA has been criticised for considering proposals to host a World Cup every two years, as well as planning an expansion to 48 teams for the 2026 tournament in the US and Canada – both of which will guarantee an increase in CO2 emissions.

The pledges were made at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, where several leading figures discuss the role of sport in supporting the goals of the Paris Agreement, an international climate agreement signed in December 2015.

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