Methodological proposal for the sustainability of sports events

This paper provides a methodological proposal for the sustainability of sports events. Nowadays the topic of sustainability is of great interest due to the dangers of climate change the world is experiencing, mainly caused by human activities. The concept of sustainability has increasingly gained relevance in areas ranging from the efficiency of buildings, public transportation, and also in the field of major sporting events. However, at present there is no methodology that allows the level of sustainability of sports events to be estimated. This paper proposes a methodology that quantifies levels of sustainability by assigning a score to a number of carefully selected indicators, using a multicriteria approach, with the aim of producing a guideline for future sports events. The originality of this article lies in the creation of a methodology to quantify the level of sustainability of sporting events. Specifically, this novel methodology uses the existing methodologies which produce international building certifications, such as LEED or BREEM, or national certifications such as the Italian ITACA. A literature review of past sustainability reports was conducted in order to find quantifiable indicators for comparing the level of sustainability of different sporting events. The contribution of this article is to provide a methodology to support the figures involved in putting on such events, in order to create sports events that have a minimum environmental impact.