http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7s_2BBSnj4

Momentum is really gathering in this space and I’m very pleased that it is. A year ago sport and social responsibility conferences were still dominated by other more established social agendas such as health or social inclusion. At the recent Beyond Sport awards, only seven projects filled the Sport/Environment category out of over 200 applications, and this was only two months ago.

With the count-down to the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen and the urgency to identify other mechanisms with which to engage the public to change their over consuming behaviour, Sport is increasingly the vehicle of choice.  There are still questions to be evaluated over whether sport can really inspire long term change. Eon’s partnership for example with the FA Cup claimed a saving of 22,000 tonnes of CO2, through pledges made by fan’s, but did their “Carbon Footyprint” campaign make any lasting behavioural change?

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote an article for Sport Business magazine about the opportunity for global brands developing links with environmentally clean sports and suggested that this could provide a welcome financial boost for some of our minority sports.  This week, sailing has been given a shot in the arm as the Government funded Carbon Trust has joined forces with Sir Keith Mills, multi-million pound America’s Cup campaign, the “Race for Change” to inspire action against climate change and encourage global partners to join the programme and fund the British Teams chances of winning one of sport’s oldest trophies.

Will it work? The key here lies in the mission and values of the Project and its leaders. Certainly the image of the sport is very strong, but not strong enough if the programme and the partners don’t walk the talk. And what about the Fan’s – do they switch off when their sporting elite suddenly start talking like politicians, or are they inspired to follow their lead?

Over the last few years we have spent some time in this space, particularly with our own project, BLUE.  Much of that time has been spent researching the touch points for behaviour change and wrestling with the un-inspiring language of climate change, which still does little to motivate people to care for the environment. There is a lot that can be learnt from working with behaviour change psychologists and also young people, who seem to be far more in touch with the planet limited resources.

I’m certainly convinced that sport can play a major part in inspiring positive change for our environment, but it is essential that Sir Keith Mills and his team stays close to their core values and often in sport, a winning mentality can start to blur the edges.

Conrad Humphreys, Managing Director, Sport Environment,

The Times reports that this week, that British America’s Cup team is set to join forces with the Carbon Trust in an effort to attract new environmental sponsors to the British sailing campaign. The brand values of sailing can be very attractive to commercial partners, so this has the potential to be a strong association for the right brand assuming that it is backed by a very credible campaign. 

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6832242.ece

The economic situation and the need to better manage our sport, including the America’s Cup, were at the heart of today’s debates at the World Yacht Racing Forum. The Cup debate was definitely one of the highlights of the day, with Tom Ehman and Brad Butterworth trying hard to convince the audience that their point of view is the right one.
Monaco, 10 December 2008

After months of preparation and weeks of anticipation, the first World Yacht Racing Forum is finally underway. It allowed today 300 privileged delegates and sixty media to listen to some great debates and network with each other between the events.

The world economic situation was at the heart of most debates, the key actors of the yacht racing scene agreeing on the need to reduce costs and manage our sport better. Talking about the Volvo Ocean Race, Knut Frostad, the event’s CEO insisted on the need to grow the sport collectively. “This Forum is great; it is the first time we are sitting together. We have so much to discuss and learn from each other! Sailing is only in the top 10 sports in three countries: Australia, New-Zealand and Sweden. We have a lot to achieve. Our goal with the Volvo Ocean Race is to reduce the costs drastically in the future; this will be our most immediate and effective action.”

Led by “the voice” of the America’s Cup Peter Montgomery, and featuring Brad Butterworth, Tom Ehman, Paul Cayard, Sir Keith Mills, Stéphane Kandler and Alessandra Pandarese, the America’s Cup debate didn’t bring any immediate solutions but some interesting proposals were made for the future of the event.

Whilst the America’s Cup debate was undoubtedly the highlight of the day, other topics of interest for the future of the yacht racing scene got discussed by the key actors of the industry. The event started with a keynote address by Sir Keith Mills, who said that “sailing has now become a major business. The recession makes our life difficult but there are also great opportunities in a recession. We just need to manage our teams and events in a more cost-effective way.”
 
How do we drive the global growth of our sport? What are the keys to its development? These were some of the key issues debated by ISAF President Göran Petersson, who was on many occasions challenged by some of the speakers and the public.

Race calendar management is probably one of the easiest targets to achieve between the different sailing Classes. Head of communication for the Vendée Globe, Christophe Baudry agrees that: Having the Vendée Globe and the Volvo Ocean Race taking place at the same time is nonsense.
 
The second part of the event will take place tomorrow Thursday, with four more debates.

Conrad Humphreys talks to Sport Business Magazine about the growing links between Sport and the Environment and how the sporting industry is using this link to target a more compassionate audience.

Click here to view the full article, courtesy of Sport Business.

Victor Mallet, reporter for the Financial Times reports on how the sport of sailing and its association with sport, competition and excitement but also with concern for the natural environment is a growing attraction to commercial sponsors.

Click here to view the full article, courtesy of The Financial Times.