Czech Olympic Committee launches "climate calculator" for sports organizations
Sports organizations in the Czech Republic are learning to measure their carbon footprints—a crucial first step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and safeguarding their own future. The Czech Olympic Committee has introduced a carbon calculator specifically designed for sports organizations, which will be available for use in the Czech Republic starting in January. Vít Pohanka asked Naďa Černá from the Committee to explain how the calculator works:
“It’s an online platform with embedded emission factors. You need to input quantified activities—this means how many kilometers you traveled or how much electricity you used during the reference year. You always calculate for one year. You simply enter this data, and the calculator uses the emission factors to provide your carbon footprint results.”
But people have to travel to take part in competitions or matches. They have to train, sometimes in the evening under large spotlights, in halls or pools that need to be heated—or cooled. There’s energy consumption inherently embedded in most Olympic sports activities, isn’t there? What can be done about that?
“It’s absolutely true. We know that emissions from travel to competitions account for around 80% of the carbon footprints of events, matches, and championships. It’s a real issue. What we can do is create incentives for fans and visitors to use public transportation to attend matches. For instance, we can offer discounts for those who travel by public transportation."
"But first, the stadiums and venues need to be located in places that are easily accessible by public transportation. That must be our first consideration. Then, we need to influence how people travel. If there’s one person in a car compared to four people, it makes a big difference. Similarly, traveling with an electric car is different from using a conventional vehicle.”
So what does the Czech Olympic Committee do in this respect? What has it done? What is it planning to do?
“First, we measured our carbon footprint for the baseline year 2022. If we want to implement measures, we first need to understand where we stand—where the emissions from our activities originate. About 80% of our emissions come from the projects and events we organize. This includes the issue of visitors and people traveling to our events, which is a significant challenge for us if we want to reduce our carbon footprint.
Offering incentives for people to use public transportation is something we need to address. We are currently working on our reduction strategy. We are setting goals and determining the percentage reductions we can achieve by 2030. So, we are in the process now.”
