TRIATHLON GOING GREEN IS A WIN FOR ALL

World Triathlon has published sustainability guidelines aimed at helping organisers adopt environmentally friendly measures when holding events.

World Triathlon say the overriding target is a significant reduction in the climate footprint of the events, which is the most comprehensive approach to measuring the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. It is good to see World Triathlon are doing their part to minimise our sports impact on the planet. With more sporting events on the horizon than ever before, it’s time to holistically address the pollution, waste, greenhouse gases and other negative consequences.

There is no doubt that Sport in general does have on impact on the environment. Mountaineers have been complaining about this for a long time. In 2019, eleven tons of abandoned sports equipment and litter was removed from the Mount Everest and its surrounding area.  Another example is the London marathon when in 2019, runners left behind 350,000 plastic bottles scattered along the city’s roads, according to the company Veolia UK, responsible for cleaning the route.

The guidelines are claimed to offer best practice approaches for event organisers, which are based on a “three-tree” certification system that will be a requirement of all events in the future:

• Events will be certified based on the system, which outlines “must have”, “recommended” and “aspirational” actions for local organisers.
• A three-person panel determined by the World Triathlon Executive Board and Sustainability Commission will assess the dossiers submitted by organisers.
• The panel will award gold, silver or bronze certification to organisers, depending on the actions taken.

Bronze status will be awarded to events that implement 75 per cent of the 18 must have actions outlined by World Triathlon.

Sliver status will be given to organisers that fulfill all must have actions and achieve 50 per cent or more of the recommended actions. 

Gold status will be given to events which achieve all must have and 75 per cent of the recommended actions, as well as at least four of the seven aspirational targets.

The guideline actions cover areas such as, governance, staffing, accommodation, procurement, mobility, energy, catering, waste management and water management.Biodiversity, healthy lifestyles, merchandising and gifts, raising awareness and activation, communication, site infrastructure and accessibility.

Of course, as athletes we can also play our part in meeting these sustainability aspirations, for example:

• Put your waste in a waste bin. If there isn’t one nearby, carry it with you in your backpack or in your hand until you find one.
• Avoid routes through sensitive ecosystems and don’t take short-cuts through farmland crop fields .
• Don’t waste water, purchase only the equipment you need and don’t buy single-use plastics and disposable materials.
• Use labels (Global Organic Textile Standard) that certify the sustainability of sports clothing,
  

Whilst we must all strive to do our bit for the planet  this does not need to be more expensive or time consuming, it does however need to became a habit to make Triathlon ‘Greener’.

World Triathlon sustainability guidelines can be found here.