Environmental Sustainability Plan

Sport Wales is wholly committed to playing our part in tackling the climate and nature emergencies and realising the Welsh Government ambition for a net zero Welsh public sector by 2030. 

Sport Wales are already taking steps by focusing on renewable energy sources, installing solar energy panels and an innovative ground source heat pump system at Plas Menai, the National Outdoor Centre for Wales.  We recognise that there is much more to do and have developed our first Environmental Sustainability Plan in partnership with the Carbon Trust, consulting with our staff and our stakeholders. 

As the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales, we recognise that we have a leading role to play.  Our Plan is not only aimed at reducing our own organisational carbon footprint and contributing to enhanced biodiversity but also supporting the sector to make improvements.  We know that working with and learning from colleagues within sport will amplify the positive environmental impact and contribution to net zero far beyond our own organisational boundary. 

Our Plan is centred around five key themes: -

• Our People
• Our Partners
• Our Places
• Our Procurement
• Our Processes

We believe that focusing our actions on these five areas will significantly reduce both our own carbon footprint and that of the wider sporting sector.  In line with our values, we will adopt a learning approach throughout the period of this Plan.  The Plan sets the direction, but we recognise the need to remain agile, responding to new and emerging technologies, ideas, and ways of working – some of which might not yet exist.  We will review and refresh the Plan throughout the period, challenging ourselves to maximise opportunities and deliver actions at pace.      

We are excited about our role in delivering net zero across the Welsh public sector by 2030 and energised by the opportunity to collaborate with partners across sport, Lottery distributors and other public sector bodies. We also want to play our part in enhancing biodiversity. Our actions now will ensure that we deliver an environment in which sport can continue to thrive for future generations. 

Brian Davies, Chief Executive Officer 

There is worldwide political consensus that we are experiencing a climate emergency, and there is an urgent need to curb carbon emissions to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (‘IPCC’) is the United Nations body established to assess the science related to climate change.  The IPCC released a report in March 2022, expressing growing concern for a “rapidly closing window” of time to act on the climate emergency.

Limiting global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels could limit the most dangerous and irreversible effects of climate change. 

The impact of exceeding the 1.5 degree target is profound and will be felt across every region of the world.  The IPCC highlights increasing heat, extreme weather, flooding, water shortages, disruption to food chains, migration and extinction of species, wildfires, reduced air quality and deteriorating health.  The trajectory (post COP 26) is estimated to hold temperatures to a minimum of a 1.8 degree rise, so there is a need for urgent action. 

Climate Change in the UK

Climate change is causing warming across the UK.  According to the Met Office, all of the UK’s ten warmest years on record have occurred since 2002.   The hottest day recorded in the UK came in July 2022, with 40.3C measured in Lincolnshire. 

1 An easy read summary of the IPCC findings can be found at the following link.

Climate Change in Wales

The Future Trends Report 2021 identifies that in Wales, there is a high probability that unprecedented weather events including coastal storms, flooding, heatwaves, and droughts will increase in the years ahead.  Summers are projected to be warmer (1.34 0C warmer by 2050) and drier, winters milder and wetter (increased precipitation of 5% by 2050) and sea levels predicted to rise across the country by up to 24cm by 2050.  Further, the impact of climate change will not be felt equally – economically and socially disadvantaged people will be disproportionately impacted with existing inequalities likely to be compounded. 

It should be noted that actions on climate change also have the potential to adversely impact or exclude economically and socially disadvantaged people.  For example, the actions might require or result in higher costs.

The 2019 State of Nature Report identified that 8% of extant species for which sufficient data are available are formally classified as threatened and at risk of extinction.  There has been a 52% decline in the average species’ abundance of butterflies since 1976.  The Welsh marine environment is also under pressure and a range of marine protected areas are being established to ensure that sites are appropriately managed to preserve biodiversity. 

The Impact of Sport on Climate Change

It is important to acknowledge that sport has also had a detrimental impact on the environment.  Sport at all levels inevitably entails travel to events, energy consumption and the use of specialist short life equipment.

The Rapid Transition Alliance estimates that sport contributes 0.8% of global emissions, the equivalent of a medium sized country. 

