One month on from the European Athletics U18 Championships in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia 18-21 July and organisers can look back on not just a golden legacy, but a green one.
The event set new standards for European Athletics events in the area of sustainability. Through close collaboration between European Athletics and the Local Organising Committee, a strategy was developed and widely communicated with participating teams and across all event areas to gain broader buy in and maximise impact.
The Banska Bystrica strategy focussed on five core areas:
- Paper reduction – printing only on request for media, with an emphasis on digital
- Single-use plastic reduction – all athletes and officials received a reusable water bottle, plastic bottles only distributed in four main areas, but also bottles collected for the exchange and refund programme
- Low emissions travel – electric scooters available for team transport and all main accommodation within walking distance of stadium
- Waste reduction – following reduce, reuse and recycle principles deployed
- Environmental education – prominent communication around site of sustainability supported by the presence of the Eco Team volunteers
Sustainability as a core priority
The progress within sustainability is all part of wider movement by the European Athletics Development Commission who have made sustainability a core priority and it will be on the agenda when the group meet again in Lausanne, Switzerland on 22-23 August.
In additional, a workshop led by the Development Commission’s sustainability working group on Thursday (22) is being delivered to the European Athletics staff team.
European Athletics Vice President Karin Grute Movin opened the workshop. Alongside members of the Development Commission Katrin Heyers and Emmanuelle Jaeger, Dr Aila Ahonen from Jamk University delivered her presentation and said: “European Athletics is on a good pathway in its sustainability development. We have a well structured road map in sustainability. Our events, for example, are doing a lot already. European Athletics is a front runner in this area.”
The workshop aims are to to involve sustainability in every department's work and help them understand that sustainability is an integral part of operations and not an isolated topic.
More events to embed environmental sustainability
The working group has also already begun building upon the foundations laid at Banska Bystrica by engaging with Local Organising Committees (LOCs) for the Antalya 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships, the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the Tampere 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships with sustainability in their event delivery.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics