Sports
IN its Green Sport Awards, BBC Sport celebrates the good news – the athletes, former athletes and organisations working hard to enact and inspire change.
Below are the shortlists for the third annual awards. The winners – including the Evergreen Award, which recognises lifetime achievement – will be announced on the BBC Sport website and app on Monday, 7 October.
Athlete of the Year nominees
Jamie Farndale
The Bristol and Scotland Sevens rugby union player was nominated for going “above and beyond” in his engagement in sustainability. Farndale, 30, is the sustainability ambassador for the Scotland team and frequently uses his social media platforms for the cause. He continued to grow his influence through the Paris 2024 Olympics – role modelling and leading on sustainability on and off the field. Among other things, he was an International Olympic Committee Athlete Advocacy Award winner in its sustainability awards, spoke out at London Climate Action Week on the panel on port and climate change and led a session at the Hong Kong Sport and Sustainability Summit.
Imogen Grant
Grant is a prominent sustainability advocate, and uses her influence to raise awareness and speak about her beliefs. The Olympic rower converted from being a vegetarian to a vegan in 2023, saying it was a way of making a personal difference. She then became an ambassador for the Rivers Trust and talks about her experiences with poor water health. Grant, 28, was a spokesperson for British Rowing when it announced its environmental sustainability strategy, and was nominated for an International Olympic Committee Climate Action Award. She also talks publicly about her decision to be conscious about sustainable fashion by not buying new clothes.
Cameron Norrie
The British tennis player has been finding ways to reduce his impact on the planet for many years. In an interview in 2023, Norrie talked about how about how growing up in New Zealand meant he had been environmentally conscious since childhood. Norrie, 29, was in the top three players to use an app on the men’s elite tennis tour that tracked the carbon footprint created by the travel of any player that signed up. In 2024, he also became an investor in a ‘hydration system’ in which dissolvable cubes containing natural flavouring – and electrolytes in the case of sportspeople – are used, to replace the need for plastic bottles.
Amy James-Turner
Turner is a Planet League Ambassador and works with a global network of influencers, activists, and athletes to raise awareness and inspire action on climate change. She uses her platform as a footballer for Tottenham to connect with fans and share her passion for protecting the future of the planet. In May, the 33-year-old launched Women’s Football and Climate Change: The Players’ Perspective, which gathered the views of 113 female footballers and serves as a foundational document for initiating broader discussions. Her other contributions include writing multiple articles on the theme of sustainability in sport, speaking on a panel at the UK’s largest net-zero congress, and taking part in Green Football week with Spurs.
David Wheeler
Wheeler was nominated for making a “monumental impact” in inspiring football to become more sustainable. The 33-year-old Wycombe player criticised the game’s world governing body Fifa at the annual Basis conference in comments noted by Forbes. He also spoke at Back of the Net Zero: Sport as a Catalyst for Environmental Change event, and the UCL Institute of Finance and Technology Green Pitch: New Frontiers for Sustainable Football Conference. As the Professional Football Association’s spokesperson on sustainability, he has been working with Football For Future to deliver workshops to members hoping to increase awareness and engagement by more players.
World Athlete of the Year nominees
Rhydian Cowley
Cowley is described as a “powerful advocate for a sustainable future”. In the build-up to the Olympics, the Australian race walker balanced his intense training with active climate advocacy. As a spokesperson for the Rings of Fire report, he shares personal experiences with heat and competition to highlight climate change’s impact on athletes. In June 2024, he was one of 14 athletes to sign an open letter urging the International Olympic Committee to drop Toyota as a major sponsor. Cowley, 33, consistently promotes environmental sustainability and participates in high-profile initiatives to mobilise athletes globally. He has also partnered with schools and community groups to promote environmental education.
Jessie Fleming
Footballer Fleming has been making active and impactful pledges and changes to show her support for helping the environment. When she joined Chelsea at the start of the year, the Canadian pledged to compensate the social carbon cost for her transfer and any other air travel throughout her season. Prior to that she was one of 44 players to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their flights to and from the Women’s World Cup. The 26-year-old has also started directly supporting a community regenerative agriculture and farming initiative.
Pragnya Mohan
Indian triathlete Mohan was one of 11 Olympians who were involved in the Rings of Fire report and in April spoke at the Basis conference, where she discussed her concerns about the rising heat and how it has impacted her. The highest-ranked Indian triathlete in history, Mohan, 29, is not able to train in her homeland because of the conditions and extreme heat. She describes the effects on the body and brings to light the severity of the danger of climate change. Mohan’s experiences and insight highlight the social impact of the environmental crisis in parts of the world that are feeling it the most.
