1700 knowledge points. This is what the Global Sustainability Benchmark in Sports (GSBS) assesses when it measures the sustainability criteria of a given sports organization in its annual report.
For the third year in a row, GSBS has published its annual report assessing the sustainability functionality of sports organisations worldwide across 4 key pillars: business, environment, social and governance. This year, GSBS invited more than 500 sports organizations to participate. in its independent report and finally evaluated 55 of them, 4 more than last year and fifteen more than the first year.
According to the data, the overall effects in 2023 were the Formula E electric motorsport championship and the German football club Borussia Dortmund. Responding to being at the top of the rankings for the second year in a row, Julia Pallé, Vice President of Formula E Sustainability, said:
“We are incredibly proud to continue to set the pace in the global sustainability rankings in the sports sector. For Formula E, being recognised at the highest point of the Global Sustainability Benchmark in Sport (GSBS) underlines the intensity of our commitment to sustainability. This independent assessment is a testament to our unwavering commitment to integrating sustainable practices into all facets of our operations.
GSBS is an independent, not-for-profit organisation founded in the UK that assesses and rates the sustainability functionality of professional sports organisations at no cost to organisations. To avoid conflicts of interest, GSBS does not offer consulting services and aims to provide a leading sustainability assessment service in professional sport. Their vision is “to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all and to protect the wishes of future generations, harnessing the power of sport”.
According to founder and CEO Christian Hartmann, the GSBS reporting framework is based on foreign criteria and functionality indicators. It draws on the experience of other sectors and promotes transparency and accountability for sustainability across the sports sector. This is part of the explanation for Atletico’s why. Madrid will participate in the report. Rocío Torres, head of sustainability, says that participating in the GSBS report is helping the club “align with EU reporting criteria”. In addition, it allows the club to take the pulse of the industry and place itself in relation to others.
GSBS collects its knowledge in two ways, from publicly disclosed data and through direct reports from the sports entity employing its comprehensive reporting framework. For Hartmann, those two strategies are of paramount importance because they promote industry transparency. In addition, the use of knowledge allows GSBS to stumble upon any potential greenwashing and see precisely how each entity is performing.
The aim of the annual report is to rate each sports entity, giving them a transparent concept of the prestige of their operations. The report also provides a comprehensive picture of the entire industry, clarifying who the pioneers are and showing which organizations still have room. to improve. Hartmann notes that it’s critical to involve senior managers and board members as much as imaginable in the knowledge-gathering process. Through the process of collecting and scoring, those in place in those organizations will see the benefits of holistic sustainability strategies, which can come simply with saving money, attracting the most sensible talent, adding mission-driven sponsors, and learning from the industry’s most productive practices.
Despite being only 3 years old, GSBS has an excellent reputation in the sports industry, where it continues to inspire greater transparency and sustainable behaviour. Global interest in sustainability reporting is also increasing: last year’s report was downloaded in more than 83 countries. The growing reputation of . GSBS and the importance of sustainability reporting are reflected in the following drawn up by Julia Pallé after Formula E crowned this year’s standings.
“Working with this GSBS is for us as it provides an objective measure of our sustainability efforts and holds us accountable for our achievements. This score isn’t just a reward; It represents a continuous challenge to innovate and improve. It also serves as a resilient tool to demonstrate that high-performance sports entertainment and sustainability can go hand in hand. This popularity is helping us lead by example, setting the tone for the sector to implement sustainable practices and make a meaningful impact, in line with the UN. Sport for Climate: Framework for Action. “
The GSBS annual report looks at the sustainability functionality of any professional gaming organisation. This is regardless of the game or set. This year, gaming entities from nine countries were evaluated, including the United States, Estonia and several Western European countries. Although they were football entities (27), this edition of the report included American football, baseball, ice hockey, motorbikes and, for the first time, handball.
71% of the entities analysed were clubs, franchises or teams, while 29% were associations, leagues or competitions. In addition, this edition of the GSBS report is based on 69% publicly disclosed knowledge and 31% knowledge provided through clubs to GSBS.
As mentioned above, each sports entity was evaluated across 4 pillars, taking into account 27 main themes, 109 themes, 129 sub-themes, and 26 sub-sub-themes, which generated more than 1,700 knowledge questions consistent with the founded organization. about the availability of knowledge. GSBS looked at everything from greenhouse gas emissions intensity to organizational hierarchy, and took into account things like staff turnover, maternity/paternity leave, and anti-corruption governance protocols. Such a rigorous examination of each of the organizations allows for a 360-degree strategy for the final score of each of the entities.
1700 knowledge points, 27 main topics and 109 topics that make up the annual GSBS report.
To inspire organizations to share their knowledge and take more concerted action on their sustainability journey, the GSBS scoring formula allocates 70% of an organization’s overall score based on knowledge functionality and 30% based on knowledge completeness. In other words, even though sustainable functionality is a more important element, organizations get awards for the transparency of their reporting. The percentage of the overall score made up of knowledge integrity decreases by 5% year-over-year, but it still functions as a carrot that motivates and rewards organizations that pool their efforts. own knowledge, internalize it and report it.
In Hartmann’s words: “Before you can start your activities, such as reducing GHG emissions, you have to start measuring and collecting, little by little. “
On January 16, at a live event at Squire Patton Boggs’ London headquarters, GSBS presented its third annual report and congratulated the top artists in their category, as well as the top artists overall.
