If you’re looking for a way to engage with climate science – and science in general – in a fun, accessible and unusual way, you could do worse than subscribe to The Poetry of Science Podcast.

In each episode, climate scientist and associate professor at Edinburgh University, Sam Illingworth, recites poetry he’s written about a particular scientific topic.

Illingworth, who is the guest for episode #65 of The Sustainability Report Podcast, explains why poetry is the perfect medium to connect scientists and non-scientists as it breaks down the hierarchy of intellect, gives scientists the opportunity to express emotion and helps to develop a sense of shared vulnerability.

He adds that sport could be another good medium in which to create a safe and engaging space for dialogue around climate change.

Episode #65 talking points:

– Why poetry and games are perfect mediums to facilitate dialogue between scientists and non-scientists

– How sport can adopt similar sensibilities to engage people in climate science and climate change solutions

– What sports clubs could do to harness personal identity and collaborate with scientists

Just two months ago, The Sustainability Report sat down with rugby players Alena Olsen and Jamie Farndale to talk about why the sport should be at the forefront of sport’s climate action movement.

Last week, following a year of consultation and development, World Rugby, the sport’s global governing body, published its response in the form of a 2030 Environmental Plan.

In this edition of the podcast, the federation’s chief executive Alan Gilpin walks us through the plan, explaining World Rugby’s motivation for creating it and addressing its three key priorities: climate action, circular economy and the natural environment.

Gilpin touches on the “ambitious but realistic” goal of reducing World Rugby’s carbon impact by 50% across all three scopes without offsetting, and how the organisation will work with event organising committees and other stakeholders to achieve the plan’s objectives.

Apathy. The path to least resistance. It’s human nature for us to let some things slip through the cracks because of how much we have to process on any given day.

While many of us have the intention of adopting more sustainable habits and behaviours, the fact that some don’t fit seamlessly into our everyday lives means we stop short at taking the required action.

This week’s podcast guest, behavioural economist Christina Gravert, spends her time investigating what lies in the gap between intention and action, and how to potentially close it.

Hard measures, such as regulations and incentives, may drive people towards behaviour change. But Gravert’s research demonstrates that softer ‘nudges’ – where people are asked to make decisions in a slightly altered environment – may be just as effective, if not more, if executed well.

In this episode, Gravert explains how any organisation can use the technique to support policy, and help people make better decisions for the environment. She explores some of her research, and reflects on how nudging could be adopted in the sports industry, using a stadium setting as an example.

Episode #63 talking points:

– Why people don’t make optimal decisions, and how nudging can support them

– How nudging can be used to support sustainable behaviour change in various settings, including sport

– What organisations can do to develop a good nudging strategy

In sport, data is everything. We try to measure everything; to improve sporting performance and commercial performance.

With its growing importance and interest, it’s only natural that the industry wants to do the same with sustainability. But without any real standard benchmarks, measurement and progress is tricky.

In this edition of the podcast, we speak with two guests who are trying to rectify this through the creation of indexes with robust and scalable criteria to discover how sustainable sport is, and where the opportunities for improvement lie.

Our first guest, Cristiana Pace, a motorsport engineer of more than 25 years and founder of strategic sustainability agency and pending B Corp Enovation, talks about the Sustainable Circuit Index she put together alongside Right Hub, which assessed major motorsport race tracks on their sustainability credentials.

Sport and sustainability professional Tim Trefzer joins us for the second half of the podcast to explain how and why he helped create the Sustainable Sport Index 2021 Benchmarking Report, exploring the state of play across US sports venues.

Pace and Trefzer discuss:

– How they designed their methodologies to gather and analyse sustainability data

– Why indexing and benchmarking is crucial for sport to improve its environmental and social performance

– What motorsport circuits and sports venues need to do to address sustainability regulations and stakeholder expectations

A number of key actors are playing a starring role in accelerating sport’s focus on sustainability and climate issues.

But, in terms of being at the forefront for a sustained number of years, very few can match the achievements or commitment of Lew Blaustein.

After launching Green Sports Blog almost a decade ago, and shaping it into a must-read publication for anyone interested in sport and the environment, Blaustein now is driving athlete activism and engagement through his recently-established nonprofit, EcoAthletes.

In this special edition of the podcast, ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November, Blaustein and I forgo the usual podcast structure and instead kick back and chat about the changes we’ve seen the sustainability and sport movement over the last few years – especially post-Covid – and some of the key issues.

Among other things, we discuss:

• Sport’s role at COP26 – and how it should be taken more seriously by policy-makers
• The critical role of mainstream media outlets in normalising sport’s climate movement for fans
• What we would do if we were commissioner for a day

Michael E. Porter is one of the most renowned academic thinkers in the field of business strategy. If you’ve ever studied business (or read publications like Harvard Business Review), you’ve doubtless come across his thinking and work.