The Impact of Climate Change on Sport

Climate change is already having a significant impact on sport at an elite and community level.  Playing surfaces are increasingly vulnerable to climate change.  Winter flooding renders pitches unplayable with disruption to fixtures, jeopardising participation and interest.  By 2050, almost a quarter of football league grounds are projected to be partially or completely flooded.  Summer temperatures and periods of drought also threaten pitches and courses across a range of different sports.  

Higher temperatures and poor air quality during summer months also threaten sporting events at all levels.  Athletes are increasingly suffering from heat exhaustion adversely impacting performance and causing detrimental impacts on health and wellbeing.  Sporting schedules are being adjusted to avoid the hottest parts of the day or the year.   Extreme heat policies were once prepared for remote possibilities but are now routinely used across a range of sports. 

Winter sports are also susceptible to climate change.  A report by the Rapid Transition Alliance highlighted that half of previous Winter Olympic and Paralympic cities would be unable to host the Games by 2050 due to the impact of global warming. 

The Impact of Climate Change on Sport Wales

As noted above, the impact of climate change will not be felt equally and will compound inequalities.  This risks delivery of the Vision for Sport in Wales that everyone can have a lifetime enjoyment of sport. 

Projections of increased coastal erosion and rising sea levels could pose a threat in the future to the operations of the National Outdoor Centre for Wales at Plas Menai on the Menai Strait, and more frequent flooding events could impact both the Plas Menai site and the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff, as another low-lying site next to the River Taff.  The Menai Strait is also a designated Marine Special Area of Conservation. 

Sport Wales works with a range of different partners to realise the Vision for Sport in Wales, providing funding through our investment models.  Climate change will impact on these partners, particularly those with facilities close to rivers or coasts.  Some of our funding may need to be reactive in nature as emergency interventions are increasingly required. 

Further afield, our organisation could be impacted by global supply chain disruption from increased severe weather events, and crop failures overseas could lead to food supply shortages.

• Athletes, coaches and clubs have a significant voice and can influence and change behaviours.  Groups such as Athletes of the World are powerful advocates for change in the face of global challenges.  
• Sport has a global reach and can achieve a greater impact as a result.  A Globally Responsible Wales can lead the way by delivering change and collaborating with others.
• Climate change actions in the sport sector can have a ripple effect into other industries, encouraging wider sustainable behaviours and approaches.

International Stage

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.

Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.

The COP15 UN Biodiversity Summit in Montreal focused on conservation and efforts to protect biodiversity.  The outcome was a global commitment to protect a third of the planet for nature by 2030 as well as reduce food waste by 50%

UK Government

In 2019, the UK Government amended the Climate Change Act 2008 to commit the UK to achieving net zero by 2050, enhancing the previous target of an 80% reduction by this time.  Five year carbon budgets are enshrined into law and are legally binding in nature.  The Climate Change Committee, an independent body, reports on progress to Parliament. 

Welsh Government

Welsh Government has established a legislative and policy framework that both enables and drives action on climate change, holding public bodies to account. 

The Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 established seven wellbeing goals into law and requires public bodies to carry out sustainable development (defined as the process of improving the economic, social, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales).   The Wellbeing goals include a requirement to work towards

• a “Globally Responsible Wales,” a nation which, when doing anything to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales, takes account of whether doing such a thing may make a positive contribution to global well-being.
• a “Resilient Wales,” a nation which maintains and enhances a biodiverse natural environment with healthy functioning ecosystems that support social, economic and ecological resilience and the capacity to adapt to change.

Importantly, the Act also requires public bodies to adopt five ways of working, all of which are relevant to environmental sustainability. 

The Environment (Wales) Act 2016 puts into place a modern statutory process to plan and manage our natural resources in a joined  up and sustainable way.   It provides a framework to ensure that managing our natural resources is a core consideration in decision-making and a new biodiversity duty. 

In April 2019, the Senedd became the first Parliament to declare a Climate Emergency.  In June 2021, Welsh Government also declared a Nature Emergency. 

