Why climate change is an ‘existential threat to sport’
Rising temperatures are reducing the number of places where the Winter Olympics can be held, while making the summer games dangerously hot for athletes
ith the Paris Olympics now done and dusted and the Paralympics approaching its climax, the big question is, could we be seeing the last of such big, sporting events? After all, the intense heat felt in Paris this year is unlikely to be a freak event. Global warming will see to that.
Since the last time the Olympics were held in Paris 100 years ago, the average temperature in France’s capital has risen by more than three degrees Celsius, with Europe now the fastest warming continent on the planet.
The Winter Olympics have already received much attention because of the threats the games face. The escalating climate crisis could mean they increasingly struggle to find host cities with enough snow and ice. Only one of 21 previous Winter Olympics locations would be able to reliably host the games in future if global greenhouse gas emissions remain on their current trajectory, according to one recent study.
Body ‘shutting down’
What is becoming increasingly obvious is how much athletes themselves are paying the price for performing in a world that is breaking climate records. Dangers to performance, health, and even the fear of heat-related deaths were revealed in a report, Rings of Fire, published earlier this year.
It documented growing concerns amongst those in the upper echelons of athletics. Pragnya Mohan, the highest-ranked Indian triathlete ever, for example, described competing in soaring heat as being “scary” and said how “your body feels like it’s shutting down”. Olympic bronze medal tennis player Marcus Daniell reported how, at the Tokyo Olympics, he felt the heat could be potentially fatal.
In his foreword to the Rings of Fire report, Lord Seb Coe, World Athletics’ president, warned that “with global temperatures continuing to rise, climate change should increasingly be viewed as an existential threat to sport”.
Those words are deliberate and sobering. An existential threat. To sport. And thereby to so much else. It’s not only the Olympics that are under threat. Whole countries are too. Lord Coe predicts that by 2060, more than a dozen countries taking part in the Olympics “will no longer be inhabitable”.
Inspirational competition
In the summer of 1980, I was glued to the television watching Coe duel with his arch rival, Steve Ovett, at the Moscow Olympics. In those days, as a keen member of my local athletic club, I was excited by the pair and their incredible feats.
They’d been leapfrogging each other as world record holder in the mile. Against the odds, Ovett won the 800-metre gold, with Coe replying with victory in the 1,500 metres. It was the stuff of dreams. Incredible sporting rivalry that fired the imagination and inspired many.
To hear Coe, more than 40 years on, talking about records of another kind, in global temperature rise, struck home the reality that we all now face. The Tokyo Olympics offered an alarming glimpse into the future with temperatures over 34C and humidity reaching almost 70 per cent. Those Games went on to become “the hottest in history” with conditions described as torturous by one meteorologist.
Fossil fuel sponsorship
Climate change has and will continue to increase average environmental temperatures, as well as the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The link between fossil fuels and global warming is clear.
Eyebrows are increasingly being raised at fossil fuel companies sponsoring sport. Former Australia rugby union captain David Pocock is among those to have called out such deals. “I really think fossil fuel sponsorship is the new cigarette sponsorship, where they are advertising a product that we now know is destroying our home planet and our futures,” he said.
What doesn’t get the same headlines or attention is the role of our food, particularly the overconsumption of meat. The business of rearing animals for food has a big part to play in both the problem and the solution to runaway climate change.
Greenhouse gases from animal farming contribute more to a warming world than the direct emissions from every form of transport combined. Yet statistics show that globally, more people are eating more meat than ever before. So much so, that our food alone could trigger catastrophic climate change.
Changing our diet
Unless, of course, we rethink our diets. Which is why much more needs to be done by governments and the food industry to empower consumers to eat in ways that are healthier for both people and the planet.
How ironic then to see the backlash at the Paris Games to organisers’ attempts to deliver “a taste of France in a responsible manner”. Central was the pledge to reduce the carbon footprint of the games by half compared to previous editions.
Amongst the measures planned to achieve this goal was doubling the proportion of vegetables and vegetable protein for the 13 million meals served throughout the four-week event. Yet, some athletes reportedly complained that there weren’t enough meat and eggs.
Speaking as part of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, French Michelin-starred chef, Thierry Marx, described the games as a unique opportunity to prove that what is good for our health and the planet is also good to eat. “With more plants on our plates, as well as more local and seasonal products and greater responsibility throughout the entire supply chain, Paris 2024 isn’t just setting out specifications — it’s presenting several opportunities for us all to seize,” Marx said.
As the heat continues to rise at future Olympics, seizing those planet-saving opportunities will be paramount.
Philip Lymbery is chief executive of Compassion in World Farming, a former United Nations Food Systems Champion and an award-winning author. His latest book is Sixty Harvests Left: How to Reach a Nature-Friendly Future. Philip is on X/Twitter @philip_ciwf
Note: This article first appeared in The Scotsman on Friday 6th September, 2024
