European Championships Munich 2022 wins sustainability award
The European Championships Munich 2022 has been awarded 1st place in the category ‘Venue & Event’ at this year’s SPOBIS GmbH Award for Sustainability in Sport, at a ceremony on 31 May.
Sustainability is one of the core values of the new generation multi-sport European Championships and was at the forefront of the LOC's minds in its organisation of Munich 2022. The organisers achieved almost all its ambitious sustainability goals, giving renewed impetus to sustainability in sports.
Munich 2022 was more than a sporting event: projects such as the Sports Badge and Champions Garden, for example, focused on people’s understanding of sustainability and what can be done day-to-day.
Thirty thousand people completed Sports Badge challenges with 4,000 people earning their actual Sports Badge, meaning they tried out all nine Olympic sports that formed the event.
Meanwhile, all 176 European Champions were given a potted plant to add to the Champions Garden and leave behind a lasting legacy instead of a soon-to-be-wilted bouquet.
The Champions Garden proved a popular sustainable innovation for the 176 European Champions invited to plant the potted plant presented to them at their respective medal ceremonies as a lasting legacy of their performance.
To achieve long-term stability and prosperity, the first two editions of the European Championships in Glasgow/Berlin and Munich have been built on solid and sustainable economic, social, and environmental values and principles.
Among myriad other opportunities, the multi-sport event provides to a host city the chance to:
Develop initiatives that demonstrate to its own communities the positive actions being undertaken to create a better world, focusing on environmental issues such as climate change or sustainability to societal issues such as equality, diversity, or inclusion;
Inspire, motivate and empower people young and old through dedicated programmes to participate in grassroots sport and embrace active lifestyles;
Communicate important social values such as team spirit, fairness, integration, respect, and responsibility.
Hosting the European Championships can significantly contribute to a city or a region’s sustainability objectives, accelerating outcomes for multiple partners. In embracing the hosting opportunity of such a cost-efficient, sustainable, and accessible event, a city or region secures a defined point to work towards and a launchpad for future priority programmes and legacy projects – raising a city’s profile globally, while engaging and empowering citizens, visitors, businesses, community organisations, and strategic partners.