The Climate Change (Wales) Regulations 2021 introduced carbon budgets as targeted reductions against the baseline, working towards a net zero Wales by 2050. 

The Welsh Government has further set an ambition for the Welsh public sector to be net zero by 2030.  As a Welsh Government Sponsored Body, we are aiming for this earlier date, and have been working through our response to the climate and nature emergencies.

Welsh Government and Senedd Climate Emergency Declarations 2019

A strategic overview for the Welsh public sector has also been provided through the Net Zero Carbon Status by 2030 route map for decarbonisation, which highlights the priority areas for action and milestones needed for the Welsh public sector to collectively reach net zero by 2030.  We have used this framework to support us in the development of this Plan, setting out a three-stage journey towards net zero.

Our remit letter for this term of government also places emphasis on decarbonisation and environmental sustainability as a shared goal and reiterates the support expected for the Welsh Government’s net zero (public sector) by 2030 ambition.

Local Ambitions

Sport Wales owns the Plas Menai National Outdoor Centre for Wales in Gwynedd and the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff.  The two local authorities have both declared a climate and nature emergency and have produced strategies and action plans in response.  This provides an opportunity for Sport Wales to align with local ambitions on environmental sustainability and to work collaboratively to achieve this. 

What have we done so far?

Our Environment Policy has been in place for several years, stating our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment through recycling, reducing energy and considering the environmental impacts of purchasing decisions.

Specific projects carried out to reduce carbon emissions from operations and to protect or enhance biodiversity include:

• Lighting throughout our estate has been upgraded to low energy LEDs as part of a rolling replacement programme.  Currently around 80% of our light fixtures have been changed to LED.
• Solar panels have been installed on the roof at Plas Menai in 2020 and 2021, with two arrays totalling 100kW now installed.  These produce electricity for the site, reducing the reliance on the electricity grid and cutting running costs.
• More recently, the oil-fired boilers at Plas Menai have been removed, to be replaced with a combination of ground source and air source heat pumps. These became operational in 2023, reducing our emissions from fossil fuels.
• Recycling has been heavily promoted at our sites, especially in the staff restaurants and cafes.
• A wildflower garden has been established near the grass rugby/football pitch in the Sport Wales National Centre, Cardiff.
• Pesticide use has been significantly reduced to protect the environment.
• Sport Wales has supported the funding of ultra-sonic buoys to control blue-green algae without harmful chemicals in Flintshire.
• The National Outdoor Centre at Plas Menai runs several environmental education courses on the Menai Strait.  A managed woodland has been planted on site and a dozen bird boxes are in place to attract native species.
• The mountain bike skills track at Plas Menai has well-established planting and wildflowers to encourage bees and butterflies.  Grass cutting in this area is also kept to the minimum required to enable cyclists to safely navigate the track.
• The Plas Menai schools programme includes the opportunity for children and young people to assist in beach cleaning, raising awareness of the impact of pollution and waste.
• In developing our Environmental Sustainability Plan, we have begun to engage with partners to understand the immediate needs of the sports sector.  This will in turn inform our phased action plans.  We have also progressed with several collaboration opportunities, engaging with other bodies within the UK sport sector, National Lottery distributors and Welsh Government Sponsored Public Bodies.  This is already helping us to better meet the needs of the sector.
• We report our carbon footprint to Welsh Government on an annual basis.  We have engaged with the Welsh Government Climate Change division to help improve the accuracy of our reporting.  Further details of our environmental impact are reported in our Annual Report.

Our Baseline 

• 2019-20 has been used as a baseline year to understand the Sport Wales carbon footprint in the pre pandemic period.
• Purchased goods and services (included within Scope 3 emissions) are the highest contributor to our carbon footprint – 1,172 tCo2e and 43% of our emissions.  This is typical across all types of organisation.
• Fuel for our buildings (electricity, gas and oil) is included within Scope 1, 2 and 3  contributing 40% of our carbon emissions.
• Employee commuting (included within Scope 3 emissions) amounted to 358 tCO2e and represents 13% of our carbon emissions.  Commuting reduced during the pandemic but will be partially offset by a new requirement to include the carbon impact of home working.
• Since the baseline period, Sport Wales has worked with the Carbon Trust to improve data collection processes, ensuring that our reported emissions are more accurately represented.
• Other changes since 2019-20 include improvements to our energy use driven by green energy works at Plas Menai.

