Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is an increasingly important and relevant issue in sports – and no sport is more affected by climate change than biathlon. The IBU must take a strong stance on becoming an increasingly sustainable and environmentally-friendly sport, becoming a thought leader among International Federations.
Olle Dahlin, IBU President
The IBU is committed to making its operations and activities fully sustainable along all three dimensions of sustainability:
environmental
social
economic
The IBU’s vision is to establish biathlon as a leader in promoting sustainability in sport by 2026.
Sustainability within biathlon is defined as:
The everyday behaviours of everyone in the biathlon family that create an overall balance between our social, economic and environmental actions and impact in order to ensure that the current and future generations may continue to enjoy the joy of snow sports and nature.
In September 2020, the IBU approved its Sustainability Policy and Sustainability Strategy 2020-2030. As an outdoor winter sport, biathlon is directly affected by climate change so it is only logical that one of the central tenets of the new strategy is to reduce the sport's climate impact by 50% and become climate neutral by 2030.
Sustainability PolicyIBU Sustainability Strategy 2020-2030Designed to deliver concrete benefits on a local level, the ten-year strategy is built around five Focus Areas and three levels of stakeholders as shown in the IBU Sustainability Framework below.
IBU Sustainability Focus Areas
Climate
Reduce the carbon footprint of biathlon as a sport according to science-based targets (4,5% p.a.) to become climate neutral by 2030.
Sport
Ensure environmental neutrality of the sport (air, water and soil).
Communication and Awareness
Lead in advocating for climate action and sustainable development within the biathlon family and winter sports for the global fanbase.
People
Become the leadning winter sport in terms of good governance, gender equality and diversity.
Venue & Event
Enable biathlon venues and events to have a long-term positive impact on their host communities and the environment. Ban single-use plastic and ensure 100% waste is re-used, recycled or composted.
Sustainability Framework
As the governing body for biathlon worldwide, the IBU is in the best position to effect change in areas under its direct control, yet it can also influence change across the sport more widely.
This strategy begins with focus on the IBU’s own activities, followed by the IBU events while reaching out to the global biathlon family, including the member national federations and their members, partners and sponsors as well as the media and numerous biathlon fans worldwide.
Overall, the approach is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, emphasising long-term behavioural change over short-term gains.
IBU Sustainability Commission
The IBU Sustainability Commission (SC) consists of seven (7) appointed members, four women and three men, proposed by the IBU National Federations and confirmed by the IBU Executive Board based on a proposal from the IBU senior staff member coordinating its work. The Commission advises the IBU Executive Board on the development and implementation of the IBU’s Sustainability Strategy 2020-2030.
Read more about the Commission members and their work here.
UN Sports for Climate Action Framework
As part of its commitment to climate action, the IBU is also a member of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. Read more about it here.
Race to Zero
The Race to Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors and other organisations to join 120 countries in the largest ever alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. End of 2021, the IBU joined the campaign as a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action, which is an official partner of Race to Zero. Read more about it here.
Mountain Summit
The IBU is also a member of the Mountain Summit, a group of sports organisations led by the IOC and UNEP that are concerned with the current state of the world’s mountains and committed to protecting them. The aim of the Summit is to assess and minimise the negative impact of sports activities on mountain environments and leverage the power of sport to raise awareness about the importance of environmental stewardship when being active in the mountains.
Partnerships
Carbon Fibre Circular Alliance (CFCA)
To address the negative impact of carbon fibre use, the IBU is one of the partners in the Carbon Fibre Circular Alliance, promoting industry efforts to reduce waste and pollution and participate in cross-sector collaborations for circular innovation. Read more about it here.
Viessmann
In August 2022, Viessmann became IBU´s Climate Partner. This partnership involves joint sustainability and climate projects, such as applying Viessmann’s know-how to IBU venues for improving their energy efficiency and implementing long-term climate solutions. Projects that have been organized together are the Biathlon Climate Challenge 2.0, the Climate Club Trophy and the Biathlon Climate Pledge.
Winter Sports Sustainability Network (WSN)
The IBU joined the Winter Sports Sustainability Network (WSN) as an Organisational Member and became a co-signatory of the Climate Pact. The Pact signifies a unified commitment to accelerate climate action from within the winter sports industry by ski, binding, and boot brands which include several of the IBU’s long-term supplying partners. Read more about it here.
Erasmus+ Projects
BENCHES The BENCHES project aims to enhance sport organisations´understanding of and impact on biodiversity. It focuses on integrating biodiversity management into sustainability strategies across various ecosystems and sports. Managed and coordinated by Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies and together with World Athletics, Italian Canoe and Kayak Federation, Benfica Lisbon, World Sailings, Touchline and the International Biathlon Union, the project seeks to mitigate environmental impacts and promote ecosystem awareness.
GAMES The aim of the GAMES project is to raise awareness and increase the adoption of climate change mitigation practices by key sports actors in order to improve sustainability at sports events. Managed and coordinated by Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, World Athletics, the International Biathlon Union, the International Floorball Federation, and Swedish Floorball Federation will work together with Touchline to explore how their respective sports can adopt more practices to mitigate their impact on climate change.
The result of the GAMES project can be found here
SIEPPUR The SIEPPUR Project aims to identify, develop, and promote sustainable practices in snow management. Our goal is to increase awareness on the topic of sustainable snow management and to spread solutions to influence the entire snow sports sector in pursuing resource optimization and efficiency objectives. Managed by the IBU together with Peak 63, WSL-SLF, SMA as well as the National Federations Sweden, Slovenia, and Poland the identification of sustainable snow management practices will contribute to enhancing the climate resiliency of snow sports whilst identifying transitional opportunities for all.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
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