#SustyTalk: 11th Hour Racing’s Damian Foxall on sustainability in sports

#SustyTalk is all about keeping edie’s loyal readers connected to sustainability leaders across the world, whilst reminding us all that sustainability and climate action must go on through the current cost of living crisis and beyond. It launched in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020 and has continued since then, keeping us connected to the leaders who are continuing to drive sustainable business and climate action.

As part of edie’s Business Leadership Month, edie speaks with a member of the 11th Hour Racing team, the team which took home the edie Award for Team of the Year 2024.

11th Hour Racing’s sustainability project manager Damian Foxall is in conversation with edie’s content editor Sarah George for this episode.

Damian developed 11th Hour Racing’s free resource called The Sustainability Toolbox, which is helping 600+ organizations across industries incorporate sustainability practices into their operations.

Many of the users are in sports, including the the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).

Damian shares his views on the extent to which sustainability is becoming embedded in sports, and what can be done to drive further improvements.

He says: “90%  of the world follows sport and we do have an amazing opportunity to influence these audiences with a better and a more important message.

“I think there’s an amazing opportunity [when it comes to using athlete spokespeople]. But there’s also risk.  I think the challenge for sport, with leaning on our athletes, is that we could potentially be sportswashing… I think it’s really important that sustainability is based on getting it  right internally first, then communicating transparently what the challenges are specific to your activity and how you are overcoming them – or not…. It’s ok not to be perfect, no-one is. It’s all about intention.”

Click here to see our catalogue of #SustyTalk interviews

Want to be featured on a future episode of #SustyTalk? Email newsdesk@fav-house.com. Please bear in mind that our interview calendar is now booked for April 2024.