Research
- Cricket and climate change: an integrative review, opens in a new tab, Chris McMillan, Sport in Society, Volume 28(10), pp.1504-1521, (2025). The climate crisis is having an increasingly significant impact on sport and cricket, a climate-dependent sport played in some of the most climate-vulnerable regions of the world, is particularly threatened. Conversely, the relationship between cricket and climate change is understudied and the existent knowledge base is widely spread. In response, this paper utilises an integrative review methodology to bring together this disparate knowledge base in order to more effectively understand cricket’s relationship to climate change, with a particular focus on the threat climate change poses to cricket, cricket’s impact on the natural environment, and sustainability initiatives undertaken by cricketing stakeholders. This review revealed that the knowledge base is dominated by environmental advocacy organisations and there is a need for more academic research. Conversely, existing research, especially from outside of cricket, highlights the unequal climate vulnerabilities faced by cricketing stakeholders, as well as a lack of action from these stakeholders.
- Exploring balanced approaches in sport: navigating environmental and commercial logic, opens in a new tab, Brian P. McCullough, Olivia Bramley, Sport in Society, Volume 28(10), pp.1434-1450, (2025). The environmental movement in sport is taking shape in complex ways with various competing perspectives to ensure that sport and the natural environment are sustainable. As actors within the movement seek to get more organisations engaged, it is becoming clear that competing logics seek to advance the movement despite their conflict with the decision-makers’ logic in sport organisations. The purpose of this commentary is to discuss the merits of proposed environmental initiatives within the sport sector and to identify a balanced approach that harmonises environmental and commercial logic. Thus, we identify these competing logics and prescribe an equilibrium between the radical logics of environmentalism and commercialisation. This equilibrium requires these competing logics to be challenged and negotiated to advance the environmental sport movement. To this end, we propose an ecocentric perspective to seek a balance between sustaining sport and the natural environment, where both are seen as an end in and of themselves.
- Playing small, winning big: the contribution of sports to sustainable future climate solutions, opens in a new tab, Attila Szathmári, Tamás Kocsis, Sport in Society, Volume 28(10), pp.1470-1486, (2025). This article aims to support sports and sustainability practices and research by describing an investigation of climate-related issues and exploring the sports industry’s capacity to promote climate action. The research involved the construction of a comprehensive sustainability framework for sports and identified components that may function as stages or indices of development in the Degrowth transition. The study describes how backcasting and the Delphi technique were used with a group of stakeholders, including sports and media managers, athletes, fans, academic experts, and federation executives, to explore the sustainability aspects that will influence the future of sports. The findings highlight the significance of balancing sports and technological development, including in the application of self-imposed limitations, while adopting a localized approach to reevaluating the role of sports in combating climate change. The findings underscore differing perspectives about the impact of technological changes and the role elite athletes should play in tackling such urgent challenges.
- (Re)scheduling as a climate mitigation and adaptation strategy, opens in a new tab, Madeleine Orr, Jessica Murfree, Laura Stargel, Managing Sport and Leisure, Volume 30(2), pp.150-15, (2025). Climate change has presented a new suite of health and safety, legal, and operational challenges to which the sport sector must respond. At the same time, many professional leagues and sport federations are adopting environmental strategies that include emissions reductions, such as the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework’s Race to Zero, which will see its signatories halve emissions by 2030, and reach carbon neutrality by 2040. In this paper, we argue climate change is producing recurring disruptive events which might shake sport organizations out of inertia regarding scheduling. We suggest rescheduling might be used as a tool for mitigation and climate adaptation.
