Blog by Dr Laila Shahzad and Mxolisi Sibanda, Climate Change Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat
Across the 56 nations of Commonwealth, sport promotes health, strengthens communities, inspires young people and contributes to social cohesion. But climate change is increasingly reshaping where, when and how people participate in it.
From rising temperatures and heatwaves to floods, storms and droughts, climate impacts are affecting athletes, sporting facilities, spectators and local communities. Extreme weather damages recreational infrastructure and disrupts sporting events, while prolonged heat and water scarcity challenge safe participation in outdoor activities.
When climate meets health
Consequently, climate change is becoming a key public health issue. In sport, it has gained particular attention due to rising heat risks. Recent examples of this, include the FIFA World Cup where hydration breaks have been put in place. Similarly in elite tennis, the three Grand Slams - Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open - have seen measures such as cooling breaks, shaded areas and heat monitoring protocols. This is important for both the elite athletes and spectators.
While efforts at the elite level highlight some progress albeit slow, the wider sporting fraternity needs to consider how climate resilience can be mainstreamed for all sports from the grass roots. This consideration is even more glaringly needed in places where climate impacts are most felt such as Small Island developing States (SIDS) and other vulnerable countries. This is also where the worst indicators of the social factors of health such as malnutrition and poverty also occur and sport plays an important aspect to promoting health.
Building climate-resilient sport
It is therefore important that sports federations and governments take actions to build climate resilience into sport. As a forerunner to the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, ministers, sports leaders and development partners will gather at the 12th Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting to consider such. We offer here three ideas that must be included to achieve this.
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Prioritising inclusive adaptive actions
The Commonwealth Games, and recent elite events offer some interesting examples in this regard. During Wimbledon wheel-chair players were offered 15 minutes cooling breaks compared to able bodied players. In Glasgow, for the first time, para-athletes and non-para-athletes will compete simultaneously and hopefully considerations will be made to make the environment suitable for all.
These actions underline the importance of considering social factors, age, access and other vulnerabilities in sports events. The true measure of progress is not whether resilience is built, but whether it is built for everyone. -
Adopting holistic thinking
Sports involve land, infrastructure, water use, food consumption, travel, cooling and income-generating activities, all of which contribute to carbon emissions. Therefore, mainstreaming climate resilience must also address emission sources. This includes promoting nature-based solutions (NbS), such as planting trees for shade around sports facilities and conserving nearby wetlands to help protect infrastructure from climate risks like flooding.
Such holistic thinking should make use of traditional knowledge systems from indigenous people and local communities who have managed to adapt over centuries. At the Commonwealth, this approach is being promoted through the Commonwealth Living Lands Charter which promotes integrated solutions for climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation. -
Investing more now for the future
It is evident that the impacts of climate change will increase into the future. According to the IPCC, it is likely that the world will breach the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5ºC by 2030. This means that sports authorities around the world and more-so in the most climate impacted countries must urgently invest in climate resilience.
This must be reflected through greater budgetary allocations among national government, sports ministries, sports associations, bilateral and multilateral funding arrangements. Innovations such as lower insurance premiums for well adapted infrastructure should incentivise such actions. Funders such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) must also increase investment in climate resilience in sports.
At the Commonwealth, we are supporting investment for climate resilient infrastructure through the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub (CCFAH). Established a decade ago, CCFAH has supported member countries to access close to USD600 million from multilateral and other funding sources for mitigating and adapting to climate change.
As the city of Glasgow comes abuzz with another feast of sporting talent amidst soaring temperatures in the UK, it gives us an opportunity to rethink how we make sports climate resilient. This must be done in an inclusive and holistic manner – leaving no one behind and making sure we invest the much-needed resources.
We cannot afford to lose this race – may we all win!
