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,