Governance
Environmental and sustainability policies are the foundation for change. They establish a code of conduct for your colleagues and explain your values and expectations for third parties and people across your supply chain. For sports clubs, they’re also a reference point for fans to see how far their team’s values align with their own. For this reason, Russell Seymour explained, it’s important to put the effort into making your policies robust.
“Sometimes policies tend to be the absolute minimum. You do need to stretch, and you need to go beyond that. You must be prepared to commit yourself to it, because if your people see something that goes against it, they’ll start to question it. It could be something as simple as your cleaners putting the recycling into the general waste – everyone must observe it for it to be taken seriously. It’s got to be real, it’s got to be genuine, and it’s got to come from the top down to make sure that the governance of those policies is lived by everyone.
“It’s surprising that once these policies are communicated, the feedback from staff tends to be very positive. Some might have been waiting a while for their company to introduce a sustainability policy, so they’re very willing to embrace it and live it.” But what does a good policy look like, and what are the challenges to getting it right? Claire Poole identified scope and integration as two key points of failure. “You’re much more likely to get a holistic approach to environmental sustainability if there’s a policy in place that reaches into every part of the organisation. Ideally that policy would advise that all decision-making should include the environmental implications as standard, alongside the likes of financial, social, safety, performance and risk/reward. “Sustainable procurement is a crucial element of policy for sport, as many sports organisations are comparatively small, but punch above their weight when it comes to purchasing power and influence. Procuring goods and services with sustainability in mind can help them reach their own environmental goals, and encourage positive change in the supply chain too. “Sometimes we chat to a sports organisation that is doing great work in sustainability, but they don’t have any strategies in policies in place, or what they have isn’t as broad ranging as it could be. The risk with that is that the person who was doing great work leaves the organisation, and if there isn’t a policy in place that everyone knows about and adheres to, it can so easily drop off the agenda.”
Agreeing with this, Rachel Dulai gave an example of how integration in British Rowing’s policies has helped boost the health of local economies:
“We have a procurement policy which we attach to all of our supply agreements and partner agreements. It’s resulted in a cleaner site, with people bringing reusable cups and avoiding food packaged in in plastic. All our exhibitors are locally sourced, as are most of our contractors, which boosts the local economy and has resulted in us finding some great contractors. It’s really helped create a wider sustainable environment for the community.”
Ted Powell and Tom Barnard commented on some of the key things they look for when advising on environmental policies in sport.
“We’re starting to advise on more and more environmental policies in sport. Good policies will include clear and achievable goals, a detailed strategy on how those goals will be achieved, an honest assessment of the sports organisations current climate impact, commitments on reporting and monitoring and a plan to integrate the policy throughout the organisation.” Barney Weston concluded the discussion by bringing it back to the all-important factor that began our roundtable discussion: people, and ensuring that everyone feels a part of the journey. “Embarking on a sustainability journey can feel quite overwhelming. You’ve got a lot of big concepts to understand, and in the context of the climate crisis, it can be quite daunting. But I think there’s a way of tackling this in a more measured, structured way. There are risks we’re not even aware of yet that we’ll have to deal with.
“A good way of tackling this as an organisation is through training, getting everyone in your organisation together and educating them on what this issue is. You can also bring your partners into that as well. Bring your local authorities and your sponsors into it. Try and make this a journey that you go on together.”