In Sustainability 101, you learned that sustainability is usually described as being made up of three different areas or types of sustainability: economic sustainability, social sustainability, and environmental sustainability. Let’s take a look at how sport impacts each of these three areas:

Social Sustainability

Remember that the goal of social sustainability is to protect the basic requirements needed to keep individuals and communities healthy, secure, and respected and ensure that they are available and accessible to all. Sport contributes to this goal by:

• Improving our health and fitness through physical activity
• Addressing major social issues such as inequality
• Promoting physical and mental well-being through health benefits and development and enhancement of social skills
• Uniting people from different parts of the world
• Contributing towards equality i.e., wages of professional men and women athletes
• Encouraging inclusivity i.e., Paralympics

Economic sustainability

• Boosting local economies and communities through the creation of new jobs in the sports industry - i.e., infrastructure, broadcasting, health professionals etc., particularly surrounding large sport events.
• Having a significant positive effect on local and national economies through sport tourism for small - and large-scale sports events.

Environmental sustainability

Remember that the goal of environmental sustainability is to conserve natural resources and protect global ecosystems to support health and wellbeing, now and in the future.

• Outdoor and seasonal sports require certain weather or environment conditions to ensure an athlete’s success when training and competing, urging sports organizations to enforce/encourage conservation practices.
• Sports industries can minimize the effects of climate change through sustainable means of transportation, infrastructure, waste management, renewable energy and policies.

Sport initiatives can raise funds to support programs ensuring the empowerment of those living in poverty.

Sports can act as a tool for mobilization of resources and funds. Sport-based initiatives and campaigns can support vulnerable communities who don’t have access to adequate and nutritious foods.

Sports can improve learning outcomes by fostering high academic performance and achievement, leadership abilities, and concentration and focus capabilities.

Sports can provide equal opportunities for both women and men across different levels of competition. Transferable skills gained from participation can help women to take on leadership roles in other sectors.

Through major sporting events, water protection programs have been implemented to raise awareness and the sustainable use of water.

Ensuring that sports infrastructure follows the latest green building standards (i.e., LEED certified facilities) promotes energy efficiency.

Sports can help youth build the necessary soft skills required to gain meaningful employment. Additionally, sporting events generate employment opportunities for the local community.

Sports promote inclusivity for both athletes and spectators. (e.g., Paralympics, programs supporting access to sports programs for at-risk youth, etc.)

“In addition to the proclamation that Olympic Games can be considered as a “festival of peace”, generally, sports-based educational activities can be used to foster the reduction of violence, support reconciliation, help in rebuilding states which were “victims” of wars or conflicts and allow the development of good relationships between distinctive groups of people.(European Union, n.d.)

“The unifying nature of sport has driven the sports movement to become one of the ultimate global platforms to create an influential network promoting the Sustainable Development Goals.” (European Union, n.d.)