- The impact of extreme heat on mass-gathering sporting events: Implications for Australia and other countries, opens in a new tab, Hannah M. Mason, Jemma C. King, Amy E. Peden, et al., Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Volume 27(8), pp.515-524, (August 2024). During sporting events, athletes, officials, spectators, and staff are at risk of heat stress and resulting illness. The objective of this review was to explore the impact of heat on the health outcomes of these groups and the wider health system and discuss implications for outdoor mass-gathering sporting events in Australia. Forty papers were included in the final analysis: 17 quantitative, and 23 descriptive and qualitative (including reviews). Health outcomes explored across the literature included exertional heat illness, exertional heat stroke, hyperthermia, and general heat related illness. Six recommendation themes emerged: planning, mitigation strategies, medical, policy, research, and education.
- What health threats does climate change pose to sports? A classic Delphi study among multi- and transdisciplinary experts in medicine and sports, opens in a new tab, S. Schneider, M. Niederberger, L. Kurowski, et al., Science & Sport, Volume 39(5-6), pp.489-498, (August 2024). The World Health Organization has identified climate change as “the single biggest health threat facing humanity”. Climate change will affect athletes in particular. The literature lacks thorough, scientifically based studies on what health effects climate change will have on athletes. The aim of this study was to systematically analyze the emerging climate change-related health effects on outdoor athletes. According to the expert panel, outdoor sports will be increasingly confronted with the following six risk factors: temperature-related risks, accident and injury risks, UV-related risks, respiratory risks, infection and intoxication risks, and mental and psychosocial risks.
- Environmental challenges facing athletes, stakeholders and spectators at Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games: an evidence-based review of mitigation strategies and recommendations, opens in a new tab, Loïs Mougin, Valérie Bougault, Sébastien Racinais, et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 58(15), pp.870-881, (July 2024). The upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games could face environmental challenges related to heat, air quality and water quality. These challenges will pose potential threats to athletes and impact thousands of stakeholders and millions of spectators. Recognising the multifaceted nature of these challenges, a range of strategies will be essential for mitigating adverse effects on participants, stakeholders and spectators alike. From personalised interventions for athletes and attendees to comprehensive measures implemented by organisers, a holistic approach is crucial to address these challenges and the possible interplay of heat, air and water quality factors during the event. This evidence-based review highlights various environmental challenges anticipated at Paris 2024, offering strategies applicable to athletes, stakeholders and spectators. Additionally, it provides recommendations for Local Organising Committees and the International Olympic Committee that may be applicable to future Games.
- Global reduction of snow cover in ski areas under climate change, opens in a new tab, Veronika Mitterwallner, Manuel Steinbauer, Gregor Mathes, et al., PLOS One, (March 2024). Ongoing climate change substantially alters snowfall patterns with severe but diverging consequences for global ski areas. A global assessment as well as the investigation of potential implications for mountain ecosystems is currently lacking. We quantify future trends in natural snow cover days under different climate change scenarios until 2100 in seven major global skiing regions and discuss implications for mountainous biodiversity by analysing how natural snow cover days relate to regional human population density. Within all major skiing regions, snow cover days are projected to decrease substantially under every assessed climate change scenario. Thirteen percent of all current ski areas are projected to completely lose natural annual snow cover and one fifth will experience a reduction of more than 50% by 2071–2100 relative to historic baselines. Future skiable areas will concentrate in less populated areas, towards continental regions and inner parts of the mountain ranges. As skiable areas will be located at greater distances to highly populated areas in the future, we expect an expansion of infrastructure and increasing intervening actions (i.e., artificial snowmaking, slope grooming) to prolong snow duration. Our results are concerning for both the recreational and economic value of skiing as well as for mountain biodiversity since vulnerable high-altitude species might be threatened by space reductions with ski area expansion.
- Enacting environmental commitments and initiatives in Australian Olympic sport: an actor-network theory perspective, opens in a new tab, Rubiana Cury, Millicent Kennelly, Michael Howes, Managing Sport and Leisure, (5 January 2024). We argue that the enactment of environmental commitments and initiatives within Australian sport organisations is a dynamic, transformative process in which all parts of organisational actants (internal and external to the organisation; human or non-human actants) contribute to action, playing multiple roles empowering and constraining (at times, simultaneously) environmental sustainability transitions.
- A Typology of Circular Sport Business Models: Enabling Sustainable Value Co-Creation in the Sport Industry, opens in a new tab, Anna Gerke, Julia Fehrer, Maureen Benson-Rea, et al., Journal of Sport Management, Volume 38(4), pp.225-239, (2024). There is a continuing interest in the relationship between sport and nature. As a new field, sport ecology explores the impact sport has on the natural environment and how sport organizations and individuals can promote sustainability. However, a critical element is still missing in the sport ecology discourse—the link between organizations’ sustainability efforts and their value co-creation processes. The circular economy can provide this link by decoupling the value co-creation of sport business models from their environmental impact and resource depletion. Based on an extensive literature review, this study provides a new theoretically derived typology of circular sport business models, including comprehensive reasoning about sustainable value co-creation processes in the sport industry. It explains how sport managers of all three sectors—for-profit, public, and nonprofit—can transition toward more sustainable and circular business practices and offer integrative guidelines for future research.
- Exploring the Interplay Between Climate Change, 24-Hour Movement Behavior, and Health: A Systematic Review, opens in a new tab, Eun-Young Lee, Seiyeong Park, Yeong-Bae Kim, et al., Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Volume 21(12), pp.1227-1245, (2024). Given the emergence of climate change and health risks, this review examined potential relationships between varying indicators of climate change, movement behaviors (ie, physical activity [PA], sedentary behavior, and sleep), and health. Seven databases were searched in March 2020, April 2023, and April 2024. To be included, studies must have examined indicators of climate change and at least one of the movement behaviors as either an exposure or a third variable (ie, mediator/moderator), and a measure of health as outcome. Evidence was summarized by the role (mediator/moderator) that either climate change or movement behavior(s) has with health measures. Relationships and directionality of each association, as well as the strength and certainty of evidence were synthesized. A total of 79 studies were eligible, representing 6,671,791 participants and 3137 counties from 25 countries (40% low- and middle-income countries). Of 98 observations from 17 studies that examined PA as a mediator, 34.7% indicated that PA mediated the relationship between climate change and health measure such that indicators of adverse climate change were associated with lower PA, and worse health outcome. Of 274 observations made from 46 studies, 28% showed that PA favorably modified the negative association between climate change and health outcome. Evidence was largely lacking and inconclusive for sedentary behavior and sleep, as well as climate change indicators as an intermediatory variable.
- The game of life: sports’ contribution to improving the health of the planet, opens in a new tab, Corinne Reid, Liz Grant, Jennifer Morris, et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 58(7), pp.354-356, (2024). The sports community needs a healthy planet to survive. Whether it be local running groups or Olympic athletes, we all depend on clean air, reasonable ambient temperatures, water availability, food security and many nature-based resources to participate in sport or to train for mental and physical peak condition. Worsening climate conditions will challenge the health and safety of athletes and recreational exercisers at all levels, and potentially lead to less opportunity to participate in physical activity and sport. Evidence is emerging that sport is a significant contributor to global emissions and harmful environmental impacts. This commentary examines the unique role that sport can play as a pivotal broker to enable a healthy planet.
- Building Resilience in the Leisure and Recreation Industry in the Face of Climate and Weather Change, opens in a new tab, Ken Marriott, presented at the PLA Vic/Tas regional conference, Healesville, Victoria, (8-9 June 2023). This presentation and workshop session has five objectives, to reassert that climate and weather change have happened and that change is continuing and intensifying; highlight the importance of climate and weather change to the leisure and recreation industries; propose an action framework that the leisure profession and local government can use as a guide to responding to climate and weather change; discuss the work being undertaken by the Climate Council of Australia that is relevant to local government climate and weather change action, and run a discussion/question session focused on input from representatives of localgovernment bodies that have implemented action plans on climate and weather change.
