Promoting green sports

There is growing consideration for the environment in the world of sports.

The Olympic Movement, for instance, has incorporated the environment into its charter, alongside sport and culture. It has a Sport and Environment Commission to advise it on environment-related policy and has developed an Agenda 21 for sport and the environment to encourage its members to play an active part in sustainable development.
Among the fruits of these initiatives was the first ever ‘green’ Olympic Games. The Sydney 2000 Games were an advert for how the development opportunities provided by the Olympic Games can be used to benefit the community and the environment. The success of the Sydney Games will be felt far and wide.

UNEP is now working with the Organising Committees of the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics and the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games so they too can include environmental protection in their planning. Initial contacts have also been established with organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada.