Playing For The Planet: Sport as a Catalyst for Climate Action

By Itoro Victor-Akpan, Associate Fellow, Royal Commonwealth Society

Sport and climate change are deeply interlinked, yet this relationship remains far less spoken about than other defining issues in climate negotiations and discussions; from loss and damage financing, fossil fuel phase-out, and nature-based solutions to climate finance, food systems, and the just transition. And yet sport, with its extraordinary global reach, its vulnerability to extreme weather, and its power to mobilise billions of people, may be one of the most underused tools we have in the fight for a liveable planet.

Sport is both a driver of climate action and a receptor of it. Rising temperatures are disrupting training schedules and threatening outdoor competitions. Extreme weather is also destroying sports infrastructure. For example, the highland environments where Kenya's legendary distance runners have trained for generations are becoming less predictable, less reliable, and less safe. The Rift Valley highlands around Iten, the Home of Champions, where erratic rainfall and rising temperatures are reshaping training conditions; and the glaciers of Mount Kenya, have lost over 90% of their ice cover in the last century. These are the landscapes that produced some of the greatest athletes the Commonwealth has ever seen. 

It was with this understanding that I had the privilege of co-organising ‘Playing for the Planet: A Green Commonwealth Dialogue on Sport, Climate Action and a Liveable Planet’ at the House of Lords, Palace of Westminster during London Climate Action Week. The event, hosted by Lord Uday Nagaraju, was designed as a demonstration of what is already being done and a call for the Commonwealth to scale it.

A Track to Glasgow and Antigua

The concept of the event was built around a deliberate strategic premise: The Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games opening on 23 July, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2026) taking place in Antigua and Barbuda this November, where Sport for Development and Peace features as a key agenda item.

Action Beyond Pledges

This event carried the emblem of two organisations: The Ramphal Institute, a London-based Commonwealth think tank accredited to the Commonwealth Secretariat and named in honour of Sir Shridath 'Sonny' Ramphal, the second and longest-serving Commonwealth Secretary-General. The other was Igniting Minds, founded by Karunakar Reddy and chaired by Joginipally Santosh Kumar, Former Member of Parliament and founder of the Green India Challenge. Through this challenge over 196 million trees have been planted across India, with more than 44 million citizens engaged, and over 21,000 water conservation structures constructed across 33 countries.

Joginipally Santosh Kumar reminded the room that environmental transformation does not require just top-down mandates. It requires mobilised communities, committed leadership, and a shared belief that ordinary people, acting together, can change the world. It was truly a compelling argument for citizen-led climate action.

Kenya: When Climate Change Comes Home

Perhaps no delegation in the room that evening embodied the urgency of the climate conversation more powerfully than the senators from Kenya. Led by Senator Kathuri Murungi, Deputy Speaker of the Kenyan Senate, and including Senator Moses Kajwang, Chairperson of the Climate Caucus, their presence was significant.

Kenya is living through a climate emergency in real time. After months of intense drought conditions, Kenya was inundated by rain in March 2026, triggering severe flooding that killed more than 40 people, with Nairobi recording a month's worth of rain in just 24 hours. By April 2026, 3.6 million people were projected to face acute food insecurity, driven by below-average long rains and continued livelihood erosion.

This is not a distant threat for Kenya but a present reality, which is why Kenya’s presence at a sporting and climate dialogue in Westminster mattered greatly. Interestingly, before our gathering at the House of Lords, UNEA-7 - the United Nations Environment Assembly, the world's highest-level decision-making body on the environment, convened at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in December 2025, drawing more than 6,000 delegates from 186 countries. Among its adopted resolutions was one specifically on promoting sustainable solutions through sport - sponsored by Kenya itself, and the first global framework of its kind. And in a moment that captured the stakes of the entire climate conversation, UNEP's Patron of the Oceans, Lewis Pugh, climbed Mount Kenya.

Commonwealth Sport: Building the Bridge to Glasgow

Commonwealth Sport's contribution built the bridge to what comes next. Pritpal Surj, Advocacy and Partnerships Manager at Commonwealth Sport, outlined the sustainability commitments of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games with clarity and ambition. In doing so, he showed the room what it looks like when sport stops talking about climate and starts acting on it.

The Glasgow 2026 Games is the most sustainable in Commonwealth history. Its ambitions are bold and specific: to host a Low-Carbon Games by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable design, procurement and operations; to deliver a Circular Games that maximises reuse and designs out waste; and to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill by diverting 95% of Games-related waste from landfill through reuse, recycling and composting, and minimising single-use plastics across all venues.

The King's Baton Relay was especially relevant for me. As an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS), it was great to hear the impact of the RCS’ partnership with Commonwealth Sport to deliver the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign. This campaign brings together athletes and communities across the Commonwealth to remove one million pieces of plastic from Commonwealth waterways before the Games begin. The King's Baton Relay has always been a symbol of connection, passing through every Commonwealth nation, carrying messages of unity and shared purpose. To see it now carrying an environmental mission; athletes and communities united to protect Commonwealth oceans, felt like a revolutionary action made through sport.  

Youth, Parliament and the Call to Act

Commonwealth youth voices had a seat at the table. Gurdit Singh Vohra, Vice Chairperson for Partnerships and Resources at the Commonwealth Youth Council, set out clear recommendations for parliamentarians on translating climate commitments into binding legislative frameworks. He also reaffirmed that young people across the Commonwealth are already taking action and will continue to lead in this regard.  

The parliamentary dimension was embodied by Lord Uday Nagaraju, who opened the evening and affirmed his commitment to helping proven community models travel from the Global South to the Global North. Her Excellency Karen-Mae Hill, OBE, High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda, whose country will host CHOGM 2026, delivered a keynote that reminded the room why small island and coastal nations must remain at the very heart of climate action. And Suresh Yadav, Director of the Climate Change and Ocean Directorate at the Commonwealth Secretariat, brought the institutional weight of the Secretariat to the conversation.

The Journey Continues

A fitting close to the evening was the launch of a Compendium titled Playing for the Planet: A Green Commonwealth Compendium on Sport, Climate Action and a Liveable Planet. This document maps out Igniting Minds' verified achievements against the eight thematic priorities of CHOGM 2026, from sport for development and peace to coastal and island nations, from youth and climate diplomacy to parliamentary action and technology. It closes with four invitations to the Commonwealth family: adopt verification as the standard; make sport a climate force; protect the blue frontier; and empower youth and communities. After the event, each attendee received a certificate of tree plantation, a lasting tribute to a tree planted in their honour.

Playing for the Planet was more than an event for me. It was a case made in one of the world's most significant seats of power, that sport can and should be a catalyst for climate action.

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Itoro Victor-Akpan is Programme Lead for Climate Justice at the Ramphal Institute and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society. The Ramphal Institute is a London-based Commonwealth think tank accredited to the Commonwealth Secretariat. ramphalinstitute.org

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Royal Commonwealth Society.