Sport and climate change: Understanding a two-way relationship

This paper provides a critical overview of the growing field of sport ecology by examining both how climate change affects sport and how sport itself contributes to environmental degradation and carbon emissions. Climate change increasingly threatens sport through extreme heat, floods, air pollution, and disruptions to infrastructure and competition schedules, while the sport industry simultaneously contributes to climate change through transportation, construction, energy use, and overconsumption.

The review shows that climate change is already affecting sport through rising temperatures, extreme weather events, shortened winter sport seasons, infrastructure damage, and health risks for athletes and spectators. It also demonstrates that sport contributes significantly to climate change through transportation emissions, facility construction, waste production, and commercial practices, while adaptation efforts remain uneven and underdeveloped across the industry.

The authors argue that sport organizations must prioritize sustainability, resilience, and climate adaptation while reducing their own environmental impacts. The paper also calls for more interdisciplinary and Global South-focused research, particularly on environmental justice, vulnerable populations, climate refugees, and the role of sport infrastructure in responding to climate emergencies.

CITE: Nothen, G., Acaf, Y., O’Sullivan, B., Houlihan, G., Uzun, B., & Ross, W. (2025). Sport and climate change: research evidence and emerging concerns. Movimento, 31, e31040. DOI: 10.22456/1982-8918.144750