Climate change touches every aspect of human life, and global sports are no exception.

Shortening winter seasons pose an existential threat to snow sports. Legendary British Open golf courses have been warned they could be underwater by 2100. Beach volleyball courts in Southern California are disappearing due to rising tides. Smoke from brush fires disrupted the Australian Open in tennis. The Tokyo Olympics, believed to be the hottest Summer Olympics ever, moved the marathon to outside the city and played tennis at night after a Russian player openly suggested during a match that he might die.

It’s estimated that global sports generate 0.6% of global emissions, according to Playing Against the Clock, a 2020 report by Rapid Transition Alliance. That makes the sports sector the equivalent of nations as large and populous as Angola or Tunisia at the low end of estimates, and Spain or Poland at the higher end.

What if sports took radical action on the climate crisis? What role can sports play if more sports organizations and their stakeholders commit to the United Nation’s Sports for Climate Action Framework? What message of hope to save Earth could be delivered if the global sporting community expanded its engagement in tackling the climate crisis?

One effort is happening in Seattle, where Climate Pledge Arena opens this fall and tries to become the first certified zero-carbon arena in the world.

Read the full article about sports and the climate crisis at The Aspen Institute.