The B. League’s Nagoya Diamond Dolphins have become the first top-tier professional Japanese sports club to sign on to a climate change initiative spearheaded by the United Nations, joining a growing movement of sports teams tackling social issues in their community and beyond.

The U.N. platform, called the Sports for Climate Action Framework, is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) initiatives.

The initiative calls on sports teams and organizations from around the world to take leadership in the fight against climate change and undertake systematic efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility as well as reduce climate impact.

Prominent names on the list of nearly 200 participants include FIBA, FIFA, the NBA, the New York Yankees and Spain’s La Liga. The International Olympic Committee is also on board, as are organizing committees of the Tokyo and Paris Games.

The Diamond Dolphins signed on in late December, representing a recent push by Japanese teams to institute sustainable development goals (SDGs) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs within their organizations.

“Climate change is a pressing issue to our club as well and it is an extremely meaningful opportunity for us to tackle a global-scale issue along with some of the world’s biggest organizations,” Diamond Dolphins president Yuki Yamashita said in a statement.

By Philipp Grüll | EURACTIV.de

To achieve the UN climate targets, it is not enough for companies or associations to operate more sustainably. What is needed is a rethink among the general population. Claire Poole is convinced that sports can play an important role, which is why she organises the annual Sports Positive Summit. In this interview with EURACTIV Germany, she explains her vision.

Claire Poole is the founder and CEO of Sport Positive Summit, an event agency for a conference on sport and sustainability. She is pursuing other projects in this area under the Sport Positive brand.

Ms Poole, what exactly is the Sport Positive Summit?

An annual event where we bring together people from around the world who want to make sport more sustainable. We collaborate with UN Climate Action and the International Olympic Committee on this Summit, but we also run other projects and actions under the Sport Positive brand.

What is the goal of your organisation?

Our overarching goal is to unleash the potential of sport for climate action. When we started our work, there was already work happening globally, but in a more sporadic and localised way: sports organisations might offer regionally sourced catering, or encourage greater use of public transportation, and so on, but learnings weren’t necessarily exchanged globally. So the goal of knowledge transfer is high on our agenda, as well as encouraging sports fans towards positive environmental behaviours.

Sport Positive Summit Founder Claire Poole was interviewed for Episode 8 : The Solutions / The Future

This challenging eight-part series investigates the links between sport and climate change and asks the sporting community, including us as fans, to assess our contribution to an unfolding crisis. Athletes, clubs and governing bodies tell stories from three angles; the impact of climate change on everyday sport, the contribution of sport to the global emergency and the solutions sport can deliver to help make a difference. Can sport lead on this? Why are athletes afraid? What can we all do to help make positive change? Made by www.ninetyfour19.com.

Representatives from United Nations Climate Change (UNFCCC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sports organisations from across the world came together last week for the first edition of the Sport Positive Summit – a global meeting place for sports effecting positive environmental impact.

Created in collaboration with the IOC and UNFCCC, the virtual Summit brought together over 500 participants to discuss the role of sport in the global fight against climate change and post-COVID recovery.

“Sport reminds us of our collective ability to overcome the seemingly impossible,” said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, addressing the participants. “The convergence of the two global crises, climate change and COVID-19, has opened a window of opportunity to not simply recover from the virus, but to build forward, to build cities and communities that are safe, healthy, green and sustainable.”

The Summit was designed as the annual meeting place for the signatories of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, a UN Climate Change initiative to develop a climate action agenda for sport, in which the IOC took on a leadership role. The event showcased the climate achievements made so far by the Framework’s signatories, with calls for more organisations to join.

By David Lockwood, BBC Sport

BBC Sport has joined United Nation’s Sports for Climate Action Framework on the eve of a two-day Sport Positive summit to address climate change.

“Like the rest of the industry, we have a duty to ensure we are doing everything we can to keep our environmental impacts to a minimum,” Barbara Slater , director of BBC Sport said.

“Signing up to the UNFCC demonstrates the importance we attach to strengthening the great work we have already done in this area.”

BBC Sport becomes the 157th organisation and only the second broadcaster to sign up to the framework – which has five commitments:

• Promote greater environmental responsibility
• Reduce their climate impact
• Educate for climate action
• Promote sustainable and responsible consumption;
• Advocate for climate action through communication.

Many other signatories are taking part in this week’s summit. Attendees include the International Olympic Committee (IOC), NBA, Uefa, Premier League clubs and the NFL.

Sport Positive Summit founder Claire Poole said: “No one organisation in sport or elsewhere has nailed sustainability or climate change, we’re all on a journey and we all still have a lot to learn”.

“Covid-19 and the issues around it have brought into relief the greater need for sustainability, for resilience, for dealing with these efforts more systemically.”

Susan Groh who is Associate Director of NFL Green said “The climate crisis is huge, It’s going to take all of us to solve it. And I think if we can share best practices and work together, that’s what it’s going to take.

“Sports is a powerful entity, more people pay attention to sport than to climate or science, so if we can use the power of sports to get that message out about the environment that can have a huge impact and we can all come together to work together on that I think that’s significant.”

Niclas Svenningsen, manager for Global Climate Action at the UN welcomed BBC Sport, saying: “Prominent sports broadcasting companies, such as BBC Sport, have a tremendous reach and impact in terms of informing viewers and influencing sports actors.

“We look forward to their contribution as they walk the talk on climate and use their broadcast power to influence awareness, attitudes and knowledge of climate change”

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