Through the Team Canada Impact Agenda, the organization is both leading and supporting efforts towards sustainable sport, including:
United Nations Sport for Climate Action Commitment
In 2020, the COC became a signatory to the United Nations Sport for Climate Action, an initiative launched in 2018 by UN Climate Change and the International Olympic Committee with the aim of developing a climate agenda for sport.
In the spring of 2022, the COC committed to the UN Race to Zero Framework, which includes the following:
1) Reduce the organization’s carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 as a minimum
2) Achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040
As part of this commitment, the COC will be submitting a Climate Action Plan to the UN on how the organization intends to reach these targets.
On a yearly basis, the COC measures and reports to the UN on its annual carbon footprint as well as the progress being made with emissions reductions by comparing to its base year.
Over 40 other NOCs have already become signatories to the Sport for Climate Action Racer to Zero Framework. They are joined by several other Canadian sport organizations.
Along with these signatories and other sport organizations across the country, the COC is also part of the Canadian Alliance on Sports for Climate Action, a community of practice on sport and climate action. The hope is that many more actors within the Canadian sport system will join this group to share best practices and to be inspired by each other’s climate action journeys.
Team Canada Athletes on Climate Action
The COC continues to be inspired by Team Canada athletes who are directly involved in projects on climate action, such as:
- Julie-Anne Staehli, Tokyo 2020 Olympian in athletics, received an OLY Legacy grant in 2023 and 2024 to support her ReRUN Shoe Project, which removes barriers to a more active lifestyle by distributing lightly used shoes that would otherwise be thrown away to under-resourced youth.
- Marion Thénault, 2022 Olympic bronze medallist in freestyle skiing (aerials), wants to be carbon neutral by the time she returns to the Olympic Games at Milano Cortina 2026. She received an OLY Legacy Grant in 2023 and 2024 to support her initiative.
- Brenda Taylor, a two-time Olympic gold medallist (1992) in rowing, who received an OLY Legacy Grant in 2023 to support her Decarbonizing Rowing: Electric Outboard Pilot Project with the main objective to empower communities with the information and confidence to switch from gas to e-outboards.
- Seyi Smith, two-time Olympian (2012, 2018) in athletics and bobsleigh, recipient of the OLY Legacy Grant in 2020 and 2021 for his Racing to Zero initiative, made an Educational video series.
Green Sports Day
Green Sports Day Canada is on October 6. It was first celebrated in 2021 to launch a national conversation about sustainable sport. The Canadian Olympic Committee is a proud supporter of this initiative through the years.
In 2024, the Canadian Olympic Committee offered an education session where teachers and their students could join Team Canada Olympians for a free, interactive lesson on sport and sustainability, designed for grades K-8. The session gave students the opportunity to hear directly from Paris 2024 Olympians about their experiences with climate change. The COC also participated in the venue light-up across Canada.
Visit www.greensportsverts.ca to learn more on the Green Sport Day in Canada.
IOC Climate Action Awards
The COC has previously been recognized for work undertaken to reduce carbon emissions. In 2020 and 2021, the COC was among a small group of NOCs to receive IOC Carbon Action Awards, which were created to inspire climate action by recognizing the sustainability efforts of sports organizations within the Olympic Movement. Having demonstrated its efforts to start reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, the COC was rewarded with carbon offsets and has been considered carbon neutral for two years.
Here are some examples of initiatives the COC has taken that contributed to the IOC Climate Action Awards:
- Focusing on carbon-minded logistics planning, such as sending equipment used in Tokyo directly to warehouses in Beijing to avoid unnecessary transportation
- In 2021, the Canadian Olympic School Program renewed its Greenest Olympic Games resource for students and teachers across the country. Since it was first launched in 2019, this resource has been widely downloaded, including in other countries such as the United States, Kenya, and South Africa.
- The COC’s Toronto office has been certified LEED Platinum and BOMA Best Platinum for its sustainability standards.
- The COC continues to explore partnering with companies and organizations who share sustainability values and are actively engaged in making a difference towards climate issues.
In 2024, two Canadian athletes were recognized as finalists for the IOC Climate Action Awards.
Freestyle skiing Olympian Marion Thénault was recognized for her work on measuring her own carbon footprint and standardising quantification process to help other athletes follow her lead to making more sustainable choices. She is also working with organizers to reduce the environmental impact of Le Relais Ski Aerials World Cup in Lac-Beauport, Quebec by implementing projects focused on improved waste management system, sustainable procurement and optimised spectator transport.
Field hockey Olympian Oliver Scholfield was recognized for co-founding Racing to Zero, a sport-focused sustainability consultancy that helps organizations to understand and mitigate their environmental impact.
Paris 2024
Paris 2024 was the first Olympic Games to be aligned with the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020, which has a focus on the environmental sustainability of the Games. Among the key recommendations of the Agenda are: marking use of existing infrastructure, reducing carbon emissions, and utilizing renewable energy sources.
Paris 2024 set the ambitious goal of halving the emissions of the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. A total of 95% of venues for Paris 2024 were existing or temporary, minimizing construction, and the organizing committee committed to using 100% renewable energy.
