Sporting Events Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb and Lord Whitty

Report stage
Wednesday 15th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

Was that begging too much? I am trying to get progress here.

On Amendment 35, on transport plans, this is from Fran James, founder of the Football and Climate Change Newsletter:

“I welcome that at Committee stage the Minister was clear that the Government support the principle of sustainable transport and want spectators to reach major sporting events safely, efficiently and, where possible, by lower-carbon modes of transport … With that agreement, the question before us is whether that principle should be reflected on the face of the Bill. I believe that it should … This amendment recognises that every event, venue and transport network will be different … It ensures that environmental sustainability, climate mitigation and climate resilience are considered when transport plans are drawn up … We know that spectator travel is one of the biggest environmental impacts of major sporting events. At the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, spectator travel accounted for more than half of the event’s carbon footprint. At EURO 2024, fan travel made up an even larger proportion of emissions … But we also know that this can be done successfully. EURO 2024 demonstrated what effective low-carbon transport planning can achieve. Around 81% of fans travelled to venues by public transport, hundreds of thousands of additional rail journeys were made possible through inter-venue travel arrangements, and fewer than 5% of fans travelled by car … Climate change is already affecting transport infrastructure. The Government’s own transport adaptation strategy acknowledges that extreme heat, flooding and other climate impacts are creating risks for our networks … A major sporting event concentrates thousands of people into particular places at particular times, meaning that a single climate-related disruption can quickly become a major problem … This is why resilience needs to be considered at the planning stage … It’s not new either. FIFA’s hosting requirements for the Women’s World Cup 2031 and 2035 require hosts to encourage low-carbon transport infrastructure. A key indicator in the Paris 2024 sustainability strategy was the proportion of venues accessible by active travel or public transport. UEFA delivered EURO 2024 under its Environmental, Social and Governance strategy … This amendment aims to give the UK a clear statutory basis for the standards that major sporting bodies already expect … The Climate Change Committee’s latest assessment of UK climate risk highlights that flooding, subsidence, wind and heat are increasing threats to the transport system, and that climate change impacts will increasingly pose risks to the operation of major events … Requiring the person preparing a transport plan to have regard to resilience is a practical way to address that risk, without losing the flexibility planners need … The climate crisis is shaping the future of sport whether we acknowledge it or not. Our transport plans need to reflect that reality”.


That is the amendment that I really would have liked to divide the House on, but in view of the pressure on us all to finish the Bill as quickly and efficiently as possible, I will not do so. But I bitterly resent that it has not yet been taken up by the Government, because it is so important and obvious that I do not understand why they do not accept it.

On Amendment 48, from the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, we already know that climate change is changing sport. The extreme heat this summer has disrupted major sporting events and there are always concerns for athletes and spectators. Ignoring those realities does not make them disappear. It really is time for the Government’s strategy to catch up. I beg to move.

[Lord Whitty (Lab)]

My Lords, I agree pretty much with what the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, has already said. As somebody who was present 60 years ago at every England match in the World Cup, including the final and the somewhat controversial Argentina game, I do not want to hold up the House for very long, but, as she said, I have tabled Amendment 48. I have engaged with the Minister, and I thank her for what she has said and for the meeting that she and her staff held with me yesterday.

It was not quite the explicit endorsement of what Amendment 48 requires that I was hoping for, but I think I can reasonably deduce that the Minister is saying that, when the major events strategy emerges, it will be clear that environmental sustainability, including explicitly climate change mitigation and adaptation, will be referred to there, and that the work the Government are already doing will appear in their approach to major sporting events. I do not know why that cannot be made explicit in the Bill and, as one who very much supported the Climate Change Act’s provisions at the time, I am assuming that I can stretch the Minister’s words to say that what they are doing will, in effect, be what is required by the Climate Change Act.