Dalton Myers | Feeling the heat - Climate change concerns for sport becoming more imminent

Climate change and its devastating impact on society have been brought into sharp focus with the ongoing Australian wildfires and their impact on the lives of those in the immediate paths, as well as surrounding cities. The loss of life, animals and plants cannot be measured and is very much regrettable. Since the wildfires, there have also been discussions about the disruption to sports activity which has me thinking again about climate change and its impact on sports. So far, there are concerns about the air quality for the first tennis major of the year, the Australian Open, while earlier similar concerns were raised in cricket for the Test match between Australia and New Zealand to be held in Sydney. Other recreational and competitive sporting activities have had to be postponed and or shifted. In some cases, organisers are expecting to increase expenditure on safety measures.

The issue of climate change and sports is not new. I wrote about this topic in my 2019 column entitled ‘ Climate change concerns for Windies cricket’ . The truth is climate change affects sports more than we think, and politically, continues to be one of the most controversial global topics. But make no joke about it, it will get worse and a lot has happened so far. We are fully aware of the heat-related issues associated with the World Athletics (formerly IAAF) Qatar World Championships and similarly with the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee have made adjustments to events such as moving the Marathon, while the city has already been making changes to accommodate athletes. There is also a heat protocol to address the expected high temperatures in that Asian city. Wildfires are also a problem in the USA, with sweltering heat in some cities causing issues for some sporting events. Of course, we remember the massive Amazon rainforest fire; so increasing heat is a problem everywhere.

It is generally believed that cities that hosted the Winter Olympics 10 to 20 years ago would not be able to do so in the next 10 to 20 years as changes in the climate have made it difficult for them to properly host these events.

Tackling issues

The IOC has worked with the United Nations to create the “Sport for Climate Action Framework” to try to tackle some of these issues of climate change and protect the future of sports. The framework seeks to promote responsibility, as well as a reduction in climate change’s impact on sports. It is geared towards educating for climate action, promoting sustainable and responsible consumption, and advocating for climate action through communication. However, as much as several global sporting bodies have committed to this framework, without governmental support, it will be difficult to effect impactful change.

Global sport apparel company Nike has also launched its ‘Move to Zero’ campaign, which is Nike’s commitment to help reduce carbon and waste, ultimately helping to “protect the future of sport”. Nike outlined some of the issues of climate change on sport and argued that the increase in temperature across the globe has caused serious ramifications for athletes. For its data, it assessed global football, NFL, track and field, tennis, and snowboarding, using these to highlight the significant impact of increased temperatures on athletes and the fans who attend events. Will the NIKE measures help? Only time will tell but certainly there is a need for global stakeholders to do more, certainly in line with the Paris Agreement.

Just recently during a cricket match in Australia, temperatures rose to approximately 42 degrees Celsius, and England’s cricket captain at the time, Joe Root, was sent to hospital with exhaustion and dehydration. We have seen athletes struggle in cricket at various locations because of dehydration and sweltering heat; the same for other sports, such as tennis.

I think with temperatures increasing globally and more adverse weather conditions are being experienced, we will continue to see climate change having an impact on sports. The Caribbean faces other challenges associated with climate change such as flooding, damage from storms and hurricanes, so I continue to call on local and regional administrators to take this into consideration. While we may not be the largest contributors to the problems, small developing states like ours can suffer a great deal as we have less resources to address some of the challenges our athletes may face. However, we can certainly start preparing.

Dalton Myers is a sports consultant and host of The Drive Phase Podcast. Send feedback to daltonsmyers@gmail.com or tweet @daltonsmyers