Tokyo 2020 Olympians and Paralympians team up in the battle against global climate change

Tokyo 2020 Olympians and Paralympians add their voices to those pushing for world leaders to take action to fight climate change.

A video featuring more than 50 athletes from around the world was released on Monday coinciding with the second day of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) being held in Glasgow, Scotland through November 12.

Double Olympic champion Hannah Mills, the most decorated female British sailor of all time, and British Olympic rower Melissa Wilson initiated the effort to create the video which was produced with support from the International Olympic Committee.

“The Olympic dream is all about being the best you can – and that doesn’t just mean competing or winning medals; it means being a good global citizen. I feel that we have a responsibility to use our platforms to highlight the need for all of us to live and operate in a more responsible manner,” said Mills.

Among the athletes appearing in the video are three-time Olympic medallist Pau Gasol (basketball, Spain), who is also a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission ; double Olympic champion and marathon world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge (athletics, Kenya); Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Tom Daley (diving, Great Britain); double Olympic champion Andy Murray (tennis, Great Britain); Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Emma Twigg (rowing, New Zealand); Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft (wheelchair racing, Great Britain); Tokyo 2020 Paralympian Koyo Iwabuchi (table tennis, Japan); and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Martine Grael (sailing, Brazil).

In the video, the athletes recall the challenges and obstacles they overcame as they chased excellence at Tokyo 2020, and call on the world’s leaders to do the same as they gather at the “Olympics of climate summits” to decide on how to fight climate change.

“The IOC is delighted to support this initiative, and help Olympic athletes use their powerful voices to create a more sustainable future for everyone,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges humanity has ever faced, and the IOC is proud to be leading the Olympic Movement’s response to this crisis. Our recent commitment to reduce our carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and our support for this initiative are part of this effort. Sport has the power to make the world a better place, and today we have an opportunity to use this power in the face of climate change.”

This is the latest project spearheaded by Mills, who in 2019 launched the Big Plastic Pledge with the support of the IOC. The athlete-driven movement aims to eliminate single-use plastic within and beyond sport.

In 2018, working with UN Climate Change, the IOC helped develop the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework to drive climate action across the sports world. More than 270 sports organizations have signed up to it so far, including the IOC itself.

In response to the growing climate crisis, the IOC, which is already carbon neutral, has pledged to be climate positive from 2024. This means that it will be removing more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits.

From 2030 onwards, the IOC will require all Olympic Games to be climate positive. Inspired by this requirement, Paris 2024 is already working on staging climate-positive Olympic Games in 2024.

Homepage photo: IOC