- Climate change and the future of the Olympic Winter Games: athlete and coach perspectives, opens in a new tab, Daniel Scott, Natalie L. B. Knowles, Siyao Ma, et al., Current Issues in Tourism, Volume 26(3), pp.480-495, (2023). The International Olympic Committee recognizes the risks climate change pose to the Games and its responsibility to lead on climate action. Winter is changing at the past Olympic Winter Games (OWG) locations and an important perspective to understand climate change risk is that of the athletes who put themselves at risk during these mega-sport events. A survey of 339 elite athletes and coaches from 20 countries was used to define fair and safe conditions for snow sports competitions. The frequency of unfair-unsafe conditions has increased over the last 50 years across the 21 OWG host locations. The probability of unfair-unsafe conditions increases under all future climate change scenarios. In a low emission scenario aligned to the Paris Climate Agreement, the number of climate reliable hosts remains almost unchanged throughout the twenty-first century (nine in mid-century, eight in late century). The geography of the OWG changes radically if global emissions remain on the trajectory of the last two decades, leaving only one reliable host city by the end of the century. Athletes expressed trepidation over the future of their sport and the need for the sporting world to be a powerful force to inspire and accelerate climate action.
- Environmental sustainability policy within Australian Olympic sport organisations, opens in a new tab, Rubiana Cury, Millicent Kennelly, Michael Howes, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, Volume 15(1), pp.125-145, (2023). The integration of environmental considerations into sport policy is arguably critical to helping the sport industry transition to sustainable operations. However, an analysis of official documents found that the environmental responses of Australian Olympic sport organisations are limited and insufficient. It is argued that sport organisations need to develop more comprehensive mitigation and adaptation goals, change strategic directions, and integrate environmental policies into their mainstream activities. This transition should be supported by environmental impact and climate vulnerability assessments as well existing sport specific international frameworks (e.g., UN Sport for Climate Action Framework) and sustainability policies of international sports federations. The assessment framework used here has the potential to support the monitoring and evaluation of environmental policy integration within sport.
- Envisioning a green modernity? The future of cricket in an age of climate crisis, opens in a new tab, Brett Hutchins, Simon Troon, Toby Miller, et al., Sport in Society, Volume 26(10), pp.1723-1737, (2023). Drawing on the concept of social futures, we argue that cricket is a significant site for the staging and perception of climate risks for worldwide audiences, and that a constellation of sporting, political, media and environmental actors are working to establish and communicate a new normative consensus about the game’s role in averting the worst impacts of climate change. As the evidence presented suggests, the urgency of these efforts is underpinned by the sport’s particular susceptibility to extreme heat, drought, rain and flooding, now and into the future.
- Major sport stadia, water resources and climate change: impacts and adaptation, opens in a new tab, Greg Dingle, Geoff Dickson, Bob Stewart, European Sport Management Quarterly, Volume 23(1), pp.59-81, (2023). This paper explores the impact of climate change on major Australian sport stadia, and organizational responses. Specifically, we explore how climate change impacts the water resources used at such stadia and implications for the organizations managing this critical sport infrastructure. Data were collected primarily through semi-structured interviews with participants representing 12 of Australia's 14 major sport stadiums. Data were analyzed using an interpretive process, and themes were developed relating to geo-physical, commercial and regulatory impacts, and adaptive responses. The analysis identified six climate change issues pertaining to water resources: (a) reduced rainfall, (b) increased evaporation from playing surfaces (c) water supply restrictions and other regulation, (d) higher water supply costs, (e) capital costs for water management infrastructure, and (f) negative public perceptions of high water consumption. The three organizational water management strategies were: (a) water harvesting, (b) water storage, and (c) water recycling. These strategies are indicative of adaptation responses to climate impacts.