Chris Paul
In the past 12 months, basketball player Paul has further amplified his efforts by participating in campaigns that highlight the importance of environmental responsibility. The 39-year-old San Antonio Spurs player has collaborated with organisations to raise awareness about climate change and has used his platform to encourage others to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. In June, Paul became a board member at Green Sport Alliance and was a keynote speaker at their summit, where he discussed the intersection of sport and environmental responsibility.
Sofie Junge Pedersen
Pedersen has continued her environmental advocacy through various impactful initiatives. During the 2023 Women’s World Cup, she led a campaign that focused on offsetting carbon emissions from flights and donating to climate initiatives in Australia, New Zealand and Uganda. Her dedication to sustainability has been evident in her ongoing efforts, as she continues to collaborate with organisations such as Common Goal to amplify the message of sustainability in football.
Evergreen Athlete of the Year nominees
Chris Boardman
Former Olympic champion Boardman has been a powerful advocate for sustainable transport, primarily cycling. A policy adviser for British Cycling since 2012, he has since become Greater Manchester’s cycling and walking commissioner, then the area’s first travel commissioner. He has helped create an 1,800-mile cycle and walking network plan, with the intention of getting cars and vehicles off the streets and making active travel accessible. At a national level, Boardman is chair of the board at Sport England and in 2022 became the first national active travel commissioner in government. Since he took the role, Active Travel England has announced £200m of funding for cycling and walking schemes, helping to promote healthy travel, reduce emissions and grow the economy. In July, the 56-year-old cycled 550 miles from Manchester to Paris for the Olympic Games to raise awareness of Sport England’s Going for Green Pledge.
Adrian ‘Ace’ Buchan
Buchan is a professional surfer and passionate climate advocate, playing a significant role in environmental activism. He was a founding board member of an Australian charity dedicated to combating climate change and an ambassador for a non-profit organisation working on climate-crisis mitigation, coastal and marine conservation, and addressing plastic pollution, and advocates for a charity aimed at reducing plastic pollution. When he won $25,000 for ocean advocacy in 2020, he donated the prize money to the Climate Council. The 42-year-old sits on the board at governing body Surfing Australia and in the past year has made significant strides through his leadership at Surfers for Climate.
Lewis Pugh
Pugh, 54, has redefined the boundaries of endurance swimming and helped change the fate of more than two million square kilometres of ocean. In establishing Lewis Pugh Foundation, he set out to ensure at least 30% of our oceans are protected by 2030. As UN Patron of the Oceans, he is a voice for the ocean and has taken his message to the UK Parliament, Kremlin, UN Climate Summits, Westminster Abbey, universities and corporate conferences. Pugh has also given two different Ted Talks and used lengthy swims to highlight issues, including become the first person to swim the length of the Thames – doing so in 2006 to draw attention to the severe drought in England and dangers of global warming. Pugh was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010 and the UN appointed him as its first Patron of the Oceans in 2013.
Alexandra Rickman
Rickman has worked consistently in sport sustainability since retiring from a hugely successful career as a Paralympic sailor. As a consultant, she advised on sustainability strategies for the London 2017 World Para-Athletics and IAAF World Championships and was the in-house support to SailGP, which won the Green Sport Award for Elite Organisation of the Year award in 2022. In January 2024, she became director of sustainability at World Sailing, for whom she had been head of sustainability since 2022
Melissa Wilson
A former rower, after missing out on Great Britain’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics team, Wilson focused on her other driving passion – using the power of athletes to drive climate action. She had taken on a leadership role with Champions for Earth and then co-founded Athletes of the World with former Olympic champion Hannah Mills. The group of like-minded Olympians from around the world have prompted a variety of meaningful campaigns, including Hockey for Climate. An EcoAthletes champion, the 31-year-old recently began working with the Global Strategic Communications Council – a network of communications professionals who work to produce unbranded communications about global environment, climate, energy and nature issues.
Elite Organisation of the Year nominees
Extreme E
The motorsport series, which had its first season in 2021, highlights the issue of climate change and its impact on various regions around the world. Among the things it did in the nomination window were: forming partnerships including one with an electric mobility company on transport electrification charging systems and robotics in Extreme E races; launching the Extreme H vehicle and Extreme H pilot race in Scotland; legacy programmes in the regions and places that it races, and contributing to environmental events, education and engagement.
