8th WORLD CONFERENCE ON SPORT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

8th World Conference on Sport and the Environment
International Cooperation and Development Department
Mr Adam Kreek,
Olympic Gold Medallist (Rowing), Canada
Mr Kreek stated that the key issue is “How can sport move to reducing its carbon footprint?”
Report
He is amazed by the access he got to the economic, environmental elites as an athlete; and by
his ability to have an impact on kids from kindergarten to 12 year olds. It was easy for an athlete
to get kids excited, to get them to come and listen to you. Most teachers envy this. The challenge
is that Olympic athletes are usually young, and they have an opportunity to nurture change, but
not the depth of experience to succeed.
He led his rowing team to offset their carbon emissions during training. Mr Kreek partnered with
the David Suzuki Foundation and worked with a winter sports programme called “Play It Cool”.
They helped calculate the carbon emissions of travel, training and hotel stays. In the beginning, not
everyone on the team had had the same passion to decrease their carbon footprint, particularly
because money was tight as a training athlete. Outside funds were raised and by the end, they
had complete buy-in and became advocates. They all believed that athletes must lead the change
they wanted to see, so had to be role models.
Key Quotes:
“What are we doing in the room to give athletes the tools necessary to make an impact on the
world?”
“Athletes should not only advertise their sponsors but also advocate their values.”
Ms Linda Coady,
Vice President, Sustainability, VANOC, Canada
Ms Coady mentioned that VANOC had launched the carbon offsetting programme with a target
of 300,000 tons being offset, which includes 200,000 tons of air travel. VANOC has a 4-point
programme:
Inventory to fi nd out what the footprint was
Reduce emissions
Create a portfolio of offset projects
Public engagement to raise awareness more broadly.
Discussion:
A delegate asked Linda Coady of VANOC about offsetting the emissions: Is this to offset or to
leave a legacy?
Ms Coady answered that it is about initiatives that leave a legacy.
A delegate stated that one can go to carbonneutral.unep.org to fi nd out about education and
engagement, and 100 companies and cities have joined in the initiative to show what they are
doing, including Costa Rica and New Zealand.
A delegate asked James Mack whether, as the BC Government aims to go carbon neutral by
2010, the money will go to community projects and how much.
James Mack replied that the Pacifi c Carbon Trust was set up with USD 25 million in initial
funding.
Page 41 / 80