Inside UK Sport’s Masterplan to Make Sport More Sustainable

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words ‘climate change’?

Perhaps it’s fossil fuels. Maybe it’s rising sea levels. It could be air travel.

It’s unlikely, however, that sport is the first thing you’d think of when discussing global sustainability.

To many, sport is a pastime or passion that offers them an opportunity to temporarily forget about the problems of the world. 

Nevertheless, it is clear that global sport has a sizable impact on the environment and on greenhouse gas emissions.

From the most elite athletes to the most average amateurs, sport – and the people that partake in it – have a carbon footprint.

It comes in many forms. It could be the equipment used to play a game, the commute required to get there, or the media infrastructure required to watch your favourite team on television.

Sport’s impact on the environment is undeniable, so, as a society, we must find a way to make it as sustainable as possible.

UK Sport, the government body responsible for overseeing the management of all of the UK’s Olympic and Paralympic sports, is attempting to address this issue head on, with the aim of kickstarting sporting sustainability across the country.

The initiative is called the Sports Accelerator Programme and its aim is to encourage sustainable innovation and responsible action amongst the UK’s major sporting bodies.

Inside the Sustainability Accelerator Programme

As you might imagine, trying to change the sporting culture of an entire country—from grassroots to professional levels—is a big undertaking.

In fact, the Sustainability Accelerator Programme is the largest multi-sport sustainability initiative ever conducted by a national sports body.

Naturally, the team behind the Accelerator has had quite the challenge on its hands.

It all started by bringing together the national governing bodies of 30 different sports, talking with them, and figuring out where things currently stand with the overall sustainability of each sport.

From that base, the Accelerator committed to working on large-scale, long-term sustainability strategies that were tailored to each sport, addressing the challenges that mattered most to each one.

After that, UK Sport began to consult with tech innovators who could help each sport to make sustainable interventions, from carbon literacy training to AI-driven procurement tools.

It was a programme that took years to prepare and implement, but now, as of April 2025, the first stage of this project has officially been completed.

How to make sport sustainable on a national level

As part of the Sustainability Accelerator Programme, participating sporting bodies were given both funding and access to expert consultancy, allowing them to experiment with ideas and initiatives that they might not otherwise have been able to.

This hands-on, bespoke approach has been invaluable to the sporting bodies, all of which have different needs, different capabilities and different demographics.

“There are some governing bodies that are literally one person that works two days a week, which is the case with volleyball,” explains Dan Reading, Co-Founder of Sporting Giants and one of the leading consultants for the Sustainability Accelerator Programme.

“But then you have sports like gymnastics or rowing, where you've got up to 200 members of staff and huge facilities. It's massively nuanced.”

Over the course of five months, the funded participants tested concepts that tackled core environmental issues such as emissions, procurement and material use, while also exploring the wider social impacts of increased inclusion and community engagement.

The importance of community outreach in the Accelerator cannot be overlooked, as sport is an excellent medium when it comes to communicating sustainability to citizens.

“When there's so much green fatigue, what's another good way of engaging with people? It's their pastimes, their passions, and for a number of people that happens to be sport,” Dan told Sustainability Magazine in a recent interview.

“Cricket clubs, sports clubs and youth clubs are the hubs of many communities. If they start installing low-carbon technologies like solar PV or heat pumps, these ideas start to ripple outwards.”

A foundation for long-term change

While the programme itself was time-bound, its leaders were clear that the initiative was intended to build momentum beyond its initial cohort.

“I think of that old analogy: don't give a person a fish, teach them how to fish,” says Jo Dobson, Director at sustainability consultancy Useful Projects and one of the project leads for the Accelerator.

“I think this programme has been quite like that. We've given the sporting bodies the guidance, the tools and the support to be able to do this themselves.”

This is absolutely clear in the results of the Accelerator.

After the programme finished, UK Sport surveyed each of the 30 national governing bodies that were involved, finding that 80% of them now view sustainability as a pillar of long-term success, while 100% of them feel more equipped to take meaningful action on sustainability.

And what about action? Well, it is still early days, but already 40% of the national governing bodies have introduced new sustainability policies, including travel, procurement and events policies.

“The programme was incredibly useful,” says Maggie Still, CEO of British Ice Skating, one of the national governing bodies that benefitted from the programme.

“The support team brought skills and knowledge that we hadn’t previously embraced, and helped shine a light on important areas we now recognise as crucial to the future of our sport.”

In short, the Accelerator has helped to kickstart the sustainability of sports around the UK. All that remains is to see how far these sports can run with it.

“Sport is already feeling the effects of climate change, from flooded pitches to extreme heat impacting athletes and events,” says Sally Munday, CEO of UK Sport.

“But this programme shows what’s possible when sport comes together around a shared ambition, and the response from the NGBs has been incredible. 

“It’s a powerful reminder that, with the right support, high-performance sport can reduce its impact, build resilience and drive meaningful progress on climate action.”

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