Playing Against the Clock: Global Sport, the Climate Emergency and the Case for Rapid Change
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Playing Against the Clock: Global Sport, the Climate Emergency and the Case For Rapid Change David GoldblattGlobal Sport, the Climate Emergency and the Case For Rapid Change 1 CONTENTS Introduction: Playing 2 3. Playing catch up: Global sporting 14 against the clock federations and environmental policy 1. The stadium is on fire! 4 4. Conclusions: No normal sport 20 The impact of climate in an abnormal world change on global sport Appendices 23 2. Putting up a big score: 10 Endnotes 38 Sport’s contribution to climate change Acknowledgements 41 Introduction: Playing against the clock Like every other industry and cultural sector, global sport has been brought to a shuddering halt by the coronavirus pandemic; leagues and competitions have been in suspended animation, mega events from the Tokyo Olympics to Euro 2020 have been postponed, the suspension of ticket sales and broadcasting deals have placed many institutions and their staff in penury. Although some professional leagues are Coronavirus is not climate change, but returning to empty stadia, the longer there are a number of clear lessons term fate of mass sporting crowds is from the current crisis: take the science opaque. Yet devastating as this has been, seriously and assume the worst-case something even more problematic is scenario can happen, act now not later, waiting in the wings for the sporting circus. and act radically. The international community in the form of the Paris Climate Climate change is touching every aspect agreements, is committed to limiting of human life and global sport is no global heating to 2°C with the ambition of exception: in 2019, the Rugby World Cup going further to keep temperatures below was disrupted by unprecedented pacific 1.5°C, and achieving carbon neutrality by typhoons; in early 2020, the Australian 2050. However, the IPCC, whose job it is to Tennis Open was disrupted by the smoke advise governments, argues that if we are blowing in from the country’s devastating to mitigate the worst aspects of climate bush fires. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were change then we need to aim for the forced to move long distance running 1.5°C limit, and make most of our carbon events north of the capital as the city’s reduction in the next decade. In 2018, sweltering summer weather now makes they concluded that this meant ‘rapid, far- them impossible to run. reaching and unprecedented changes in Playing Against the Clock 2 all aspects of society.’ If sport moved on is correct, make sport the equivalent of this agenda, what kind of changes would nations as large and populous as Angola it make? or Tunisia, and that is at the low end of estimates. In Section 1, The Stadium’s on Fire! I review the many ways in which climate The sports world, to its credit, has not change is already taking its toll on been entirely oblivious to environmental global sport, and the scale of the risks issues over the last quarter of a century. and difficulties ahead. Needless to say, The IOC, FIFA, and the more innovative it’s not looking good: climatological and global and national federations, leagues economic demise for winter sports and clubs, have begun to take notice and awaits; heatwaves and heat strokes for even, on occasion, act. The UN has now players and public alike, extreme weather included sport in its global climate action that floods stadiums and grassroots framework and is aiming for carbon playing fields; sea level rises that will neutrality for sport by 2050. However, inundate football grounds and sweep as even our cursory survey in Section 3, away golf links. Playing Catch Up, shows, the state of sport’s environmental commitment and Sport is not just a victim of change, governance is woefully inadequate. Only however, but an important contributor too. a tiny fraction of the world’s thousands of The IOC has a carbon footprint close to sporting bodies, federations, tournaments, that of Barbados, global football’s is even leagues and clubs have signed up to the larger. Sporting events are responsible for UN Sport for Climate Action Framework, massive levels of aviation, carbon heavy even fewer have actual carbon stadium construction, and mountains targets and plans to deliver on these of unrecycled garbage, all making a commitments. At the same time, the petro- significant contribution to the catastrophe chemical and aviation industries have now engulfing us. a huge foothold in sport through their multiple global sponsorships. If the sports world is to make its own contribution to climate change action, We are in extra time already. The Paris then it needs to acknowledge its own role Agreements and the UN Sport for Climate in creating the problem and radically Action Framework think we still have 30 reduce its carbon footprint, and thus it years on the clock and we can just leave needs to know how much carbon it is the team to sort it out by 2050, but as the actually producing. No one currently IPCC has argued, we really only have knows, and the research that has been a decade or so to pull this game out done on different sporting events and of the hat. So the time is now and the institutions is very patchy. In Section 2: world of sport needs to begin massive Putting up a Big Score, I work with what and immediate carbon reductions. In is available and offer my best estimates the Conclusion: No Normal Sport in of global sport’s carbon emissions, which, an Abnormal World, I outline some if the order of magnitude I had calculated suggestions for beginning this process. Global Sport, the Climate Emergency and the Case For Rapid Change 3 Doing so is a matter of money, politics, becoming the common sense of every day and elite administration, of course, but action, and without a shot of hope that we it is also a matter of mass mobilisation, are not too late in starting. Sport’s social behavioural change and emotional reach could help catalyse the former, commitment. We are not going to come its emotional currencies could inform anywhere near our global carbon the later. As the great New York Yankee reduction targets without a transformation catcher Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over till in our everyday habits of production and it’s over.” consumption, without decarbonisation 1. The Stadium is on fire! The impact of climate change on global sport In the bid document for the Tokyo 2020 things like this.” Since then the organising Olympics, the organisers blithely claimed committee, apparently dissatisfied with the that the city had “many days of mild and towel solution, has toyed with starting the sunny weather,” during the proposed events in the middle of the night, spraying games’ timetable in late July and early the entire course with water, asking August. This would provide, they wrote, businesses on the route to turn on their air “an ideal climate for athletes to perform conditioning and open their doors, before at their best.”1 Maybe that was true back finally and thankfully abandoning the in 1964, when the city last hosted the charade and shifting the marathon and games, but that Olympics took place in the distance walking events to Sapporo, October and there has been nearly half a over a 1,000 kilometres north.2 century of rising temperatures since. Thus, in July 2018, as the city sweltered in record Tokyo 2020 is, of course, not the only levels of humidity and heat, at its peak sporting organisation that has tried to touching 41°C, and experienced dozens remain oblivious to the threats of climate of deaths from heat stroke, the plan to run change, and to prevaricate when faced the marathon and distance walking events by them. Nor will it be the last to have at a similar time of year were sharply to bow to reality and shift its schedules. questioned. Yuriko Koike, Mayor of Tokyo, To paraphrase Greta Thunberg, “The when quizzed on the matter responded stadium is on fire!”, and no amount of by pointing to the wet towel wrapped air conditioning and wet towels is going around her neck, “This will make you feel to deal with it. Rising temperatures, cooler if you wear it. I would like to use prolonged periods of drought, forest fires, Playing Against the Clock 4 new patterns of precipitation, extreme made by researchers at the University of storms and rising seas levels are all, Waterloo, it is just one of many former already making their presence felt in sport, hosts that are unlikely, for climatological and there will a lot more of this to come. reasons, to be able to do so. Of nineteen Doing something about it requires that we prior locations, only ten will still be reliable stare these threats in the eye, right now. winter sports hosts in 2050, and just six in 2080.6 Rising temperatures and winter sports Heat waves, athlete health and sporting Climate change is, of course, not uniform, performance but one almost universal consequence of our current course is that average In January 2018, England cricket Captain temperatures will rise everywhere, and in Joe Root was hospitalised at the end mountainous regions, home to most winter of the fourth day of play in that year’s sports, that will mean less snow, falling fourth Ashes test match. He was unable to less often, and melting more quickly. The continue batting the next day and was laid organisers of the 2010 Vancouver winter low by a combination of gastroenteritis games wrote that, “the warmest weather on and searing 40 degree temperatures.