Paris 2024
The organisers of Paris 2024 wanted to put on a show – but also create a new model for the Olympics and Paralympics that was more sustainable than ever before. Their pre-Games strategy looked at ways to guarantee carbon neutrality, protect and regenerate biodiversity, set up a circular economy and bolster resilience. Among the measures were: 95% of venues already existing or being temporary infrastructures; 100% of the venues served by public transport; allowing reusable bottles inside venues and providing free water fountains; ensuring medals were 100% recycled.
Professional Footballers, Australia
The PFA facilitated the inaugural ‘Green Games’ as a way of bringing climate and sustainability into the A-Leagues and into the conversation on football pitches. The initiative coincided with the release of its Stoppage Time report, which examined football’s impact on climate in Australia and New Zealand. The two matches that made up the Green Games focused on reducing carbon pollution, offsetting unavoidable emissions, introducing new sustainable practices at clubs, and raising awareness about the relationship between climate change and football.
World Athletics
Earlier this year, World Athletics launched Athletics for a Better World (ABW) Standards – setting a number of environmental, social and governance obligations that host cities or venues need to adhere to if they want to run a sanctioned event. The ABW Standard consists of 55 action areas including procurement, waste management, energy, food and water management, travel and accommodation planning. Diversity, accessibility and inclusion of staff and volunteers is also addressed, as is ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of all participants and stakeholders.
World Rugby
In June 2024, World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont wrote an open letter urging the rugby union community to “come together to protect the essence of our beloved sport”. The letter introduced the Rugby and Climate Change report as well as a sustainability strategy, bringing awareness to how climate change is affecting the world and recommendations for clubs. The sustainability plan provides a more practical strategy, with areas addressed including: revising air travel and ground transportation policies; support for used kit and equipment collection and redistribution; and collaborating with broadcasters to optimise use of remote production.
Grassroots Organisation of the Year nominees
Clean Water Alliance
In April 2024, seven water-based sports came together to create an alliance calling for clean open water across the UK. The alliance will work together to influence decision-makers and drive positive change, working collaboratively to highlight issues and create solutions to help return the UK’s blue spaces to be where nature can thrive and sport and recreation can be enjoyed. It will call for better funding for regulators, accurate and accessible real-time information and recognition of the wide range of activities that depend on clean water.
Cricket for Climate
Founded by Green Sport Awards Athlete of the Year 2023 Pat Cummins, Cricjet for Climate is still very young, but has already – among other things: Installed at zero cost to clubs more than 400 kW of solar power across cricket facilities; removed more than 8,000 tonnes of carbon emissions and saved more than $1m in energy bills over the lifetime of the solar installations; designed and run a pilot for players and cricket leaders as trusted messengers on climate; and educated the 108 cricket member nations on the impacts of climate on cricket and activated them towards practical action on climate change at the annual ICC Global conference.
The Green Runners
A global community involving hundreds of runners, The Green Runners is a volunteer-led community group, seeking to raise awareness, change behaviour and revolutionise running to help create a better planet. The group, largely based in the United Kingdom, started a campaign in December 2023 called ‘1,000 actions to celebrate 1,000 members, encouraging people to give back and also providing advice and examples of different actions that help towards a ‘fitter planet.
Pledgeball
Pledgeball is a research-driven charity that aims to help eliminate waste and encourage fans to think about their carbon footprint. It has been consistently active in the football community but is increasingly partnering with other sports and organisations to support, promote and encourage the update of sustainable practice. In the past 12 months, Pledgeball has introduced a sustainable travel charter to help clubs choose a more sustainable way to travel, its founder Katie Cross delivered a workshop on fan engagement with environmental sustainability and it has worked with Uefa and the Biathlon International Union around big events. Through Pledgeball in 2024, fans pledged to save 62,589,800 kg of CO2e per year, which equates to taking more than 13,600 cars off the road.
Surfers for Climate
An Australian-based charity, Surfers for Climate campaigns to prevent offshore oil and gas drilling, expand Australia’s network of surfing reserves, and end the sport’s reliance on fossil fuels. In March 2024, the New South Wales parliament passed an amendment to legislation banning all offshore oil and gas in its waters, and Surfers for Climate is campaigning for Australia’s six other states and territories to follow suit. It has also partnered with PhD candidate Tom Wilson on an initiative which aims to lead the surf community to embrace sustainable solutions and reduce the environmental impact of surfing.
- BBCSport
A.I
Sept. 30, 2024
Tags: Green Sport Awards Jamie Farndale
