On this year’s Earth Day, 22 April 2022, World Triathlon reiterates its mission to grow a more sustainable sport alongside its Local Organising Committees and partners to encourage actions that will minimise triathlon’s impact on the planet, just as WTCS Leeds became the first LOC to submit their application for World Triathlon Sustainability Certification. The award will have three standards of achievement - gold, silver and bronze - and will be central to LOCs’ bids to host future events.

“World Triathlon has a responsibility to care for the health of the environment our sport depends on, and the certification process we have underway sets out clear targets that will help us and our LOCs achieve our carbon reduction targets,” said World Triathlon President Marisol Casado. “This is another step on the long road towards our goal of becoming carbon neutral, but an important one, and I am proud of the efforts being made by all our LOCs.”

The short-term goal is to reduce the World Triathlon carbon footprint by 25% by 2025 compared with 2019 figures, and to plot a route to 50% reduction by 2030 as part of its commitment to the Sport For Climate Action initiative. Guiding the process will be the Environmental Sustainability Commission, comprising experts in the field, athletes, Executive Board Members and staff, charged with advising the Executive Board and engaging the wider triathlon family in adopting the practices necessary to reach those targets.

The Terms of Reference of the Commission underline the importance of a full analysis of the current environmental footprint of the organisation’s operations and management to work with. At the heart of World Triathlon’s efforts is the new certification process for LOCs so that events can aspire to, and eventually be mandated to, achieve.

Every Earth Day serves as a reminder to the world that there can be no time to waste on taking the actions that can slow and possibly reverse the negative impacts humans have on the planet. All eyes will be once again be on Japan on 14-15 May, with the first World Triathlon Championship Series action of 2022. Appropriately it is taking place in Yokohama, a city that has been a leader in staging greener triathlons, for more than a decade and that has cut its total carbon emissions since 2015 while contributing significant funds to the environmental cooperation monies.

On 21 April, WTCS Leeds became the first LOC to submit its completed application to receive World Triathlon Sustainability Certification, sounding the starting horn on what will be a landmark tool for the assessment and awarding of events’ sustainability efforts.

“Through our planning and across the event weekend, we will be working hard to ensure our activities are sustainable whilst maintaining the high level of event delivery and satisfaction as previous years,” said Lindsay Impett, WTCS Leeds Event Director. “Sustainability has and will continue to be a central focus for the event, with it being a central value throughout our operations. We are working with World Triathlon to achieve their gold certification and sustainability is being weaved into all elements of the event, across infrastructure, governance, participant experience, all angles of the event will have a sustainable stamp on.”

You can discover more on the World Triathlon Sustainability Guidelines here.