DBU participates at the Danish Sports Meeting Conference
The annual event, held in the city of Aalborg in Denmark, took place from 28 to 30 April with a prominent appearance of Anders Kjaer, the Danish FA’s Sustainability Manager.
This years conference, titled “Sport creates welfare”, took place as the 6th edition of an opportunity for sport workers, practitioners, researchers, academics, public authorities and many more to exchange views and achievements in various fields and aspects of sport, way beyond only events and competitions. The Conference saw four clusters – public health strategy, sport tech and business, children, youth and young adults in sports and the one suitable for disseminating ACCESS outcomes – sport’s impact.
This particular cluster, sport’s impact, brought Anders together with Kim Mejnert Frydensbjerg, Head of Events at Wonderful Copenhagen, Sportevent Denmark’s Deputy Manager Hanne Sejr, and Press Manager Ann Lykke Davidsen at Danish Handball as panellists discussing an important topic – “Sports events as a driver for change – also in the climate field?”.
The panel discussion wanted to address several questions and occurence, as Denmark hosts some of the world’s most prestigious sporting events – from major cycling races to running championships and international tournaments. But as sustainability and climate occupy more of the political agenda, it also places demands on the sports world: Can we justify spending large resources on events? Or are sporting events a unique platform to accelerate the climate agenda through action and innovation?
Following his intervention, Anders shared:
Football reaches a wide audience and has a special responsibility and potential. If we want to continue to have the support of fans, sponsors and local communities, we must take environmental and climate responsibility seriously. A greener football world is not utopian or idealism – but a clear expectation – one of several conclusions from our new fan survey conducted together with Danish Handball, which was presented at this year’s sports meeting in Aalborg. And a huge thank you to Henrik and Ann.
Anders Kjaer, Sustainability manager, DBU
