Sports across Europe received a decided thumbs down from participants at the Global Sports Forum this past Thursday for failing to do enough to combat climate change. They were roundly criticized for everything from excessive travel by athletes (equating to over-the-top oil use) to sports equipment manufacturing and the water used and pollution produced in making all those balls, sneakers and athletic shirts. Some 900 people from 28 countries attended the 3-day forum in Barcelona, Spain according to a report in Agence France Presse. Nathalie Durand of France’s Sports and Sustainable Development Observatory cited the Rugby World Cup in France as one example–she said the event produced 570,000 tons of CO2 when only 46,000 were necessary. As for the Tour de France, the event required some 2,500 vehicles, which could, conceivably be made more fuel-efficient (or perhaps eliminated in favor of the more appropriate bicycle travel?). The larger story here may be that environmental stewardship is still mostly an afterthought to sports organizations, a feel-good measure done for a big game (like the Superbowl tree-planting efforts), but not an intrinsic part of the sports community. With international pressure increasing, comrpehensize environmental reform may finally be inevitable. In Europe first, of course.

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