Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Jacques Lambert, EURO 2016 SAS president: "A coherent policy of social and environmental responsibility is an integral part of the organisation of major sporting events. It is not a luxury, much less a gadget but a civic responsibility and has now become an operational requirement as much as safety, marketing or ticketing sales."

UEFA's social responsibility and sustainability strategy for UEFA EURO 2016 aim to:
• reduce the environmental impact
• integrate a social dimension into the tournament
• measure the economic impact derived from the organisation of such a big sports event

The strategy also has a very strong focus on ensuring UEFA EURO 2016 leaves a positive legacy of sustainability for the host cities, the stadiums, French football and UEFA.

Capitalising on UEFA EURO 2008 and UEFA EURO 2012 social responsibility initiatives and building on the RESPECT campaign, UEFA and the EURO 2016 SAS have defined eight priorities. In order to ensure a realistic and achievable strategy, concrete and measurable objectives have been set for each priority.

• Respect Access for All – to make the UEFA EURO 2016 stadiums fully accessible and therefore inclusive, in collaboration with the Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFE).

• Respect Health – tobacco-free tournament. To create a smoke-free environment for all ticket holders, staff and suppliers at all UEFA EURO 2016 stadiums past the turnstile, in collaboration with the World Heart Federation and Healthy Stadia.

• Respect Diversity – anti-discrimination match monitoring: To monitor matches against racist and discriminatory incidents, and to reduce the number of such incidents, in collaboration with the FARE network (Football Against Racism in Europe).

• Respect Fan Culture – fan embassies: To offer a support service for football fans by setting up 'fan embassies' in host cities, in collaboration with Football Supporters Europe (FSE).

• Respect Environment – public transport and mobility: to minimise the environmental impacts of transport, to ensure efficient mobility to, between and within the host cities for spectators, visitors and residents, and to encourage public transport and walking.

UEFA has worked with Climate Friendly to develop the UEFA EURO 2016 Eco-Calculator (https://en-ecocalculator.uefa.com/journey). This online tool enable the fans to explore how their journey to the tournament contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and offset their emissions. Moreover, UEFA also measures, reduces and offsets the CO2 emissions associated with its necessary air travel.

• Respect Environment – waste management: to optimise waste management by reducing, reusing and recycling ('3R' strategy) and to achieve 50% recycling rate, zero waste to landfill and improved public awareness.

• Respect Environment – energy and water: to promote renewable and green energy, water harvesting, and to foster optimisation.

• Respect Environment – sourcing of products and services: to promote responsible sourcing of products and services, to help buyers to consider environmental and social issues within the supply chain and to engage suppliers and licensees to follow social responsibility and sustainability guidelines.

The priorities as well as the strategy and measures to implement them are detailed in the 'One Year To Go' report on social responsibility and sustainability.

UEFA will use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines (https://www.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx) for its UEFA EURO 2016 social responsibility and sustainability reporting. The key performance indicators (KPIs) of UEFA EURO 2016 will be shared through a post-event report, which will also analyse all implemented actions, successes and lessons learned.

UEFA and the EURO 2016 SAS will attempt the ISO 2012-1 certification for UEFA EURO 2016 operations. ISO 2012-1 is a framework for implementing sustainability throughout event management operations. It is a way of working to make sure sustainability is taken into account at every step when planning and implementing our event.

Finally, the Sustainability Tips and Tricks Guide (http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefaorg/General/02/26/41/85/2264185_DOWNLOAD.pdf) has been written for all UEFA EURO 2016 stakeholders and details 15 simple ways to play an active part in protecting the environment.