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Sport Positive Awards for Real Betis, FIS and Liverpool

Sport Positive Awards were announced at a two-day summit on sports sustainability. The winners included Premier League champions Liverpool, and Real Betis of Spain.

Real Betis won the Best Campaign Award for its project Sin Azul No Hay Verde, which is a campaign that says "Without Blue There Is No Green".

The winners of 12 categories have been announced at the Sport Positive Summit, a two-day event in London in collaboration with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the International Olympic Committee.

Claire Poole, founder of Sport Positive, said: "These winners are a great example of what is possible when sport becomes a force for positive change."

As climate impacts increase, their bold actions, innovation, leadership, and are not only protecting sport's future, but also delivering a positive outcome for communities and planet.

Over 500 leaders of the sport industry from the biggest events, franchises and NGOs in the world gathered for a discussion on how to make the industry more sustainable and environmentally-friendly.

Climate change is affecting sport more and more. This year's FIFA Club World Cup was impacted by intense heat and thunderstorms in the United States, and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships experienced their hottest opening day ever.

The warming climate is also threatening to close traditional Alpine ski resorts, while Thomas Bach, former IOC President, said that only 10 countries may be able to host a Winter Olympics in 2040.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, in partnership with Green Producers Club developed a CO2 calculator designed to assist snow sports stakeholders measure and manage greenhouse gas emissions. This tool won the category award for Inspired Innovation at this year's Sport Positive.

Susanna Siff, Director of Sustainability at FIS, stated that the tool is a living one, constantly evolving and improving based on feedback from users.

"We didn't simply win the award, but we also developed a tool that can be adapted to better serve our community and reduce carbon emissions."

Red Way, Liverpool's ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategy launched in 2021 has helped to increase match-day recycle from 20% up to 90% and reduce carbon emissions by 15 percent.

Real Betis’s Sin Azul No Hay Verde, part of LaLiga’s Forever Green Initiative, has raised public awareness of an invasive Asian alga along the Andalusian coastline -- a direct result of climate change.

The campaign was centered around the release a special edition football shirt that incorporates textile fibres from algae.

Sport Positive said that Real Betis had demonstrated the power of sport to promote environmental responsibility by integrating sustainability in the areas of brand identity, merchandising and community engagement.

The other Sport Positive award recipients included Cricket for Climate (a collaborative movement founded and led by Australian Test Captain Pat Cummins); Kicking for Nature (a Brazilian non profit Taekwondo program promoting environmental responsibility); and Logan Waddle who received the Trailblazer Award for his sustainability initiatives in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well as across the INDYCAR series of the United States.

The Biodiversity Award went to the Ulster GAA Sporting Nature Project, which helped over 30 community clubs create wildlife habitat in Northern Ireland. This included planting trees and wildflower meadows.

(source: Reuters)