Chair: Let's fight back on climate change

16 Oct 2025 03:38 PM

Speaking at the Blue Earth Summit, Chris Boardman announces £2.5 million of funding is still available this year to help sport and physical activity organisations adapt to climate change and protect participation

Our chair Chris Boardman has announced a package of measures aimed at protecting participation in sport and physical activity from the effects of extreme weather, including £2.5 million of funding still available this year.

Speaking at the Blue Earth Summit yesterday, Chris pledged the support – which also includes a new environmental sustainability rating system – as he issued a stark warning about the growing impact of climate change on national activity levels.

He evidenced our latest Activity Check-in research, which revealed 62% of adults and 63% of young people (in school Years 7-11) say they're doing less activity as a result of extreme weather experienced in the last 12 months, to August 2025.

With inactivity already associated with one in six UK deaths, emerging research from the University of Oxford will show that temperatures above 25°C lead to an average of 10 extra sedentary minutes each day, further exacerbating the country’s inactivity crisis.

Chris argued that grassroots clubs and the leisure sector are the country's “secret weapon” for staying active, urging a “wave of community willpower” to protect, preserve and prepare facilities for the pressures of climate change.

“Environmental sustainability and sports participation are two sides of the same coin – without the former, we will lose the latter,” Chris said.

“While the statistics might be bleak, we’re seeing brilliant, bottom-up breakthroughs – clubs adapting, communities acting, and facilities fighting back.

“We need to bin the myth that we are helpless in the face of this big global challenge, and geopolitical struggle. Let’s ditch the doom. We’re not powerless – we’re packed with potential.

“Together, we can break the vicious cycle of extreme weather, falling participation and unequal access. This is the biggest boost to grassroots sport yet – new tools, training and up to £2.5 million still available this year.

“Our ambition isn’t just to be sustainable – it’s to be planet-positive. To leave the world better, greener fairer than we found it.”

Our support

£2.5 million of funding in 2025/26 : Our Movement Fund offers organisations up to £15,000 to help them act and adapt to climate-driven disruption.

New environmental rating system : The maturity rating tool helps organisations get from a ‘starting’ state, through a ‘sustainable’ phase and ultimately to a ‘regenerative’ position.

Our partnership with BASIS : We’ve joined forces with the British Association for Sustainable Sport to deliver training, tools and transformation for grassroots clubs nationwide.

Call for evidence : Chris also launched a call for evidence and urged local organisations to shine a light on stories of real-world resilience – from flood-proofed pitches to solar-powered swimming pools – to show how communities can, and are, turning climate challenge into climate action.

What are sustainability ratings?

Following our announcement last year that having a robust sustainability plan will become a condition of funding for more than 130 strategic partners by 2027, the introduction of ratings identifies achievable goals at every level.

From cutting carbon emissions and creating a circular economy to biodiversity gain for the blue-green environment, ratings have five different levels: ‘starting’, ‘progressing,’ ‘sustainable,’ ‘restorative’ and ‘regenerative’.

The process helps organisations large and small to identify a range of practical actions that can be taken, from lift-sharing to waste reduction and switching to sustainable energy suppliers.

Since launching our Every Move strategy last year, we’ve funded 79 environmental projects worth more than £760,000.

Read the strategy

Growing crisis

Despite international commitments, the UK and the world are not on track to meet the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals or limit global warming to 1.5°C.

As a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, we’re calling for urgent cross-sector collaboration to become environmentally responsible and stay on the path to 1.5°C, as well as action from sports and leisure organisations to adapt for the future.