Sustainability and decarbonization of sporting events, Sant'Anna School at the Zurich Athletics Finals: participation as part of the European GAMES project, to improve the environmental performance of these competitive disciplines
To raise awareness and promote the adoption of environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation practices in athletics, biathlon and floorball. These are the main goals of the GAMES (Green Approaches in Management for Enhancing Sport) project, supported by the European Commission under the ERASMUS+ program and coordinated by the Research Group on Sport and Sustainability of the Institute of Management of the Sant'Anna School.
A Kick-Off meeting was recently held in Salzburg (Austria), during which the team of the Sant'Anna School, together with the project partners, World Athletics, the International Biathlon Federation, the International Floorball Federation and the Swedish Floorball Federation, planned the details of the project activities. It will last for 30 months and the activities will also include the development of guidelines on sustainable management and decarbonization of sports events.
"An important step in improving environmental governance in any sports organization is first the diffusion of a culture related to environmental issues," explains Tiberio Daddi, Associate Professor at the Sant'Anna School and scientific head of the project. "GAMES will help to increase the environmental sustainability of the sports involved, reducing their impact on the environment by leveraging concrete actions to be implemented in specific sporting events."
GAMES is also operational activities: Tiberio Daddi and Alessio Novi, a researcher participating in the project, traveled to the finals of the Diamond League held in Zurich (Switzerland), one of the most important events in Athletics, in order to analyze the main environmental impacts resulting from the organization and management of the event. Future activities include the implementation of environmental improvement actions at other events in the three sports involved, such as the 19th edition of the World Athletics Championships to be held in Budapest from 19 to 27 August 2023.
Cover photo: the Italian champion Gianmarco Tamberi
