On 13 May, the 4th seminar on carbon footprint measurement was held online by the Öko-Institut to discuss advancements and challenges in measuring the carbon emissions of NOCs. In addition to discussions on the scope and results of footprint measurement, valuable inputs on carbon compensation and offsetting were presented, helping NOCs work on their reduction strategies.
Tobias Wagner from the Öko-Institut kicked off the seminar with an overview of the project's phases over the past months. Two months after the meeting in Lausanne, Climate Action Officers have had the opportunity to raise any remaining questions on the scope and results of their carbon footprint measurement. Tobias Wagner presented updates to the Excel tool, which has been improved to fit better with users’ feedback. The updated tool will be available for NOCs in the Autumn, while the online tool will be ready by the end of the year.
As the NOCs started to draft their carbon reduction strategies, the inputs on carbon compensation and offsetting presented by Martin Cames from the Öko-Institut have been valuable information to help the Climate Action Officer in this process. He discussed the broader context of climate responsibility versus climate compensation and highlighted the challenges involved in purchasing offset credits and the risk of greenwashing. In fact, he warned the Climate Action Officers about the reliability of re-forestation projects in terms of offsetting and advised that these kinds of projects should be approached with caution when used as offsetting mechanisms.
The NOCs are now expected to develop their reduction strategies, the adoption of which is scheduled for Spring 2025. Seminar 5 will be held online in Autumn 2024, followed by Module 5 and a project meeting in Prague in December.
The 18 Climate Action Officers engaged in the OCEAN Project started to develop their NOC’s carbon footprint reduction strategy, during a 3-day meeting in Lausanne.
From 18 to 21 March, the Climate Action Officers from the 18 partner National Olympic Committees (NOC) met in Lausanne to assess the progress made and acknowledge the first successes, one year after the launch of the OCEAN project (Olympic Committees of Europe Approaching Carbon Neutrality).
The 18 Climate Action Officers discovered their organisation's carbon footprint after working together with the Öko-Institut on the measurement over the last twelve months. It allowed them to understand their main sources of emissions and to engage in several discussion rounds with the Öko-Institut and Julie Duffus, from the IOC, on how NOCs can move forward in their transition and join the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. After learning about the main steps of the carbon reduction process, the NOCs’ Climate Action Officers reflected on potential objectives to set and measures to take.
Jon Wyatt’s shared experience as Sports Director at the International Hockey Federation (FIH), managing his organisation's sustainability department gave the OCEAN Consortium valuable information to consider on how to manage the process of implementing a carbon reduction strategy. On this basis, Climate Action Officers were fully equipped to start drafting their carbon footprint reduction strategy.
The results of the NOCs’ carbon footprint measurement will be shared publicly in the course of this Spring, following which the Online Tool for carbon footprint measurement will be revealed to the public at the end of the year. In the meantime, Climate Action Officers are to finalise their NOC’s carbon footprint reduction strategy. The OCEAN Project will conclude in April 2025.
The OCEAN project is moving forward with the organization of a 2nd Seminar and the 1st Consortium Call. These two events were designed to bring further knowledge about the Carbon measurement process to the partners, but also to gather their feedback on it. Moreover, the members received additional information about external project binding together sport and environmental issue.
On the 19th of September the 2nd Online Seminar of the Ocean project dedicated to the Carbon Footprint measurement took place. This meeting led by the Öko Institut had the objective to refine and precise the criteria which will be used in the measurement of the NOCs’ carbon footprint and collect feedback on potential difficulties Climate Action Officers are facing during the data collection phase.
The project is now entering a new phase with the full completion of the measurement tool by the NOCs. The Öko Institut presented the tool they are currently designing and collected the partners’ views on potential supplementary criteria to define with precision their carbon consumption.
Additionally, partners received a presentation from the Paris 2024 Organising Committee and CNOSF team. The emphasis was purposefully oriented toward the sustainability axe of the forthcoming games and the reflection which takes place months in advance to organize a sustainable event. With that objective in mind the French Ministry of sport, in collaboration with ADEME (Environmental and Energy Control Agency), the CNOSF and the Organizing Committee Paris 2024, developed an instrument able to easily estimate the carbon footprint of manifestations: The Climate Coach for Events.
Another event punctuated the OCEAN project agenda as on the 20th of September was held the first consortium call. This online meeting was led by the EOC EU office in order to establish a first feedback session on the different actions already initiated and provide an overview of upcoming tasks. The date and speaker of the October sessions was shared. Lina Taylor, a former Olympian and currently Climate Coach will be in charge of this session.
Afterwards, the discussion moved to the expectations and challenges faced by the consortium members in the implementation of the carbon footprint measurement (time required and specific methodology applied). The next step of the OCEAN project is scheduled to take place during the month of October with the beginning of the Module 2.2. Climate Action Officers will now start the complete carbon footprint measurement of their organization.
On 22 February, 18 National Olympic Committees, the European Olympic Committees EU Office (EOC EU Office), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) gathered in Brussels for the Kick-Off Meeting of the OCEAN Project.
OCEAN, which stands for “Olympic Committees of Europe Approaching Carbon Neutrality”, aims to empower National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to measure and reduce their carbon footprint and enhance good governance in the field of climate action within their NOCs. In order to assist NOCs in getting as near to carbon neutral as possible, the project seeks to create and offer training for "Climate Action Officers." Subsequently, the project's main objective is to assist partner NOCs in creating a customised strategy for carbon reduction following an assessment of their carbon footprint with the support of the German environmental research institute Öko-Institut.
The Kick-Off Meeting, on 22 February, was opened by EOC President Spyros Capralos, who highlighted the relevance of the OCEAN Project and the responsibility of the sports organisations to reduce their impact on the environment and take up the sport world’s responsibility to lead by example in the field of climate action.
A key theme throughout the newly-adopted EOC Strategic Agenda 2030 is sustainability. In his opening speech, President Capralos praised the project’s partners for showing that Europe as a continent is serious about taking climate action.
He said: “It is incredibly pleasing to see the attendance here today. It is a sign that we are all taking climate change seriously. It is a sign that we are all committed to tackling the issue.
“We must adapt to the new realities we are facing. We must make sure that as a movement our organisations and events are agile enough to respond to the challenges that come our way.”
“The mission of the Olympic Movement is ‘to make the world a better place through sport‘. So as well as being able to manage the risks and adapt, we also have a responsibility to help solve the world’s biggest challenges. There is no doubt that climate change is definitely one of them.”
“And there are two ways in which we can have a big impact on the environment. We must reduce the negative impact of the European Olympic Movement’s activities on climate and we must also use the power of the Olympic Movement to inspire others into taking positive action.”
Folker Hellmund, Director of the EOC EU Office, stated: “This project funded by the European Union will empower European NOCs by providing the necessary tools and skills to embark on the climate action journey. But the impact of the project will be global and eventually strengthen good governance in the field of climate action for sport organisations”.
