Correio Braziliense: Where is the sport at COP30?
Sports should be one of the most engaged sectors in the debates at the United Nations COP30 on climate change, but the agenda is empty in Belém.
Games interrupted and stadiums emptied at the FIFA Club World Cup due to severe storms. Use of artificial snow at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Marathon moved to Sapporo for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics in search of milder temperatures. Extreme rain and heat at the Australian and US Opens, two of the main events on the tennis calendar. Grêmio and Internacional isolated in the Brazilian Championship due to flooding in Porto Alegre.
Sport should be one of the most engaged sectors in the debates at the United Nations COP30 on climate change, but the agenda is empty in Belém. FIFA president Gianni Infantino did not go to Pará. Neither did the IOC’s top official, Kirsty Coventry. There is little mobilization from top clubs in Europe, the Americas, and Brazil, the host of the discussions. A serious mistake. Competitions are not held in bubbles.
In times of Greenwashing, a marketing strategy in which companies promote brands, products, or services as environmentally responsible without complying with the rules, there are some needles in a haystack.
In partnership with the UN, the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) will have a panel at COP30 next Thursday. President Samir Xaud, born in Roraima, in the Amazon, will announce the organization’s commitments to the environment. Among them is the offsetting of carbon emissions from the men’s and women’s national team games. The organization manages the Copa Verde (Green Cup), but a recent article in Correio showed that the environmental initiatives of the participating teams are negligible. Surfers will mobilize in partnership with the Ecosurf Institute for the Oceans.
The topic is on the UN agenda. Born in Kosovo, Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu is an official with the Sports for Climate Action Framework. She works with clubs, national and international federations, and leagues to mobilize climate commitments, measure impact, and communicate publicly. Last month, she was in London at the Sport Positive Summit, an event supported by the IOC and the UN to raise awareness of climate issues. “We need to have this voice heard. The sense of connection that sport provides is something the world needs,” she told GE.
Insatiable in their disputes over television rights and incapable of creating a unified league—there are two—the teams missed the chance to travel as a group to Belém. This could prove costly. Studies released in May by the consulting firm Environmental Resources Management (ERM) and Terra FC warn that 80% of the teams in the Série A, B, and C of the Brazilian Championship are under serious threat from climate change and could lose market value of around R$ 69 million in 25 years.
They are all located in municipalities with a high risk of extreme weather events. Vulnerable to floods, heat waves, wildfires, and droughts. The report warns that 40 of the 60 teams in the A, B, and C series are at high risk of flooding. Ignoring COP30 is a self-inflicted wound! Let them learn from the Premier League, the Bundesliga, and Forest Green Rovers, the most sustainable team in the world. #justsaying
