SDG Striker – Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals through sport

SDG Striker – Promoting the Sustainable Development Goals through sport

Sport and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are, despite not obviously at first sight, two closely related issues. Both from the point of view of the values’ promotion and from tackling specific challenges addressed by the SDGs as climate change or affordable energy.

Co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus + Sport Programme, the SDG Striker project aims to increase the organisational capacity for Good Governance in grassroots sport organisations. It assists them to implement and communicate the Sustainable Development Goals through actions at local level so they can align themselves with European, national and local public policy on SDGs.

This is done through the testing of three pilots in Portugal, Scotland and Norway. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) will do a feasibility study to evaluate the costs, return and other social and economic impacts of installing PhotoVoltaic solar panels in sports’ facilities- This will be related with tackling SDG 7 (affordable clean energy), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production), and 13 (climate action).

In Scotland, the Scotish Football Association (SFA) will create a campaign to increase the efficiency of sports’ facilities and raise-awareness on energy poverty, including training actions to reduce energy bills. The actions will be linked with tackling SDG 1 (no poverty – thanks to the energy poverty campaign), 7 (affordable clean energy), 10 (reduced inequalities) 12 (responsible consumption and production) 13 (climate action) and 17 (partnerships for the goals).

Finally, in Norway, the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) will create a document on greener alternatives to microplastics to be used as infill material for artificial football pitches, including a Life Cycle Assessment and a comparative environmental impact analysis of new technologies. This will be linked with tackling and tackpromoting SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production), and 13 (climate action).

In addition, SDG Striker will develop a joint understanding about best practices before, during and after being tested, and assess their potential for replication across the national Federations and beyond national borders.

The project, which will last for 30 months, sees the participation of three football federations and private organizations: Ecoserveis, from Spain, as project coordinator; ENERGIEINSTITUT AN DER JOHANNES KEPLER UNIVERSITÄT LINZ (EI-JKU), from Austria, as a research centre; EFDN from the Netherlands, as a network organization; Norwegian Football Association (NFF), Scotish Football Federation (SFF) and Portuguese Football Federation (PFF).

More information on SDG Striker.