- Personal strategies to mitigate the effects of air pollution exposure during sport and exercise: a narrative review and position statement by the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, opens in a new tab, Andy Hung, Sarah Koch, Valerie Bougault, et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 57(4), pp.193-202, (2023). Air pollution is among the leading environmental threats to health around the world today, particularly in the context of sports and exercise. With the effects of air pollution, pollution episodes (eg, wildfire conflagrations) and climate change becoming increasingly apparent to the general population, so have their impacts on sport and exercise. As such, there has been growing interest in the sporting community (ie, athletes, coaches, and sports science and medicine team members) in practical personal-level actions to reduce the exposure to and risk of air pollution. Limited evidence suggests the following strategies may be employed: minimising all exposures by time and distance, monitoring air pollution conditions for locations of interest, limiting outdoor exercise, using acclimation protocols, wearing N95 face masks and using antioxidant supplementation. The overarching purpose of this position statement by the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology is to detail the current state of evidence and provide recommendations on implementing these personal strategies in preventing and mitigating the adverse health and performance effects of air pollution exposure during exercise while recognising the limited evidence base.
- Predicting climate impacts to the Olympic Games and FIFA Men’s World Cups from 2022 to 2032, opens in a new tab, Walker Ross, Madeleine Orr, Sport in Society, Volume 25(4), pp.867-888, (2022). In response to concern for climate change impacting sport competitions and legacies, and the need to consider climate adaptability in event planning, this paper uses a combination of historical weather and air quality data as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report to predict climactic conditions for the mega-events of the 2022 through 2032. In doing so, this paper provides a preliminary overview of environmental conditions (e.g. temperatures, air quality, precipitation) that can be used by event planners to inform contingency plans for the events and their legacies. The most immediate concerns for the mega events between 2022 and 2032 include heat conditions unsuitable for competition and poor air quality, but there may be more harmful environmental concerns for the long-term legacies of these events. It is imperative that event organizers consider creating climate-resilient events, infrastructure, and legacies that can withstand environmental threats in the future.
- Climate Change: A matter of critical urgency for leisure and recreation planners, opens in a new tab, Ken Marriott, Parks and Recreation Collection, (2021). The purpose of this position paper is to highlight some of the key global and national research reports into climate change that leisure and recreation planners and providers must be aware of and the identified actions needed to mitigate, adapt to and avoid potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change on the leisure and recreation industry; identify ways by which leisure and recreation planners and providers can contribute to minimising greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate and adapt to the more severe impacts of climate change, and set out a preliminary course of action for leisure and recreation planners and providers so as to avoid the impacts of climate change on the resources they provide for their communities and clients.
- The Contribution of Sport to the Sustainable Development Goals: Insights from Commonwealth Games Associations, opens in a new tab, Haydn Morgan, Anthony Bush, Darragh McGee, Journal of Sport for Development, Volume 9(2), (August 2021). The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are hailed as a common language to unite a global commitment towards a change of trajectory regarding social, economic, and environmental development issues. Although not overtly cited within the SDGs or their related targets, sport has been widely accepted and promoted as an enabler of social change and a mechanism through which to strategically map and measure commitments to sustainability. However, despite the numerous case study examples of specific sport-based programs that have demonstrated the potential of sport to contribute to the SDGs, there is limited knowledge about the currency and value that the SDGs hold for key sport stakeholders in development, and a shortage of concrete evidence to assess the uptake and integration at the level of national policy. In an attempt to address this shortage, this paper presents insights from the analysis of secondary data collected by the Commonwealth Games Federation from 62 Commonwealth Games Associations (CGAs) in relation to their perspectives on the contribution of sport to the SDGs. The paper provides examples of specific areas of strength, or those in need of further development, to present a baseline for the current state of play in understanding the contribution from individual CGAs to the SDGs.
- Existential threats to the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games? a review of emerging environmental health risks, opens in a new tab, Michael Annear, Tetsuhiro Kidokoro, Yasuo Shimizu, Reviews on Environmental Health, Volume 36(2), (January 2021). This review highlights two intersecting environmental phenomena that have significantly impacted the Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games: infectious disease outbreaks and anthropogenic climate change. Following systematic searches of five databases and the gray literature, 15 studies were identified that addressed infectious disease and climate-related health risks associated with the Summer Games and similar sports mega-events. Over two decades, infectious disease surveillance at the Summer Games has identified low-level threats from vaccine-preventable illnesses and respiratory conditions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and expansion of vector-borne diseases represent emerging and existential challenges for cities that host mass gathering sports competitions due to the absence of effective vaccines. Ongoing threats from heat injury among athletes and spectators have also been identified at international sports events from Asia to North America due to a confluence of rising Summer temperatures, urban heat island effects and venue crowding. Projections for the Tokyo Games and beyond suggest that heat injury risks are reaching a dangerous tipping point, which will necessitate relocation or mitigation with long-format and endurance events. Without systematic change to its format or staging location, the Summer Games have the potential to drive deleterious health outcomes for athletes, spectators and host communities.
- Ozone pollution: a ‘hidden’ environmental layer for athletes preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics & Paralympics, opens in a new tab, Gareth N Sandford, Trent Stellingwerff, Michael Stephen Koehle, British Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 55(4), pp.189-190, (2021). Environmental factors such as climate and pollution form a key part of major championship preparation. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic/Paralympic Games will present a unique combination of high thermal and ozone stressors. Japan has the highest levels of ozone in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; with annual peak values (65–73 ppb) aligning with the Olympic/Paralympic schedules (23 July to 5 September 2021). We provide a synopsis of the effects and potential mitigating factors of air pollution on athlete health and performance. We integrate these recommendations with established guidelines on heat, to provide guidance for the 2020 Summer Olympic/Paralympic Games and beyond.
- The carbon footprint of active sport participants, opens in a new tab, Pamela Wicker, Sport Management Review, Volume 22(4), pp.513-526, (August 2019). Using online surveys, adult active sport participants (n = 6537) in 20 different sports with main residence in Germany were asked to report their sport-travel behavior in 2015, including traveling in the context of regular (weekly) activity, sport competitions/tournaments, league games, day trips, and training camps/vacations. Annual carbon footprints were estimated using information about travel distances and transportation means. The results revealed an average annual carbon footprint of 844 kg of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions, with individual sports producing more emissions than team/racket sports. Participants in nature sports had the highest emission levels. Regression analyses revealed that environmental consciousness significantly reduced carbon footprint in individual sports, but not in team/racket and nature sports, supporting the existence of an environmental value-action gap. Activity years, club membership, weekly exercise hours, performance level, and income were mainly positively associated with annual carbon footprint, while gender was insignificant. The findings have implications for policy makers and managers in sport associations and clubs.
- The changing geography of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in a warmer world, opens in a new tab, Daniel Scott, Robert Steiger, Michelle Rutty, et al., Current Issues in Tourism, Volume 22(11), pp.1301-1311, (2019). The Olympic Winter Games (OWG) and the Paralympic Winter Games (PWG) are showcases for winter sports. With their high dependence on weather conditions, accelerating climate change poses a challenge to these mega-events. Two indicators are used to assess the climate reliability of locations to host the Games (OWG in February, PWG in March) in the future under a low (RCP 2.6) and high (RCP 8.5) greenhouse gas emission scenario. Climate change will alter the geography of the Games over the twenty-first century. In a low-emission scenario, only 13 of 21 locations remain climate reliable for the OWG in the 2050s and 12 in the 2080s, whereas only 10 are reliable for the PWG (both in the 2050s and 2080s). The impact of a business-as-usual high-emission scenario is far greater, reducing the number of locations reliable for the OWG to 10 in the 2050s and 8 in the 2080s, with even fewer reliable for PWG (8 in the 2050s and only 4 in the 2080s). Adaptive responses are considered, including strengthening the climatological assessment requirements in forthcoming bid processes, the unification of the OWG and PWG (in the month of February), and considering dual host countries/regions.
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