The average sustainability functionality of companies (56% out of 100) among the 55 participating organizations increased by three percentage points compared to last year. The organisations that acted most sensibly were Formula E and VfL Wolfsburg, both with a score of 90%. out of a hundred. And at the live event, special mentions were awarded to Portuguese football club FC Porto and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas motorsport team for their concerted commitments to sustainability.
Other positives from this edition of the report are the fact that 34 out of 55 organizations publish their monetary insights and 58% have a committed sustainability department. Finally, 65% of organizations use consulting or download external recommendations to address the sustainable development factor.
Within this pillar, it will be necessary to focus on sponsorship. While targeted sponsorship is on the rise and is increasingly a key indicator in decision-making, the GSBS report highlights that 111 sponsors come from “potentially unsustainable sectors”. 30 energy, oil and fuel sponsors, 64 automobile sponsors, 23 aviation sponsors and 32 betting and gambling sponsors. Mission-driven sponsors want to propel sports organizations to move from sustainability commitments to sustainable movements and sports organizations want to leverage their influence and more. about the spouses they marry. As climate change increasingly affects each and every aspect of daily life, there deserves no place for harmful and unsustainable commercial sponsors.
Emissions are a fear among sports organizations.
As climate change continues to modify the nature of sport, environmental sustainability is expected to be the focus of maximum attention. However, this is the weakest feature in this year’s GSBS report.
53% of the sports organizations assessed have no public knowledge about emissions, and only 18% of them have business knowledge. In addition, 8% of the classified sports entities were only able to provide knowledge about their global emissions, and not a breakdown between scopes 1, 2 and 3, meaning that they do not know how their global emissions are generated lately.
As the report itself says: “Even though commitments and strong communication about long-term goals are piling up, a large number of key signals are moving in the ‘wrong’ direction. GHG emissions, energy consumption and waste production are increasing in most cases. of organizations.
In addition, one of the most common tactics that organizations “reduce” their emissions is through offset programs. 27 of the 55 organizations use offsetting to some degree and two organizations offset 100 percent of their emissions.
On the positive side, 46% of organisations actively encourage spectators to use sustainable transport, and several entities, such as VfL Wolfsburg, Atlético de Madrid and Real Betis, are implementing cutting-edge responses to reduce their environmental impact. Wolfsburg has pledged to reduce its emissions by up to 37% by 2025 and has implemented CO2 transparency since 2022, thanks to which consumers get a detailed breakdown of the carbon emissions of any product they buy.
Atletico Madrid has implemented a synchronised remote control formula that provides real-time data on water intake and has installed an irrigation and water harvesting formula that minimises water waste. In Seville, Real Betis is building a new school with a solar power plant. herbal ventilation formulas and a pond in the garage that can collect rainwater. The facility’s new synthetic turf pitches also use rubber cork to prevent microplastic contamination.
However, the club with the best results in this category is Borussia Dortmund. According to Hartmann, “Borussia Dortmund has an incredibly strong and long-lasting environmental relationship. “In addition, as a publicly traded company, the club has a detailed history, and the combination of reporting, strategic objectives, and emissions relief targets has earned it a score of 77% out of 100.
Surprisingly, the Germans ruled environmentally friendly clubs like Forest Green Rovers and Real Betis. Meanwhile, Manchester City received a special mention for its complete and transparent reporting on its emissions, despite the fact that its owning organisation has direct links. to the Abu Dhabi National Oil and Fuel Company and the club is sponsored through the national airline.
With a history deeply rooted in communities around the world, the sports industry has a natural connection to social sustainability. Most of the organizations evaluated are highly committed to their local communities, giving them a high average score. 47% of organizations actively confront human issues. human rights issues and 60% actively face LGBTQ issues. However, it should be noted that, given the enormous influence of the sports industry, organizations can leverage its prestige to create more positive replacement in their home chains.
The best-performing organization in terms of social sustainability, Formula E. The electric motorsport championship has maintained an “exceptional method of improving progression and engagement” and continues to work with local communities, as evidenced by its activation as part of the FIA’s Girls on Track. A program that gives young women the opportunity to enjoy the world of motorsport.
The average governance sustainability score also advanced in this year’s report and remains the second-highest functionality category across the board. However, there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of female representation in forums and in the fight against corruption and bribery. There remains a lack of external oversight and in the sports industry regarding the latter two concerns. Fortunately, stakeholder control and organisational design remain strong and Formula E is also in the most sensible classification in this category.
A summary of some of the key findings of the GSBS Third Annual Report.
What is clear from the research in the third annual GSBS report is that gaming organisations are doing well economically and socially. There has been strong investment and professionalization in these areas. However, there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to environmental sustainability. As the weakest of the four categories of functionality, this is the domain that organizations deserve to focus on the most. Low ratings don’t come as a surprise to organizations, but they deserve to bring about industry-wide change. Things like carbon accounting, sustainability methods, and annual reports want to become commonplace if the realities of climate change are to be properly addressed.
Currently, the game is moving in that direction when it comes to emissions, energy consumption, and waste, however, the GSBS report and others like it deserve to sound the alarm that the game wishes to act more responsibly. The baseline has been established and now is the time. act.