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THE NEW CLIMATE
The Future Of Sports
From conflicts to COVID, sports has been through it all but a warming planet poses a bigger, long-term threat to the beautiful game.
This summer was a summer of sports. The Olympics, Euros, Copa America, Wimbledon, etc, are good times for the unemployed. Three years after the last pandemic, sports have returned to normal with fans back and traveling restrictions lifted. But we are not out of the woods just yet. Soaring temperatures in the summer in recent years have disrupted many sporting events and threatened the lives of many spectators; meanwhile, sports remain a big polluter, which makes it feel like one is scoring one's own goal.
Sports as a polluter
To make the games we see on TV possible, adequate infrastructure, transport, and equipment are required, as well as merchandise for the fans to wear.
Major sporting events attract crowds in the millions, all rallying for their team or nation to bring home gold, some of whom are ticketholders, fans coming to screening events, or nearby pubs. Thus, transportation and accommodation are the biggest polluters in sports, contributing to more than of total emissions produced.
