The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are grouped under three main titles; economic development, environmental sustainability, and improvement of social well-being. Environmental sustainability is one of the most important components of sustainable development goals because it is obvious that without a sustainable environment, economic and social development goals will be abandoned. While the unplanned use of the environment and natural resources threatens environmental sustainability, it can be said that one of the most important actors in this process is sports. Mass production and consumption, facility establishment, and increase in organizations in sports accelerate environmental and natural destruction. The sustainability of sports is directly proportional to environmental sustainability. Therefore, reduction of the sports-induced negative environmental impacts will make great contributions to environmental sustainability. In this way, it will be possible to transfer both the natural environment and sports to future generations. This study was limited to environmental sustainability, which is one of the three main titles set for sustainable development goals and the effects of sports on environmental sustainability were evaluated in the light of available literature. Again, regarding the existing literature, suggestions were developed to reduce the negative environmental impacts of sports.

Sustainability is a hot topic in higher education. Buzz words such as green and renewable have helped brand modern environmentalism. A greater emphasis on facility planning, development, and management is contributing to sustainability efforts. Collegiate recreational sports programs often include facilities that pose a challenge to the green movement, due to their size and operational requirements. To identify efforts within the collegiate recreational sports industry, this study focused on assessing the state of facility sustainability. The purpose of this study was to assess levels of institutional adoption related to sustainable initiatives at collegiate recreational sports facilities. This foundational study attempted to create some benchmark data for the collegiate recreation industry within the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA). The Collegiate Recreational Sports Sustainability Survey was developed to assess the variables in the study and was sent to directors of NIRSA member institutions. This study used quantitative research methods and produced primarily descriptive research. This research produced a number of key findings: institutions that led in adoption levels per their respective category type were two-year public institutions, large enrollment institutions, institutions from NIRSA Region VI, and institutions that contain large collegiate recreational sports facilities. In addition, significant differences in adoption levels existed between four-year public and four-year private institutions, between large and small enrollment institutions, and between institutions that had large and small facilities. Implications from this study include providing benchmark data, creating advisory committees, and modeling NIRSA Region VI institutions. This study establishes a foundation for further research on sustainability efforts in collegiate recreational sports.

The relationship of sport to sustainability management is relatively unknown. Despite the increasing recognition of the growing role of athletics in regard to environmental sustainability, it remains unclear what role athletics departments have with regard to environmental action and what is currently being done now. The purpose of this study is to examine American intercollegiate athletics department personnel in relation to their organization’s sustainability practices, organizational strategies, and personal perspectives at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) universities. Athletics department members (N = 97) who were most responsible for sustainability initiatives responded to a survey designed to assess awareness levels and concern for environmental issues and the strategies and practices at work in their respective athletics departments. Findings based on prioritization, planning, decision-making, and use of initiatives using frequencies and means are reported. Differences, using t tests were also compared based on BCS or non-BCS standing. Results show that although environmental concern is high, there is disconnect between concern and action perhaps due to a lack of communication between the athletics department and the general university, cost concerns, and a lack of knowledge about sustainability initiatives. Implications related to the need for better communication between the athletics department/university and improved planning and prioritization is discussed.

Political ideology is one of the most powerful predictors of perceptions about environmental sustainability and related behaviors. The purpose of this study was to investigate how sport fans’ sustainability-specific values, perceptions, and norms related to awareness, engagement, and influence of USA collegiate sport sustainability efforts based on political affiliation, accounting for age and gender. Data were collected using an online survey distributed to season ticket holders after the 2019 college football season that featured three sponsored sustainability initiatives at each home game. Multivariate analysis of variance and chi-square difference tests found that self-identified Democrats reported significantly higher pro-environmental values and norms, but sustainability program engagement, sponsored initiatives awareness, and influence of initiatives on behavior were politically neutral. Path analysis found that ascription of responsibility was a significant predictor of sustainability-related engagement and behaviors for both Independents and Republicans. The results and discussion sections highlight how academics and practitioners can account for political affiliation when creating campaign messaging for environmental initiatives.

The sport sector is advancing its efforts to be environmentally friendly. These efforts now include corporate sponsored environmental initiatives, yet fans’ responsiveness to such efforts remains unexamined. Specifically, in this study, the corporate-sponsored environmental initiatives of a college athletic department with an established history of environmental commitments were examined to evaluate the influence of a point of attachment, sport brand-sustainability fit, and receptivity to messaging on the sport organization’s desired outcomes of the campaign (i.e., sustainability behavioral, support for environmental initiative corporate partner). Data were collected from college football fans of an institution in the United States Midwest region using an internet-based survey after the 2019 football season (N = 548). We found that most of our hypotheses were supported. Specifically, attachment to athletics, athletics/sustainability fit, and ascription of responsibility to athletics explained 52.7% of the variance of receptivity to messaging from athletics. In turn, receptivity to sustainable messaging and behaviors explained 45.0% of the support for corporate partners. Our results show that sport practitioners should evaluate the ascription of responsibility their fans place on the sport organization to be environmentally responsible, increasing the receptivity of environmental messages and desired outcomes from such efforts. In addition, this study shows the versatility and applicability of the model to actual sponsored environmental sustainability campaigns of a sport organization.

