Given the urgency of the 1) need for real climate action, and 2) the opportunities to make real progress GreenSportsBlog will be reporting on the sports community’s presence at the COP 26 global climate conference, which starts next Monday.

Today, we kick off that effort with a look at GreenBiz’ recent coverage of how some athletes and other members of the sports community, are looking to have an impact at COP, most for the first time. 

GreenBiz has covered the intersection of business and sustainability for the last 30 years. Chairman and co-founder Joel Makower understands that sports and the athletes who play them have the power to make a positive impact on sustainable business as well as sustainability more broadly — including the climate change fight.

With the start of the COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland a week away, GreenBiz went up with two posts on Friday about how athletes are raising their voices by endorsing the COP 26 Sports Community Manifesto, spearheaded by EcoAthletes, the nonprofit I launched to “inspire and coach athletes to lead climate action.” The Manifesto urges delegates at the global climate conference to, paraphrasing the words of legendary New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, “do their jobs” by agreeing to real, significant climate actions.

Makower, an unpaid member of the EcoAthletes advisory board, interviewed EcoAthletes Champion Jacquie Pierri, a pro ice hockey player from the US who now plays for a club in Bolzano, Italy, and yours truly about the rationale for and its potential impacts of Manifesto in a ten minute segment on the weekly GreenBiz 350 Podcast. It starts at the 29 minute 36 second mark. Click here to give a listen.

And in a GreenBiz guest post, “For the world’s athletes, COP 26 is no game”, I spoke with four EcoAthletes Champions — Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brent Suter, University of Virginia discus thrower Sadey Rodriguez, WNBA star Napheesa Collier, and English cricketer Joe Cooke — about their motivations for endorsing the Manifesto.

GSB’s Take: If you are an athlete, active or retired, or work for an organization with any connection to the sports world (team, league, sponsor, supplier, etc.), and are interested in having your voice heard at COP 26, you can sign on to the Sports Community Manifesto. As of this writing, it is approaching 250 endorsers. To do so please click here. The more signatories, the greater the media coverage of this effort and thus, the greater the impact for the sports community at the COP and beyond.

Given the urgency of the climate crisis, the sports world does not have the time to sit on the sidelines. 

In the coming days, GSB will dive into the many planned sports community-related activities that will take place in and around Glasgow during COP. If you are an athlete and would like to be a part of the COP, either in-person or virtually, check out the Sport@COP link for ways you can do so.

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