The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, has called for intensified efforts by sports stakeholders, governments and leadership to integrate issues of climate change into policies to save the environment.

He emphasised that sports was universal, encompassed political, religious or ethnic affiliations, and as such was a useful tool that must be explored to bring comfort to humanity.

Delivering a keynote speech at the “Global Sports and Sustainability Forum” organised by Sports20 in collaboration with Foundations 20 and the “Climate Solutions Forum” yesterday in Cape Town, South Africa, Mr Adams stressed the need for sports sector practitioners to prioritise the fight against climate change because they were both victims and perpetrators to the environmental menace which affected everyone.

Estimated emissions

He cited estimates that emissions from hosting of the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups by South Africa and Brazil as well as the Rio 2016 Olympic Games resulted in an equivalent of 6.5 million homes, and therefore appealed for prudent efforts at addressing the issue.

"We must ensure that we tackle the environment, we must tackle the cause of climate change. It affects us all in sports because we are both victims and contributors," Hon. Adams said.

"We are victims because climate change affects the organisation of sporting events and damages sports infrastructure, thus we must really be interested in the issue of climate change," the Ghanaian MP explained.

"We cannot stay away because though we are affected, we are equally contributors because major sporting events create a lot of emissions with dire consequences for the environment," he added.

The Global Sports and Sustainability Forum brought together selected experts and guests from the global sports ecosystem, as well as leading experts in sustainable development, to explore how sports can serve as a catalyst for cross-sectoral sustainable development, driving positive change in areas such as the economy, infrastructure, education and social development.

Also viable for its ultimate goal of the promotion of peace and sustainability through sport were discussions at various levels with insights from prominent sports personalities and global experts on sports’ role in sustainability and peace.