World Athletics Sustainability Policy

 

World Athletics (WA) is the global governing body for the sport of Athletics, encompassing track and field, race walking, road running, cross-country, mountain and trail running. With 214 national Member Federations, World Athletics has significant global reach, and is responsible for the worldwide development of the sport of athletics.

 

World Athletics is committed to ensuring that its athletics events, which are held all over the world, and its headquarters, based in Monaco, are fully aligned to the principles of sustainability. We recognise the growing environmental challenges that the world faces today, specifically air pollution, climate change and our over consumption of resources alongside the social issues of global equality and diversity creating unequal opportunities. All these global issues pose a serious threat to the quality of our lives and our communities.

 

We are committed by our sustainable development principles which underpin everything we do within athletics. These drive the practices and behaviours of individuals and organisations developing the sport in such a way that it:

 

  • accounts for the needs of future generations,
  • provides a fair, inclusive and level sporting platform based on sound ethical principles,
  • actively involves interested parties and is open about decisions and activities, and
  • ensures actions take a balanced approach to their social, economic and environmental impact.

 

We will identify and review our activities, prioritising the associated sustainability issues. We will set out our objectives and deliver an action plan to tackle these priority issues across the World Athletics Sustainability Strategy, namely:

 

  • Leadership in sustainability – be a recognised driver in sports sustainability
  • Sustainable production and consumption – positively manage the impact of procurement   
  • Climate change and carbon – transition to carbon neutrality by 2030. 
  • Local environment and air quality – ensure environmental conditions enable individuals to participate safely
  • Global Equality – demonstrably share skills across the world
  • Diversity, accessibility and wellbeing – ensure athletics is open to everyone

 

We are committed to compliance with all applicable legislation and regulations and adopting voluntary codes of best practice and the continual improvement of our sustainable event management system. 

All World Athletics staff and contractors, our partners and suppliers will be made aware of this Policy, its aims and objectives and must adhere to its requirements.

December 2021