{"id":4587,"date":"2023-10-13T09:17:03","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T08:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/?p=4587"},"modified":"2023-10-20T06:25:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T05:25:14","slug":"sport-england-to-require-sports-to-decarbonise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/2023\/10\/13\/sport-england-to-require-sports-to-decarbonise\/","title":{"rendered":"Sport England to Require Sports to Decarbonise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"color:#D06060\">Sport England to Require Sports to Decarbonise<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-10-13T09:17:03+01:00\">13 October 2023<\/time><\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" src=\"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/chris-boardman-tfgm-500.jpg\" alt=\"Chris Boardman, image by TFGM\" class=\"wp-image-759\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/chris-boardman-tfgm-500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/chris-boardman-tfgm-500-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chris Boardman, image by TFGM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2023\/oct\/11\/sport-england-tells-sports-fight-climate-crisis-or-youll-get-no-funding\">Sports will have to decarbonise if they are to receive funding from Sport England<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s the message from Sport England&#8217;s Chair Chris Boardman, who says that the funding body will move from a position of &#8216;inform and encourage&#8217; to one of &#8216;enable and require&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8216;That&#8217;s essentially what is is: to shift from talking about it, and using language that gives people a way out, to say, &#8220;No, we have to do this&#8221;.&#8217;<\/p>\n<cite>chris boardman<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The status quo is no longer an option, according to Boardman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sport England invests around \u00a3300 million of public money each year. Recipients include British Cycling, England Netball, the Rugby Football Union, the England &amp; Wales Cricket Board, Swim England and English Athletics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smaller sums go to hundreds of grassroots sports associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boardman said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8216;Sport England is an organisation that has huge influence. We deal with hundreds of partners, who deal with millions of people. So we have a responsibility to do something, and we are going to. I feel both good about it and quite scared at the same time, because it is so big&#8217;.<\/p>\n<cite>chris boardman<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Meetings with sports will begin next month. The plan is that Sport England&#8217;s Code of Conduct, which all organisations sign before they get funding, will include a requirement to set out a plan to fight global heating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some sports are already taking steps. Swimming pools are being made more efficient, and the LTA is replacing all its lightbulbs with LEDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportengland.org\/how-we-can-help\/facilities-and-planning\/planning-for-sport\/position-statement-on-3g-pitches\">3G artificial grass pitches are known to be bad for the environment<\/a> due to their microplastics, and an alternative will need to be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boardman says that Sport England will set targets and track progress, which is what he did as an athlete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportengland.org\/news-and-inspiration\/warning-climate-change-poses-serious-threat-sport-and-physical-activity\">He spoke at the Blue Earth Summit in Bristol yesterday<\/a>, and pointed out that climate change negatively impacts levels of physical activity. Flooding and extreme heat both stop people taking part in sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Environmental sustainability and Net Zero are part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/get-active-a-strategy-for-the-future-of-sport-and-physical-activity\/get-active-a-strategy-for-the-future-of-sport-and-physical-activity\">the government&#8217;s new Get Active strategy<\/a>. &#8211; although you have to wonder how sincere the government is about getting people active given that it has <a href=\"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/2023\/10\/03\/laughable-tory-plan-for-drivers\/\">attempted to launch a culture war against active travel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Government should be consistent in pursuing evidence-based policy in the public interest. Instead, the current government is all over the place and sending out contradictory signals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least Chris Boardman is consistent in his rational and evidence-based approach. We are lucky to have him as a force for good in public life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sport England to Require Sports to Decarbonise Sports will have to decarbonise if they are to receive funding from Sport England. That&#8217;s the message from Sport England&#8217;s Chair Chris Boardman, who says that the funding body will move from a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,144,145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-active-travel","category-chris-boardman","category-sport-england"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4590,"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4587\/revisions\/4590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgehogcycling.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}