The report outlines the three pillars of actions that Discovery Sports Events took to secure success across the 2022 calendar.
Discovery Sports Events is pleased to celebrate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSPD) by highlighting some of the actions implemented across its portfolio of events during the 2022 season.
While developing a corporate social responsibility road map with the support of two reputed environmental consulting firms (Utopies and Ipama), Discovery Sports Events focused on taking three important long-term pillars of action.
- By promoting sustainable and regenerative events, and reducing the impact of logistics and transportation, the company is enabling environmental and carbon emission reduction across all its promoted championships.
- Using the sport as vehicle for behavioural change, as well as promoting locally based events, has provided a solid process for the company’s ecosystem transition and social actions.
- Finally, promoting a lifetime balance, guaranteeing safety on site and opening the doors to a diverse and inclusive culture, Discovery Sports Events is aiming to make every employee an ambassador for transition towards sustainability and inclusion.
CARBON FOOTPRINT UNDER SURVEILLANCE
During the 2022 season of the UCI Track Champions League, Discovery Sports Events monitored the carbon footprint levels over the course of the five rounds, using Bilan Carbone® and Greenhouse Gas Protocol to calculate and manage the greenhouse gas emissions.
As a result of reducing the use of materials on site, as well as having part of the production team working remotely as a way to reduce the carbon footprint related to the event’s travel, the UCI Track Champions League’s carbon footprint for 2022 was estimated to be 5 233 TCO2e.
The majority of emissions come from the operational services implemented within the velodromes alongside the travel logistics required to deliver the events. Whilst Discovery Sports Events is on the right path towards its goal, specific measures are being developed to address this. Precise emissions estimates are being made for 2023 in collaboration with the velodromes, with a detailed audit of electricity consumption being carried out based on the 2022 numbers in order to guide measures to reduce heating system dependance. To address travel required to deliver the events, a strict internal and external policy has been implemented to prioritise the use of ground transport instead of air transport for all staff and service suppliers when the journey is less than five hours.
ENGAGING LOCAL COMMUNITIES
In response to the goal of using sport as an enabler of behavioural change, the UCI Track Champions League 2022 offered three different opportunities to engage local university students and youth groups.
During Round 3 at the Velodrome National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the League hosted 10 students from two Master’s Degree courses from the local area. Students specialising in Environmental Sciences (Corporate Social Responsibility) at the University of Versailles in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, along with students from the University of Paris Saclay, studying Sport Science (Sport Leisure and Event Management), were invited to participate in a social and environmental audit of the event. Working with the Discovery Sports Events’ CSR team, the students suggested areas of improvement, proposing new ideas regarding sustainability for future seasons of the UCI Track Champions League.
As part of a partnership between the UCI Track Champions League and AWS, eight young women from the Women in Broadcast (WIB) programme, were given exclusive backstage access to the rehearsals in London, during Rounds 4 and 5.
Developed by Rise, a not-for-profit group with the goal of achieving a diverse and gender-balanced workforce across broadcast media and the entertainment technology sector, alongside insights from AWS, they were provided with hands-on experience at a tier-1 live sports broadcast event.
Last but not least, in order to tackle inequality in the sport, 12 young cycling fans from the City Academies program, an initiative set up by British Cycling to increase participation in the sport by under-represented youth groups, were invited to take part in a press conference with pro riders Mark Stewart, Emma Finucane and Sir Chris Hoy before watching the final round in London in person.
Read more about the social responsibility actions during Season 2 here.
Gautier de Stoppani, CSR Manager for Discovery Sports Events, said: “As a global business we are committed to developing and delivering our sustainability and social responsibilities. Implementing these core initiatives across all of our championships is a key step in Discovery Sports Events commitment to a better future. We are extremely proud of the results highlighted within the 2022 report but are looking ahead to what we can achieve in 2023 and beyond.”
The long-term Corporate Social Responsibility road map which Discovery Sports Events is building is a key activity of the business, with a team fully dedicated to developing actions with sustainability at the forefront. Further initiatives will be implemented during Season 3 of the UCI Track Champions League in line with the three pillars at the core of the report.
Download the 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility report here.
