Sport Ecology After Five Years: What’s Next for Sustainability in Sport?
Should environmental action in sport be limited to recycling, energy-efficient facilities and more sustainable events? According to the authors of “Sport Ecology: Reflections on 5 Years of Growth and the Path Forward,” this is far from enough.
Brian P. McCullough, Timothy Kellison and Madeleine Orr reflect on the first five years of the development of sport ecology, a field examining the reciprocal relationship between sport and the natural environment. Their main conclusion is clear: there is no longer a need to prove that environmental issues matter to sport. What is needed now is a shift from declarations and isolated initiatives towards systemic change.
Sport ecology is becoming part of sport management
Over the past five years, sport ecology has developed rapidly as a field of research. Environmental issues are now being examined in the context of marketing, fan behaviour, sponsorship, communication, facility and event management, finance, organisational resilience and athlete activism.
However, the authors argue that the next step should be to integrate the environmental perspective even more strongly into the core areas of sport management. Sustainability should not function as a separate topic but should be incorporated into areas such as governance, finance, marketing, risk management and infrastructure planning.
Fans want change, but are they changing their behaviour?
One of the more interesting phenomena discussed in the article is the fan priority paradox.
A 2023 YouGov survey indicated that 72% of fans wanted their teams to take more sustainable action. At the same time, research shows that attachment to a club remains a much stronger factor influencing fan behaviour.
Fans may therefore criticise greenwashing or a sponsor’s activities without necessarily stopping watching matches or attending the stadium. According to the authors, this highlights the need to examine not only declared attitudes but, above all, the actual behaviour of sport consumers.
Recycling is not enough
This is one of the publication’s most important conclusions. To date, many initiatives have focused on relatively small improvements, such as waste separation, energy efficiency, greener stadiums or environmental campaigns during events.
The authors emphasise that while such measures are necessary, they do not address the structural problem. Modern sport relies on intensive travel, a growing number of events, expanding infrastructure and business models focused on increasing consumption.
Sport ecology should therefore also examine league formats, competition calendars, sponsorship models, infrastructure strategies and the economic foundations of sport.
The question should no longer be only: “How can we make sport more environmentally sustainable?” but also: “Can the current way in which sport is organised be reconciled with environmental limits?”
Between declarations and real impact
As interest in sustainability grows, so does the number of climate strategies, environmental commitments and “green” initiatives communicated by sports organisations.
The authors point out that research should increasingly examine whether these declarations actually lead to measurable change. This is particularly important in the context of greenwashing and sportswashing.
The role of research should therefore not be limited to describing good practices. It should also independently assess their effectiveness and compare organisations’ stated ambitions with their actual impact.
Sustainability as part of governance
A key direction for the coming years is to establish stronger links between environmental responsibility and governance processes.
The authors highlight the need to examine mandatory standards, independent audits, binding commitments and ways of incorporating environmental costs into sport business models.
The resilience of sustainability strategies to political change is also important. Environmental measures embedded in organisational structures, policies, financial processes and strategic decision-making are more likely to survive changes in governments or political priorities.
The next five years: from knowledge to real change
According to the authors, sport ecology has reached a crucial point. The field has already established its place in research and education. The next stage should be to increase its actual impact on how sport operates.
Research is needed that not only describes problems but also helps change policies, governance models and the practices of sports organisations. At the same time, greater attention should be paid to perspectives from the Global South, environmental justice and collaboration with other disciplines, including urban planning, public health, public policy and environmental sciences.
The most important shift, however, concerns the way sustainability itself is understood. Environmental responsibility should not be an addition to sport management. It should become an integral part of it.
For sports organisations, this means moving from isolated “green” initiatives towards measuring impact, managing risk and incorporating environmental considerations into strategic decision-making.