Competitive advantage, says Porter, can be derived from two main sources: doing things at lower cost or differentiation.

Sustainability has been touted as a form of differentiation – but if every organisation needs to get their environmental house in order to align with emerging policy and public opinion, how can organisations differentiate on these grounds?

In his own Harvard Business Review article from 2019, one of this week’s guests, Ioannis Ioannou, puts forward the argument that while sustainability can be competitive advantage for some, this will only extend to the organisations going beyond risk management and embedding sustainability in their organisational strategy, leading to new innovation in products and services that provide solutions for consumers and the planet.

SailGP is one of the handful of sports properties to have sustainability as a key pillar of its strategy and operations. Its mantra, ‘powered by nature’, reflects this. And even though its ambitious net zero carbon strategy (2025) and focus on sustainable development in host cities has won the attention of fans and partners like Tesla, its chief executive Sir Russell Coutts insists that this is not to carve out a competitive advantage – but to be in-step with other leading organisations.

In this podcast, Coutts and Fiona Morgan, SailGP’s director of purpose and impact, follow up on Ioannou’s observations by showcasing their approach to social and environmental leadership, which includes establishing an innovative approach to athlete engagement and competition in the shape of the Impact League.

Listen to this episode to discover:

– How organisations can adopt a values- and solutions-based approach to sustainability

– Why SailGP developed the Impact League alongside its core competition

– Whether sustainability leadership can truly create differentiation – or if it should be an aspiration for all

Last year, more than 300 British Olympians and Paralympians put their signature to a letter addressed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging him to steer the country towards a ‘green recovery’ amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The letter was coordinated by Champions for Earth, a group of current and former sportspeople determined to make the athlete voice a key driver in the acceleration of the low-carbon transition.

Melissa Wilson, one of the guests in this episode, is part of the core Champions for Earth team, coordinating much of its effort to engage and educate athletes to understand and communicate about climate change and other environmental issues.

Joining Wilson is Morten Thorsby, a professional footballer for U.C. Sampdoria in Italy and the Norwegian national team. Thorsby is on the cusp of launching We Play Green – an organisation that encourages football players and other sportspeople to engage in climate action.

During this episode, Wilson and Thorsby document their journeys, discuss their respective organisations, and explain how athletes can talk authentically about climate and the environment.

Towards the end of 2020, a piece of research was published by Zoomph and Recipric highlighting the growing interest in plant-based diets from sports fans, and suggesting how professional teams could capitalise on this growing trend.

When it comes to the plant-based diet and its impact on athlete performance, perhaps nothing has been quite so impactful as The Game Changers – a revealing Netflix documentary showcasing the connection between enhanced physical performance and the eradication of animal-based products.

It appears that the growing plant-based revolution is an area of untapped potential for the sports industry in a couple of instances, not to mention its positive impact on the environment.

In this week’s podcast, we talk with James Wilks, who was behind the documentary, and Roger McClendon, executive director of the Green Sports Alliance.

The Green Sports Alliance and Wilks’ Game Changers Institute – a recently-established vehicle to generate research about and promote plant-based living – have partnered up, and Wilks and McClendon explain.

Bushfires, extreme heat, drought. Australia, over the past few years, really has felt the wrath of climate change.

Indeed, sport has often highlighted the nation’s plight to the rest of the world, with high-profile incidents occurring during the Australian Open with regards to players being badly affected by the soaring temperatures and smoke from the bushfires.

But it’s Australia’s thriving recreational sport ecosystem that is bearing the brunt of the problems. Venues that bring people together within communities have been damaged or even destroyed totally by extreme weather.

Earlier this year, the state of Victoria engaged the Sports Environment Alliance (SEA) to collaborate on a piece of work designed to provide guidance to venue managers and volunteers at community sports facilities on how they can safeguard these sacred places from the worst of climate change.

In this edition of the podcast, the SEA’s Dr. Sheila Nguyen and Kirsty Reidy of Sport and Recreation Victoria talk us through the guidance.

Data is absolutely everywhere in sport. The trick is knowing what data is meaningful, how to interpret it, and then putting it into action.

Sustainability-related data may not be at the top of the priority list for most sports properties. But a look under the hood may demonstrate that those who continue to think that way could be missing a trick – and leaving a lot of money on the table.

In this edition of the podcast, our guests, Kristen Fulmer (Recipric), Nick Cronin (Zoomp) and Chris Pyke (Arc Skoru), explain what sustainability data matters, and how it can help sports organisations achieve other core targets around fan engagement, brand partnerships and operational efficiency.

Episode #56 talking points:

– Why sustainability data can help sports entities achieve other objectives

– How sports organisations can identify the right data to collect

– What they can do with that data to grow fan affinity and brand relationships