ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an assessment – historical, theoretical, and substantive – of the relationship between sport and environmental sustainability, particularly in the context of the growing Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector. In so doing, the chapter explores and advances three key ideas: First, given the challenge and significance of issues like climate change, environmental sustainability now constitutes a central issue within international development. Second, sport’s rather poor environmental track record suggests the need for caution about whether or not sport might effectively contribute to sustainable development on a global scale. And third, the significance of sport’s inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN’s 2030 Agenda mean that the SDP sector will likely need to confront issues of environmental sustainability, and show itself to be focused on the environment, in order to stay relevant within contemporary international development and global politics.
