Endurance 2040+ focused on three environmental sustainability pillars: action to restore and preserve water and air quality; a commitment to tackle the climate challenge and become net-zero by 2040; and the promotion of responsible production and consumption across the sport.
The first year of the strategy has seen several steps forward across all three pillars, as well as British Triathlon establishing itself as one of the leading voices in sport for sustainability, with CEO Ruth Daniels and Head of Social Impact Eve Joseph invited to attend and speak at a variety of conferences and panel events.
In the pillar of water and air quality, British Triathlon established the Clean Water Sports Alliance alongside an initial six other national governing bodies in April 2024, with a further four joining in September.
The Alliance, whose vision is to see “healthy and nature rich blue spaces across the UK for everyone to enjoy water sports”, has begun engaging with water companies and key stakeholders on how to tackle poor water quality and was a runner up in the BBC Sport Green Awards less than six months after its launch.
British Triathlon CEO Ruth Daniels and British Triathlon Chair Bill James have met with the CEO of Severn Trent Water to engage with her on how water quality needs to be improved for the good of recreational users and the natural environment.
Connected to this, a survey of British Triathlon members resulted in over 650 responses to identify locations used by individuals, clubs and groups for open water swimming. This vital insight gives British Triathlon a greater understanding of the breadth of recreational hotspots and will inform discussions with water companies moving forwards.
The organisation is also soon to be releasing a participant guide for open water swimming, as well as engaging with event organisers on domestic event water quality to better support them in delivering their events.
As a signatory of the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework, the net-zero pillar has seen British Triathlon explore how it best measures its carbon footprint and submit its data for the financial year 2023-24 to the UN.
This data shows a small increase compared to the previous year which is attributed to the international travel athletes made in their attempts to seek qualification to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Since the launch of Endurance 2040+, British Triathlon achieved gold for World Triathlon Para Series Swansea in World Triathlon’s Sustainability Certification. This made it the first standalone World Triathlon Para Series event to achieve the top-level award, improving on the silver awards handed out in 2022 and 2023.
The most recent carbon data has also shown a decrease in emissions attributed to staff commuting at the organisation as a result of behaviour change within the workforce. This is because of a hybrid approach to office and home working, as well as more staff making the decision to change to electric or hybrid vehicles.
A major area for sustainability within sport is kit and apparel, with the third pillar looking into responsible production and consumption. This will include British Triathlon’s procurement process, as well as how kit and equipment can be reused within the triathlon community and in bringing the sport to new communities.
In the past 12 months, British Triathlon was chosen as one of three national governing bodies to form part of UK Sport’s Apparel Sustainability Baseline study, has piloted a programme, TriBox, for unwanted kit and equipment to be donated for redistribution in local communities where the sport is being developed, and engaged with other sports to explore how collective efforts can be made to influence and work with manufacturers of sporting apparel.
The first year of the Endurance 2040+ strategy has seen British Triathlon start a journey which it is committed to and on which it has and will continue to engage with key stakeholders from across the sport and climate sectors.
Over the next 12 months and in the years to come, British Triathlon will continue to advocate for improved water quality through the Clean Water Sport Alliance and work with partner organisations to enable this. By building connections and growing its voice, British Triathlon will be able to further advocate on behalf of recreational water users for cleaner water across the UK.
The organisation will also support participants and deliverers through guidance and advice for open water swimming, as well as establish a mechanism by which permitting event organisers are able to be measured and improve sustainability at their events.
As an employer and business, the way in which British Triathlon operates and measures its carbon impact will focus on how departments within the organisation can reduce their carbon footprint by breaking this down to departments, rather than focusing on the whole organisation at once, the specifics of how each department can play its role in reducing the organisation’s carbon footprint will be more specifically targeted.
British Triathlon is a tenant of Loughborough University and is working with the university to better understand and work to mitigate carbon emissions of rented buildings. Through working in collaboration with commercial partners, and in particular around kit and apparel, changes will be made to procurement and wider consumption.
As an ambitious organisation, British Triathlon will continue to push ahead to drive sustainable change within the sporting sector by challenging, collaborating and championing for the natural environment that our sport calls home.