Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the environmental footprint of large sporting events.

The government, along with major event partners, is committed to embedding sustainability as a key pillar of the planning and delivery of major sporting events. We also welcome the innovation that the sector is driving such as the degradable seaweed pouches used at this year’s London Marathon instead of plastic water bottles.

UK Sport is working alongside several events, providing support as they look into environmentally friendly delivery options. The upcoming Netball World Cup is currently undergoing an environmental review across all workstreams, with findings not only being used to make changes to the event, but also will be fed back into the newly formed sector working group, which alongside staff from UK Sport, consists of athletes, venues and NGB representatives.

UK Sport is also conducting work to place a range of ethical policies at the heart of all events delivered with government support, with environmental policies and considerations sitting as a core element of that work.