BAGS aims to equip the grassroots sport sector with essential knowledge to become environmentally sustainable
Climate change is real, and the sports sector is not immune to it. Sport does harm and may also be harmed by environmental change. As such, BAGS aims to equip the grassroots sport sector with essential knowledge and capacities to become more environmentally sustainable.
In particular, the project seeks to help sport stakeholders in their efforts to better acknowledge, measure, manage, monitor, report and act on the environmental impacts of sport competitions and operations. Led by OPES Italia and with the support of ENGSO as expert partner, it is anticipated that the creative activities, actions and solutions proposed and implemented on the ground by the three implementing partners (Opes Italia, Logos Basketball-Sedavi, Spain and RHA, Romania) will make a positive impact on the environmental efforts of the grassroots sport sector. The partnership also consists of Logos Basketball from Sedavi, Spain and RHA from Romania who along with OPES are tasked with enhancing awareness and environmental responsibility of their members and propose solutions to tackle climate degradation in their local contexts and with the support of their volunteers to foster pro-environmental behaviours and lead to more sustainable communities in and through sports.
Over the summer, BAGS partners have not been standing still. A series of activities have taken place in Italy, Spain and Romania. These included a series of awareness campaigns for members of the sport clubs and their communities, the introduction and implementation of sustainable actions during major competitions such as at the VAL Swimming Masters in Sedavi and the development of public policies around environmental sustainability in sport after data collection with sport stakeholders in Italy, Romania and Spain.
A number of Sustainable Education activities were run by BAGS partners. These emphasized teaching members of their clubs on how to implement circular economy principles such as reduce, recycle and reuse in their daily lives and also during their participation in sport with activities during competitions and trainings such as collection and recycling of caps, and placing information posters at the venues around appropriate use of energy and water. Several actions have also taken place involving the parents, athletes, and members of the community in the three implementing contexts such as workshops related to sustainable nutrition, distribution of sustainable snacks to the athletes, and engagement with environmental volunteering where athletes took part in tree planting in their local area. A lot of key learning emerged out of these efforts such as that even small, cost-effective steps could make a big difference in increasing the knowledge of the sport sector on how to reduce their environmental impact and encourage members of the sporting community to live more responsibly, protect and sustain the environment for future generations to enjoy.