Five award winners named earlier on Monday
Athlete of the Year: Imogen Grant
World Athlete of the Year: Rhydian Cowley
Evergreen Athlete of the Year: Adrian 'Ace' Buchan
Elite Organisation of the Year: World Athletics
Grassroots Organisation of the Year: Pledgeball
Green Sport Awards 2024: Pledgeball charity wins Grassroots Organisation of the Year Award
The winner of this 2024 Grassroots Organisation of the Year is... Pledgeball!
The first award to be presented tonight is the Grassroots Organisation of the Year.
This category is for any amateur or non-professional sporting body that is involved in the organisation of sport at a community level (such as local clubs, teams, groups, associations, national or regional governing organisations and charities) as well as other not for profit/community organisations that proactively demonstrated support for environmental and climate change issues in the past 12 months through sport.
The 2024 nominees are:
You can read more about each of the nominees here
Qasa and Swarzy are on stage now introducing the ceremony to a packed looking auditorium.
And, we are getting a reminder of the amazing sporting summer.
Athlete of the Year 2024
Matt Warwick
BBC Sport
The British rower won Olympic gold in the rowing double skulls in Paris this year.
But, to many, her sustainability work is an even-bigger victory.
“I’ve been rowing for 10 years in rivers across the UK. When I started there was nothing better than being out in the early morning watching the sun rise.
“But over time I’ve seen the water become scummy and seen foam and seen sewage, and seeing my friends and other athletes get ill from the water quality.
“[The state of rivers now] is really bad; as of the last State of the Rivers report - done by the Rivers Trust every two years - there isn’t a single river that is classified as being in good overall health.
“Athletes have a responsibility to give back: there are hundreds of people that contributed to the medals [I won]. It’s my responsibility to speak up to push forward things that are important.”
Image source, Getty ImagesCongratulations to Imogen Grant!
The Athlete of the Year winner will be at tonight's award ceremony to pick up her award, which is taking place at the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House in London.
Presenters Qasa Alom and Swarzy Macaly will be getting the show underway shortly and we will bring you live updates from what is set to be a special evening.
Athlete of the Year 2024
Image source, Getty ImagesSpeaking to BBC Sport, Athlete of the year Grant said: "I can't believe I have won the Green Sport Award. It has made me speechless.
"I feel like I should be doing more as it is, trying to inspire others and also take more steps personally, so to be recognised by the Green Sport Awards is a massive privilege and a massive honour.
"I hope I can live up to that as well."
Athlete of the Year 2024
Grant has become a prominent sustainability advocate, and uses her influence to raise awareness and speak about her beliefs.
The Olympic rower, who won a gold medal at Paris 2024, converted from being a vegetarian to a vegan in 2023, saying it was a way of making a personal difference.
She then became an ambassador for the Rivers Trust and talks about her experiences with poor water health. The 28-year-old was a spokesperson for British Rowing when it announced its environmental sustainability strategy, and has recently won an International Olympic Committee Climate Action Award.
She also talks publicly about her decision to be conscious about sustainable fashion by not buying new clothes.
And the 2024 Athlete of the Year is...
Olympic gold medal rower Imogen Grant!
Image source, Getty Images
This award is for a professional domestic sportsperson who has advocated for, raised awareness of, or instigated action on environmental and/or climate change issues in the past 12 months.
The 2024 Athlete of the Year nominees are:
Read more about each of the nominees and why they were nominated here
Speaking on the announcement of the nominees, Director of BBC Sport Alex Kay-Jelski, said: "It is incredible to see such strong competition in each category – a real testament to the hard work being done in each respective field to encourage sustainability in sport.
"I’m looking forward to celebrating those who are leading the way in encouraging a greener and more environmentally friendly approach and seeing who wins on the night."
In a change to last year, the winner of the Athlete of the Year award will be revealed live on The One Show on BBC One from 19:00 BST.
You can watch that live as that happens by heading to BBC iPlayer
The nominees for this year's awards were announced on 30 September and formed a shortlist of five in each of the Athlete of the Year, World Athlete of the Year, Evergreen Athlete, Elite Organisation and Grassroots Organisation categories.
We will be revisiting them through the evening, but if you want to find out more about each then you can have a read here
Image source, Getty ImagesAFC Wimbledon's pitch was damaged after recent flooding
Last year was the hottest on record globally and there were unprecedented heatwaves in Europe that a scientific study said would have been "virtually impossible" had it not been for climate change.
New Met Office analysis confirmed climate change is dramatically increasing the frequency of extreme high temperatures in the UK and the number of wet days, while the record for the world's hottest day tumbled twice in one week this summer, according to the European climate change service.
Sport has been simultaneously affected and called out for the emissions it generates.
It is not immune to the effects of climate change and a study last year showed the level of impact extreme weather is having on grassroots sport.
It is important to give audiences and fans an insight into what the impacts are, but also the positive changes that can and are being made and in its Green Sport Awards, BBC Sport celebrates the good news - the athletes, former athletes and organisations working hard to enact and inspire change.
Those vol au vents would go down a treat right now...
Matt Warwick
BBC Sport
It is, of course, a green carpet which has been laid out to welcome guests and winners of this year’s Green Sport Awards in London.
Some of the most influential people in sport and beyond, who are making a real impact on sustainability, will be here tonight to talk, drink and hopefully inspire a new generation to hold a greener future at the forefront of their minds.
Vol au vents optional.
Image source, BBC Sport
So before we dive into this year's awards, I think we should give ourselves a little reminder of the 2023 winners in last year's categories...
So how do the awards work?
Recommendations of sportspeople and sports organisations demonstrating significant environmental consciousness and/or actions in the past 12 months were provided by experts inside and outside the UK.
A list combining these names was then provided to the BBC Green Sport Awards production team and was discussed by a shortlisting panel.
A panel of independent experts in climate and environment issues from inside and outside the BBC then judged the winner of each category. The judges this year were:
Claire Poole - founder and CEO of Sport Positive Summit
Alex Kay-Jelski - director, BBC Sport
Qasa Alom - presenter of Green Sport Awards and The Climate Question
Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu - United Nations sport for climate action lead
Chemmy Alcott – Ski Sunday presenter and former professional skier
This year the awards are made up of five categories that include:
You can find out more about the awards and each of the categories here
One of the things we love most about sport is how it can use its power for positive effect.
As part of the BBC's commitment to a greener future, we have once again partnered with Sport Positive Summit for the third annual BBC Green Sport Awards.
They celebrate individuals and organisations from across the globe who are actively contributing to a more sustainable future through their sporting profile and practises.
So what is in store for tonight? Let's have a look...
Over the next two hours we will be: