The carbon footprint of sport
Whether you’re playing it, supporting it, watching it - sport has a carbon footprint.
What’s the carbon footprint of playing sport?
Energetic folk out there will be pleased to hear that playing sport usually has a small carbon footprint, or even no carbon footprint.
Going for a run: 0kg CO2e
Cycling: 0kg CO2e
Outdoor swimming: 0kg CO2e
Swimming in a heated pool: 1kg CO2e
An hour on a treadmill: 0.9kg CO2e
A round of golf: 3kg CO2e
Water skiing: 17kg CO2e
These figures are the carbon emissions produced when playing sport, they don’t include the emissions produced in making your sports kit. Manufacturing your running shoes will have produced around 14kg of CO2e (that’s more than a return trip to Paris on the Eurostar).
Not many sports brands disclose the carbon impact of their products, but Trek have published the carbon emissions of producing each of their bikes, leading the way on carbon labelling in the industry 👏
What’s the carbon footprint of watching sport?
That depends where you are. The carbon footprint of watching a World Cup football match is:
At home on the TV: 0.47kg CO2e
In the pub with 3 pints: 2.73kg CO2e
At the stadium: 700kg CO2e
What’s the total carbon footprint of sports events?
2018 men’s world cup in Russia: 2.2 million tonnes CO2e
Wimbledon: 33,461 tonnes CO2e
London 2012 Olympics: 3.3 million tonnes CO2e
For context, 3.3 million tonnes CO2e is the entire country of Guyana’s footprint for an entire year.
Who’s working on carbon reduction?
The good news is that sustainability is slowly becoming less of an afterthought, or perhaps for the cynical amongst us, a PR opportunity.
Things are changing, most big sporting events are trying to reduce their impact. But let’s be honest, the bar is lower than a kindergarten high jump bar.
Hundreds of teams have signed the Sports for Climate Action Initiative and are collaborating to work towards a low carbon future for the sports industry.
Wimbledon have committed to reducing emissions from their operations to reach Net Zero by 2030.
Fifa organisers have pledged to “measure, mitigate and offset all Fifa World Cup 2022 greenhouse gas emissions, while advancing low-carbon solutions in Qatar and the region”. Although Carbon Market Watch says emissions are likely underreported, and given Fifa’s track record that’s not hard to believe.
But low bars excite us - there’s so much opportunity to make big improvements, quickly.
So we’re calling on athletes, teams and sporting bodies to start measuring their carbon footprint and making the necessary changes to reduce it.
No excuses, no blaming the system, just recognising the role that they play in the climate crisis.
A very small minority have already started. Now it is time for those with deeper pockets to walk the walk.