ABSTRACT The present investigation aimed to understand how scientific research has recently studied the environmental sustainability in the sports tourism market. Thus, a systematic literature review was developed for the time 2013–2019 using Scopus, Sage, Science Direct and Web of Knowledge as database resources. The main results were: (a) the sports event context was the most scrutinized with major concentration on mega events; (b) the environmental pillar of sports tourism was predominantly investigated through the sports practitioners and sparsely by the spectators’ role; (c) sports practice was the most influencing factor for sports practitioners’ greener behaviour, mainly in nature-based activities; and (d) external pressures and perceptions on the environmental organizational efforts were strongly related to the adoption of ecological management by sports events. This study provided practical implications for sports tourism managers such as the need of collaboration within the sports tourism sector to develop environmental strategies and initiatives, tailoring the sports services according to the expertise of sports practitioners in natural areas and promoting environmental education across all sports actors involved in the demand and supply of the sports tourism market.

Environmental sustainability is an important issue today. It is harmful to the environment to use single-use cups. Therefore, the research aims to investigate undergraduates' reuse intentions about using reusable drinkware on campus. The study used an updated theory of planned behavior (TPB) model by incorporating moral norms, green university initiatives, and environmental values as new components. A convenient sampling method is applied to collect the data. A total of 337 responses were collected from university undergraduates. For testing various relations, this study employed structural equation modeling. The outcomes support that moral norms and all TPB constructs influence students' intention to reuse reusable cups, and behavioral control has the highest impact. Green university initiatives significantly predict moral norms and TPB constructs. Environmental value moderates the association between moral norms and reuse intentions. The outcomes of this research will help policymakers and university authorities create plans for teaching and motivating students about the environment and encouraging green behavior for environmental sustainability.

Sport organizations have begun to widely implement environmental sustainability into their daily operations, but more needs to be done to properly plan and implement these initiatives to ensure their long-term success. Specifically, college athletic departments struggle to be proactive in their approach to environmental sustainability despite the vast resources available to leverage in order to deeply commit to being an environmentally sustainable department on campus. This case study examines the strategic planning of sustainability initiatives in the Smallville University Athletic Department. This case provides students with an opportunity to (a) explore the importance of sustainability in sport, (b) analyze the role of stakeholders in a sports organization, (c) investigate common barriers to implementing sustainability in college athletics, and (d) consider creative options for implementing sustainable initiatives.

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine fans' perceptions of pro-environmental sustainability initiatives promoted by a professional sport club and the ensuing effects on a triple bottom line (TBL) approach (i.e. fans' socially, environmentally and economically favourable behaviours).Design/methodology/approachData were collected in two different steps using an online self-administered questionnaire (n1 = 1,043; n2 = 2,167) distributed to fees-paying members registered in the club's database. The analysis was carried out though structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results indicate good psychometric properties of the scale used to measure fans' perceptions of a club's pro-environmental sustainability initiatives (perceptions of pro-environmental sustainability initiatives in sports; p-PESIS). Additionally, there is a positive effect of p-PESIS on fans' social behaviours as well as on their daily environmental actions. Furthermore, p-PESIS also shows a positive effect at improving fans' economic activities towards the club.Originality/valueExtending previous research, the authors tested a scale to measure fans' responses to pro-environmental sustainability initiatives in sport and examined their links to the TBL dimensions. Pro-environmental sustainability initiatives in sport benefit not only the club itself (by reinforcing fans' activities with the club) but also society as a whole, as it can promote fans' conscientiousness and likelihood to behave in environmentally and socially favourable ways.

The current research aimed to show the relationship between green innovation and environmental sustainability as the study assumes that green innovation contributes to environmental sustainability, and to test the research hypotheses, the researcher distributed (300) questionnaires to employees of the Al-Zawraa challenge site and received (295) questionnaires of which were valid for analysis (275) questionnaires and the advanced statistical program SmartPlS was used The research reached a set of conclusions, the most important of which is that green innovation has a moral impact on environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the study has made a set of recommendations, the most important of which is for bodies and institutions and all stakeholders to push for the promotion of green innovations to advance environmental sustainability.