Sport 'key vehicle for change' on global issues - Coe

Lord Coe was re-elected as World Athletics president for a third term in August 2023

Sport can be the "key vehicle for change" when it comes to tackling global issues such as climate change, says World Athletics president Lord Coe.

Earlier this week, athletics' world governing body was named the Elite Organisation of the Year at the BBC Green Sport Awards.

World Athletics received the award after introducing environmental, social and governance obligations that host cities or venues need to adhere to if they want to run sanctioned events.

"We now have a very well-established, mature 10-year sustainability plan," Coe told BBC Sport.

Coe - a two-time Olympic 1500m gold medallist - cited a survey which found "70% of our elite athletes want change now" and the same number had said climate change had already had a "profound impact" on their competition and training.

"The sobering stat for me is we have well over 200 federations in world athletics, and by 2060, 12 of those nations probably will not be existing," he added.

As the organisation that stages the sport's global championships - bringing together hundreds of athletes in one place - and puts on events in several countries where the country's main source of income is oil and natural gas, Worth Athletics has faced question.

"We are a global sport," said Coe. "We want our sport to be able to impact on communities that may not have an access to big sporting events. But, yes, we are moving nearly 2,000 athletes into a World Championship arena.

"I hope our bidding criteria at least helps as a bit of a catalyst for change. In order to successfully bid, it might actually demand greater change and greater focus."

And Lord Coe is hopeful World Athletics can use its position to make tangible positive impact to tackle climate change.

"The great thing I always say to environmental organisations is don't see us as competitors, see us as collaborators. We actually, believe it or not, really want the same outcome here," he said.

"Let us use sport as an amplifying voice, and I will go to my grave fundamentally believing that sport is the key vehicle for change."

Pledgeball response 'quite amazing'

It is not only in elite sport where changes can be made, but at grassroots level too.

That is what founder Katie Cross has been able to achieve through her research-driven charity Pledgeball.

Founded in 2019 as a way to empower fans to make small changes through pledges that can have a direct impact on reducing carbon emissions, Pledgeball is the BBC Green Sport Awards 2024 Grassroots Organisation of the Year.

"If we step back and look at what is happening around us, the loss of wildlife, the changing temperatures and impact that is already having, these are a series of dots that we will look back and wonder why we didn’t act and act rapidly," Cross said.

"This change is not going to come from government and top unless we make a noise that we care and want change."

Last season, fans from more than 180 clubs took part with the collective pledge of over 62m c02e per year - the equivalent of taking more than 13,000 cars off the road.

"We want this to become normalised across so many leagues so fans can really show that they care and take action," Cross added.

"I want that to accelerate systemic change so we see organisations, governments, businesses take the lead we all want to see to protect those things we all truly care about."

While consistently active in the football community, Pledgeball is increasingly partnering with other sports and organisations.

In the past 12 months, it has introduced a sustainable travel charter to help clubs choose a more sustainable way to travel, delivered a workshop on fan engagement with environmental sustainability and worked with Uefa and the Biathlon International Union.

"We can feel climate change is such a big issue that we cannot take part and so we turn off to it," Cross said.

"What Pledgeball does is show a clear way in which you can have an impact, illustrate what that is and help see you are a part of a huge community that also cares and wants to take action.

"We get a lot of lovely feedback from fans to tell us they are so delighted that we are doing this, to keep on going - it is quite amazing."