Sport England has launched a £160 million fund to respond to the impact of climate change and help to create the greenest sports sector in the world.

Sports organisations can now bid for between £300 and £15,000 from Sport England’s Movement Fund to promote environmental sustainability. Projects must meet one of six criteria: carbon emissions; circular economy; blue-green environment quality and use; biodiversity; adapting to climate change and extreme weather events and just transition – inequalities, inclusion and participation.

This fund has been created following research showing that climate change is having a devastating impact on the ability to play sport and be active. More than half of players have had activity cancelled in the past year as a result of extreme weather, while women and those on lower incomes are worst impacted and doing less activity as a consequence.

At the recent launch, Sport England chair, Chris Boardman, said: “There are two big reasons why our sector must lead the way. First, extreme weather and environmental pollution – whether that’s to our pitches, courts or waterways – is having a devastating physical activity levels. It’s damaging our nation’s health and productivity.

“Second, sport has a unique global megaphone and influence on wider society. By leading the way and advocating for change, we can inspire wider society to act.”

The guide provides examples of projects that might be successful, including reducing energy use through solar panels and electric batteries; reducing waste and single use plastics and measures to improve resilience and risk of flooding of sports pitches.

In addition, Sport England has announced a partnership with The British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS), which delivers consultancy to sports organisations on environmental sustainability. The investment into BASIS will enable all Sport England’s partners to start taking positive action to make their sport more sustainable.

Boardman says: “We need sustained commitment because the march of climate change doesn’t care what is or isn’t politically trendy. Protecting our planet and tackling climate change should be bigger than politics, but across the world it's increasingly being used to divide and polarise people. There's a real risk that people are becoming more apathetic and switching off.”

Last year Sport England published an environmental sustainability strategy, Every Move, which required the quango’s 130 system partners, including the national governing bodies of all major recognised sports in England, to have robust sustainability action plans in place by March 2027 as a condition of their funding.

Sport England has also committed to working with partners and stakeholders to ensure end-of-life recycling for all newly funded replacement artificial grass pitches from June 2024, as a condition of funding, and to reduce its own carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2040; including action plans for national sports centres and supply chain.