Sustainable Sport is an action line developed by the NGO Green Cross Spain that aims to link the Sports World to Sustainable Development upon the basis of three fundamental guidelines:

• Many sports require the use of natural resources and environmental services.
• Sports can collaborate decreasing environmental impacts and developing social initiatives, this can be accomplished by sustainable construction methods, conscientious management of facilities and infrastructures, and the organization and implementation of sporting events and competitions.
• Sports can effectively pass on to society sustainable development values thanks to their unique global reach and great spreading power.

Sports, similarly to every human activity, require the utilization of natural resources and environmental services. An outdoor environment of high ecological quality is imperative for successful outdoor sports or athletic training.  Also, in the case of indoor sporting activities, natural resources such as water, energy, soil, and construction material are depended upon. 

Connections between environmental quality and the use of environmental resources and the world of sports create an inherent relationship between sports and the necessity of keeping the environment in a good ecological state.  Such a state can only be accomplished through the strong commitment of our societies to sustainable development.

Sport management can minimize environmental impacts in two important manners. Firstly, by introducing good environmental practices to both the construction of sport facilities and the management of waste during the events. Secondly, by passing on these environmental values to the users of the facilities, the spectators, athletes, fans, and, in general, the citizenship. 

Main milestones have occurred since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, when, during XXV Olympics Games in Barcelona (1992) National Olympics Committees and International Federations from different sports signed The Earth Charter and decided to establish a close collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Juan Antonio Samaranch, Former President of the International Olympic Committee, during the Olympic Congress of the Centenary (Paris, 1994), suggested including the necessity to preserve the Environment (finally included in the reform of 1996) in the Olympic Charter. This inclusion was confirmed during the reform of 1996 when the Environment was declared the third pillar of the Olympism alongside Sport and the Culture. A specific commission for Sports and the Environment was created, and was elaborated in the 1998 Agenda 21 of the Olympics Movement, a document that marks the general lines in which environmental considerations would support the IOC's policy. 

Since 1998, different strategies have been developed to implement environmental awareness into the Olympic games.  One of the most significant changes occurred in 2000, when it was decided that candidate cities must adopt measures to minimize the environmental impact of their candidature and must collaborate to spread the basic principles of Sustainable Development. 

Also, the Michezo Strategy developed by the United Nations Environmental Programme established specific guidelines that each state must assume regarding the issue of Sports and Sustainability. 

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Sport and Sustainability is an initiative that was launched by Green Cross Spain in 2006 in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and the Biodiversity Foundation, and with the support of the Spanish Sport Agency and the Spanish Olympic Committee.

The Strategy presents a deep study of the relationship between Sports and Sustainable Development: international and national milestones are analyzed; possible areas of action are described, including the role that each one of the targets related to the Sport World can play; and some general strategic lines are proposed that could be articulated in a specific policy about Sport and Sustainable Development. 

The successful launch of the National Strategy suggests that the Spanish example and Spanish leadership on this topic could lead to an international movement that is committed to promoting a more sustainable society by instilling certain principles into the Sport World.

Presently the Spanish Sport Agency has an interest in developing this Strategy.  Agenda 21 of Spanish Sports is an instrument that implements, in a participative way, specific actions proposed in the framework of the Strategy.

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As of now, Spain is the only country that has developed a strategy at a National Level, mobilizing and involving all the Sport Targets (Public Administrations, Federations, Clubs, spectators, athletes, citizens...). 

Green Cross is an international organization present in more than 30 countries, founded in 1993 by Mikhail Gorbachev, whose fundamental mission is to help look for a sustainable and safe future for everyone by encouraging dialogue among cultures, promoting new approaches to development based on sustainable development, exchanging knowledge and experiences among civilizations and instilling new ethical and legal norms necessary to achieve a global awareness of human responsibility in its relationship to nature and life.

Website Green Cross International: www.gci.ch

Website Green Cross Spain: www.greencross.org.es