What motivated you to research sustainability in Ugandan sport?
I used to be motivated by optimism about sport’s energy to advertise sustainability, but additionally by a concern about company greenwashing in Ugandan sport.
The Uganda Olympic Committee has launched a number of initiatives, such because the “Race to Zero” carbon emission marketing campaign and different schooling workshops, to combine sustainability into the nationwide sports activities agenda. These initiatives sign a shift in the direction of a accountable sport that is involved in regards to the atmosphere.
However, these efforts co-exist with rising considerations about greenwashing, as many multinational firms with poor environmental data, together with oil and gasoline firms, make investments in Ugandan sports activities sponsorships, which challenge a false picture of sustainability.
What are crucial findings of your analysis?
While nationwide sports activities our bodies just like the Ugandan Olympic Committee are making real efforts in the direction of sustainability, equivalent to reforestation, local weather schooling, and eco-friendly infrastructure improvement, their efforts are being undermined by company greenwashing.
Many company companions in sports activities undertake environmental branding with out enacting actual change. Sustainability stays on paper. Sports organisations lack the capability to critically regulate environmental claims made by sponsors, making them susceptible to greenwashing. Sport may be a highly effective platform for environmental advocacy, however this potential is compromised when sustainability is used solely as a public relations instrument.
Have sports activities organisations and company sponsors responded to your analysis?
I’m nonetheless writing on my paper, however I’ll quickly share my findings with them and hope it should trigger reflection and engagement each throughout the Ugandan sports activities system and among the many company sponsors in sports activities.
To function a true agent of local weather resilience, sports activities organisations should foster transparency, undertake strong sustainability metrics, and demand accountability from company companions.
How widespread is company greenwashing in Ugandan sport?
Corporate greenwashing in Ugandan sport is a new trend, and it is rising. Many firms like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and many of the water firms are sponsoring sports activities organisations and tournaments in Uganda the place regional tournaments usually entice bigger crowds than the nationwide leagues.
However, company companions usually undertake environmental branding with out vital motion. There is an pressing want for transparency, accountability, and stronger regulatory frameworks to make sure that partnerships genuinely assist environmental objectives.
How are you planning to observe up in your analysis on sustainability in Ugandan sport?
One of the methods is to check the outcomes of a marketing campaign that the Uganda Hockey Association got here up with in 2022, saying that for every aim scored throughout the season, they might plant a tree and attempt to deliver the Ugandan forests again to life.
I additionally plan to guage how totally different authorities buildings and cultures in different international locations near Uganda are dealing with company greenwashing in sport. And I hope that sooner or later my paper might be used as a political reference for local weather motion and sustainability in Ugandan sport. That is my final aim.