PART 5 OF 10 OF THE ONOC XLII ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY SERIES

President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach said, ‘There are around 300 hundred sports organisations who are supporting this programme and sport can show its social influence, its social power, and can again be a leader in society.

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‘We are doing this in solidarity because nobody can fight against climate change alone; whatever we do only makes sense if we are doing together, otherwise we will end up with nothing’. 

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President Bach acknowledged that the commitment from NOCs in Oceania was a show of support to the IOC effort in the sign up and actions toward the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. 

The UN Sports for Climate Action Framework calls on the sports world to jointly develop a climate action agenda for sport, adhering to five principles: promoting greater environmental responsibility, reducing overall climate impact, educating for climate action, promoting sustainable and responsible consumption, and advocating for climate action through communication. It also aims to use sport to drive global climate awareness and action.

Only one NOC from Oceania, the Australian Olympic Committee, has signed up for the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. 

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The IOC has championed the initiative through the sustainable design of its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and has made strategic moves toward the sustainability of future editions of the Olympic Games. 

President Bach said, ‘The IOC will be climate positive in 2024 and the Olympic Games will be climate positive, mandatory, at the latest in 2030.

‘But in reality, they may already be climate positive in 2024 because Paris is making great effort in this respect’.

In Oceania, this new commitment for a collective approach to working toward joining the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework with support from the IOC Olympic Solidarity Programme is a huge boost toward other existing initiatives.

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ONOC is currently working toward formalising its sixth Commission, the ONOC Sustainability Commission which is guided by specific intent to have NOCs map activities and projects that contribute to climate action and sustainability – specifically where they linked to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of their individual countries.

This alignment is also being mapped out at regional Pacific level to determine alignment with, and contributions to the Blue Pacific 2050 Strategy, soon to be signed by Pacific Island leaders. 

Perhaps the most unique element of this commitment by the NOCs is that none is expected to work alone – there is collective agreement to pursue this as a collective and with much sharing of ideas and learning exchange. 

It was acknowledged that NOCs face financial and capacity constraints, and these factors will be addressed in the approach and way of working toward progressing and achieving this goal in the 2021 to 2024 quadrennium.

The first activity toward this commitment is scheduled for September 2022 – an online planning conversation.

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For more information:

On the Oceania National Olympic Committees 
On the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework
On the Olympic Solidarity Programme 
On the Australian Olympic Committee
On the IOC Sustainability programmes and initiatives 
On the International Olympic Committee