Environmental sustainability in sport federations: a Swiss case study of environmental policy genesis

Abstract

Since national sport federations (NSFs) represent sport clubs and engage in sport policy issues, they could play a crucial role in establishing measures to ensure the environmental sustainability of sport. Several Swiss sport federations have already launched such programmes. However, sport federations are primarily committed to the interests of their member clubs and the sport as their core business and environmental sustainability is generally not their primary issue. With regard to the usually limited resources, their environmental engagement does not appear to be evident. Therefore, this study investigated the extent to which environmental policies are generated by NSFs and which factors are relevant for policy genesis (agenda setting and decision coupling). We conducted an in-depth case study of the Swiss Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association based on the multiple streams approach with two coupling phases. The findings showed that whereas agenda setting of policies regarding biodiversity and access to nature primarily occurs through national regulations, climate protection policies are mainly pushed by engaged policy entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, member interests, functional issues (as opposed to normative arguments) and the practices of similar federations were found to be crucial for all environmental policies. Because decisions regarding environmental policies require knowledge that does not necessarily belong to the core topics of the board of management, the support of environmental officers is key for the decision coupling of such. An understanding of environmental policy genesis is essential because it is prerequisite for the subsequent implementation of such policies and their effects.