As the morning shows the day, the first webinar on communicating and reporting sustainability shows the rest of the ACCESS webinar series
If the first webinar episode is taken as an indicator for what is yet to come, the one on communicating and reporting sustainability in sports could surely be taken as a good indicator.
Not much after the ACCESS project’s webinar series were announced, 38 people registered for the set of five webinars exploring various fields of processes and operations which could make sport organisations’ environmental performances more comprehensive and allow them to apply relevant measures and modifications in order to lower their environmental impact. And this is exactly what the series have as an objective – to inspire, motivate and enable sport organisation to pursue improvements in their environmental management.
The webinar on communicating and reporting sustainability wanted to reflect on the advantages, trends, tendencies and finding the appropriate audience when it comes to communicating sustainability. At the same time, the webinar wanted to discuss difference between qualitative and quantitative reporting, as a way to ensure continuous engagement in environmental improvements and being able to monitor them.
Speakers included journalists, practitioners, campaigners and academics, namely Sudhanshu Verma of REVOLVE Media who joined the webinar at ACR+’s offices as a co-host and who provided an introduction on communication patterns and communication channels as well as the nature of messages that are being sent. A theoretical background in sustainability reporting was provided by Nora Annesi of Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies who focused on the recently approved European Sustainability Reporting Directive (ESRD). To complete the webinar, as practitioners, campaigners and changemakers, the webinar welcomed Thom Rawson, and Katie Cross. Katie, who is a founder and CEO of Pledgeball, talked about her efforts to understand the behaviour of supporters and stadium goers and putting these findings and observations in function of driving a behavioural change. Thom, on the other hand closed the webinar with his work and recommendations on sustainability reporting and the case study of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC for which he coordinates their sustainability programme “One Pack, One Planet”.
The next webinar episode will cover the topic of environmental assessment and other assessments which indicate the level of a sport organisation’s environmental impact and footprint. Titled “Understanding your own impact and identifying potentials”, it will take place on 15 December 2023. Plenty of time to register, so don’t hesitate to do so here.
Re-watch the webinar below: