Jose Sanchez
Research expert covering society, economy, & politics for Latin America
Climate change and sports - statistics & facts
From flooded fields, to snowless ski slopes, to temperatures too hot to exercise, the climate crisis is in every way a crisis for the world of sports. Many of the countries that have historically produced the most carbon emissions have sports industries which are often environmentally harmful – in the United States, the major sports league with the highest average per-game carbon emissions was found to be the NFL, producing around 21 metric tons of carbon dioxide (tCO2) per game. The effects are already being felt, with a significant share of spectators and players in the United Kingdom experiencing climate-related disruption across multiple sports. The sports industry cannot afford to drop the ball on climate change - if sports are to have a future, they need a planet that can sustain them.
