Projekti
Sustainable Sport Management
Lyhenne
Projektityyppi
Vahvuusala
Toteutusaika
1.1.2023 - 31.12.2024
Yksikkö
Rahoitusohjelma
Erasmus+ Sport
Projektin kotisivu
Projektin kuvaus
The proposed original project ‘Sustainable Sport Management (SSM)' addresses in a substantive way the ‘Environment and Sustainability' horizontal priority of the 2022 ERASMUS+ ‘KA2 Cooperation Partnerships' call. Nonetheless, the comprehensive nature of the project also entails that it will cut across some other horizontal and sport-specific priorities including ‘improving governance in sport', ‘environment and fight against climate change', ‘digital transformation' and ‘communications'. The relationship between sport and the environment has long been established but it was not until very recently when most leading sport organisations have pledged to commit to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Building on the impetus from the 2021 COP climate summit in Glasgow, nearly 300 international and national sport organisations have signed up to the UN Framework for Climate Action in Sport (https://unfccc.int/climate-action/sectoral-engagement/sports-for-climate-action). The framework requires organisations to pledge commitment to climate targets, to plan, proceed with action and report on their actions. This represents a strategic change in sport organisations' policy and operations with far reaching political, social and economic consequences. Yet, despite some advances, ‘sustainable thinking' across the sport sector is still in its infancy, and we know very little about its interpretation and implementation by national and international sport organisations. This is an issue of major importance as some 160 million regular sport participants in Europe (40% of the EU population, Eurostats, 2018) interact with the environment and leave their carbon footprint. Regular sport participation takes place in the context of the European model of sport based on promotions and relegations, which involves staging of hundredths of thousands sporting events at local, national and international levels. Some 35% of the EU population attends live sporting events (Eurostats, 2018) and thus actively interact with the environment. Sport organisations, therefore, have a responsibility to conduct their business in a sustainable manner by putting in place sound governance and management principles and practices.
The higher education sector (HE) has also responded to the challenges presented by the global climate change by introducing a range of undergraduate and graduate programmes. Despite advances in some disciplines, very little is still known about how the relationship between sport and sustainability has been interpreted by various HE providers in Europe and USA. This is an issue of critical importance because it concerns the preparation of the next generation of sport managers who will be responsible for implementing the new sustainable policies and strategies. Notwithstanding the declared commitment to the global climate targets by major governing bodies of sport such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIFA and World Athletics (WA), there is still a great deal of work to be done in converting policy objectives into practice, changing organisational culture and educating officials, athletes and spectators. This project, therefore, addresses three interrelated important gaps in sustainable knowledge and practice in sport. First, the proliferation of studies and policies has led to the emergence of an array of sustainable measuring tools and methodologies, which creates conceptual and practical challenges. Second, there is virtually no understanding of how the teaching and implementation of sustainability by HE institutions and sport organisations cohere. Third, we have no knowledge about the challenges and economic cost of implementing the sustainable development goals (SDG) by sport organisations nationally and internationally. The proposed project directly addresses the four aims of cooperation partnerships by bringing together a diverse group of actors from four EU member states and a leading US University, HE institutions, European and world sport organisations including European Non-governmental Sport Organisation (ENGSO), European Association for Sport Management (EASM), World Athletics (WA) and International Federation of Match Poker (IFMP-an esport). The proposed cooperative partnership thus, involves research/teaching, policy making organisations as well as the most popular sport in the world, athletics and an esport, match poker (note: it has nothing to do with gambling and money).
Members of the partnership possess expertise in management, curricula design and delivery, sustainability design and implementation, economic impact, legal issues of sustainable strategy development as well as a vast network of universities, sport organisations, and members in Europe and internationally. These organisations would not have otherwise interact with each other although they share a similar concern about the environment. The project will also significantly enhance the capacity of both HE institutions and national and international sport organisations by developing new knowledge about the structure and delivery of sustainable sport management curricula, as well as the design and implementation of sustainable sport strategies. Thus, the project will address the common need to help prepare the next generation of sport managers who will lead the more environmentally friendly sport and be able to achieve the net zero GHG emissions by 2040. Finally, the project will equip sport organisations with valuable knowledge and a practical tool allowing them to change their approach to the planning and implementation of sustainably strategies. More specifically, the proposed original project will address organisational inclusion and diversity relevance criteria of the call by engaging with all national and regional sport organisations in Europe as well as with a range of HE institutions with established and emerging sport management programmes. In particular:
• The profile and expertise of the members of the partnership are highly relevant to the field of application because they represent HE institutions educating sport managers and sport organisations with and without sustainability strategies, who regularly grapple with environmental issues.
• We have consulted extensively the members of the partnership and they have expressed their organisations' commitment to both the UN Framework for Climate Action in Sport and ‘Sustainable Charter' relevant to HE institutions. As well, partners identified the need to better understand the conceptual, legal and practical challenges of implementing sustainable strategies.
• The SSM proposal creates synergy between the education in sustainability in the context of higher education and its implementation by sport organisations.
• The proposed project complements the teaching and research activities of the EU and US HE institutions in the field of sport management and directly assists sport organisations in their efforts to implement the SDG.
• The proposed project will also provide a comprehensive survey of sustainable sport management curricula across Europe and USA as well as original insights into the implementation and economic impact of sustainable sport strategies internationally, which would be impossible for a single country to achieve.