Biodiversity

A Resilient Wales

The Wellbeing of Future Generations Act defines the goal for Wales to become: “a nation which maintains and enhances a biodiverse natural environment with healthy functioning ecosystems that support social, economic and ecological resilience and the capacity to adapt to change.”

As noted above, Sport Wales has embedded key projects to maintain or enhance biodiversity into activities at our sites. 

Of particular significance are projects to establish wildflower areas across our sites to encourage bees and butterflies, the installation of bird boxes to attract native species and the maintenance of trees in accordance with the Tree Protection Orders in place. 

Our approach

Our approach to developing our Plan is intended to be iterative and reflective, in line with our values and reflecting the pace of change and innovation.  We will revisit the Plan at two yearly intervals to ensure that it remains relevant, recognising the pace of change in this area. 

In developing this Plan, we have worked with the Carbon Trust to understand our baseline in order to focus our efforts. 

We have involved and collaborated with staff, partner representatives and Board to develop our Plan and commitments to reach net zero by 2030.    

The next steps are to deliver on our commitments and to monitor progress through our annual carbon reporting to Welsh Government. 

Our Ambitions

Our ambitions are to:

• Achieve net zero by 2030.
• Be a sustainable organisation making a positive contribution to the environment and biodiversity.
• Provide leadership and support to the sport sector, extending our environmental impact beyond our own organisational boundary.

Our Plan - Realising our ambition

• Our People - We want our people and those across the sport sector to be carbon aware and able to take informed decisions with environmental sustainability in mind.
• Our Partners - We want to work with partners to support the sector in reducing its carbon impact, extending decarbonisation and environmental sustainability beyond our organisational boundary.
• Our Procurement  - We want to embed environmental sustainability and decarbonisation into our procurement process and work with suppliers to understand and reduce the carbon impact of our purchases.
• Our Processes - We want to ensure that our processes actively encourage decarbonisation and effectively balance short and long-term objectives.  This includes policies, procedures, investments and business cases.
• Our Places - We want to lead the way in maximising opportunities to operate our national centres in the most sustainable way, delivering low carbon activities as well as protecting and enhancing biodiversity.

Our People

We want our people and those across the sport sector to be carbon aware and able to take informed decisions with environmental sustainability in mind.

Our net zero 2030 commitments

• We will continue to include training on environmental matters, biodiversity, energy efficiency and sustainable practices for all staff in understandable and relatable language
• We will assess how we can adopt the principles of Llwybr Newydd (the Wales Transport Strategy 2021) as well as the opportunities of local Healthy Travel Charters to ensure that our staff are able to commute to work in the most sustainable manner
• We will maximise the benefits of hybrid working, reducing non-essential travel to work
• We will promote and offer a cycle to work scheme and mileage payments for journeys by bike to all staff, to encourage active travel and public transport when commuting into Sport Wales premises
• We will carry out a staff travel survey to understand the forms of transport staff use to commute to work, and look to increase active travel and public transport
• We will review individual environmental impacts at work and help staff to track their personal carbon impact, celebrating low carbon lifestyles and encouraging constant and active behaviour change
• We will identify, facilitate and signpost learning opportunities for the wider sector.

Our Partners

Our net zero 2030 commitments

• We will develop guidance resources and signposting for our partners to support them all the way through their decarbonisation and environmental sustainability journeys
• We will work with key partners including National Governing Bodies, national partners, local authorities and sport partnerships to share examples of best practice and drive improvements in carbon emissions in the sporting arena
• We will incorporate sustainability requirements in our partner investment processes
• We will support sport clubs as they look to decarbonise their organisations by building on the work of the Be Active Wales Fund to include specific environmental requirements and grant conditions, and promote low carbon equipment and renewable energy sources such as solar panels and heat pumps to our grant recipients

Our Procurement

Our net zero 2030 commitments

• We will introduce an internal framework for sustainable procurement, including a minimum standard of sustainability and energy efficiency for procured goods in parallel with our commitment to enhance social partnership working and deliver socially responsible public procurement under the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill
• We will work with suppliers stating our commitment to reducing our own footprint and phase in requirements for our suppliers to address their carbon footprints, to a level that is within their means
• We will work directly with our larger suppliers in the food and construction sectors, to understand and encourage their decarbonisation progress, and assign expectations of them

Our Places

Our net zero 2030 commitments

• We will work to decarbonise our buildings, with a focus on increasing on-site renewable energy generation and decarbonising heating
• We will continue to phase out fossil fuels in our fleet, replacing all fleet vehicles at the end of their lives with fully electric vehicles and consider other emerging opportunities such as hydrogen vehicles
• We will explore opportunities to support carbon offsetting projects on our own sites
• We will investigate ways of working that are less building specific and include sharing office space with other organisations
• We will maintain and enhance biodiversity at each of our sites including extending existing wildflower areas to encourage bees and butterflies, maintaining trees in accordance with Tree Protection Orders and using bird boxes around our sites to attract native species
• We will continue to reduce the use of herbicides to maintain our on-site pitch facility
• We will maintain the onsite borehole at the Sport Wales National Centre as a means of collecting water for re-use across our facilities
• We will work with the commissioned partner at Plas Menai to ensure that activities delivered at the site support biodiversity and that water quality is maintained

Our processes

Our net zero 2030 commitments

• We will report our carbon emissions annually to Welsh Government through the Welsh Public Sector net zero carbon reporting process.  We will review the results and identify key areas of focus on an annual basis. 
• We will provide staff with the tools and information they need to make environmentally conscious decisions in all Sport Wales business actions (such as benchmarks of different products/actions in terms of CO2 emissions)
• We will consider our approach to meetings with internal and external colleagues, using virtual meetings where appropriate.
• We will continue to highlight and raise awareness of our own low carbon projects, and promote case studies of sports clubs working to decarbonise their operations, through our website and other communication channels

In order to maximise our impact, we will need to work with a wide range of stakeholders. 

We are committed to the following ways of working with each of our stakeholders: -

• Agility – responding to innovation and the rapid pace of change
• Learning – being open to learning and sharing our own experience
• Involvement – involving partners and stakeholders in shaping our priorities and actions
• Collaboration – working with others to deliver actions and mutual environmental sustainability objectives.

Governance

Roles and Responsibilities

As referenced in the Welsh Government Remit Letter, and our Business Plan, environmental sustainability and decarbonisation is a hugely important area of focus. As such, the Chair of Sport Wales will take ultimate responsibility for the organisation’s approach to sustainability and decarbonisation.

The Chief Executive will be responsible for putting in place suitable roles and responsibilities to ensure that environmental sustainability is managed and considered throughout the organisation. Annual reporting to Welsh Government will be used to monitor progress.

The Director of Finance and Business Services will have executive responsibility for reporting carbon emissions to Welsh Government. The Decarbonisation and Sustainability Group will sit under this role and will develop and support the delivery of actions to reduce carbon emissions.

The Chair of the Sustainability Working Group (a subgroup of the National Governing Bodies Chief Executives Forum) will be an important liaison between the partners and Sport Wales.  This role will communicate ideas and requests for support from the NGBs to us via the Chief Executive and will feed back progress and new procedures aimed at helping reduce emissions across Sport Wales and our partner organisations.

The Assistant Director of National Sport Facilities, Infrastructure and Capital, the Estates Managers and maintenance teams will put in place suitable ways of working to ensure carbon emissions are considered as a lifecycle approach in all aspects of their work at the National Centres.

Relationship Managers to act as a conduit between Sport Wales and national partners (National Governing Bodies, national partners and sport partnerships) to understand and respond to sector needs. 

All staff will understand the ambition of Sport Wales to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 and will understand how they can carry out their role with due consideration of their environmental impacts.

Reporting

We will prepare an annual Carbon Report in line with Welsh Government guidance.  This will be reported to Board in order to track our performance against a net zero 2030 ambition.