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Case Study

Inspiring sustainability in sports: Carbon emission management at the International Olympic Committee

By Florian Hoos, Giovanni-Battista Derchi and Valerie Keller-Birrer

19 pages

September 2024

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Reference: IMD-7-2512

The case highlights the significant role played by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in reducing its environmental footprint and promoting sustainability in sports. As the leader of the Olympic movement, the IOC bore the responsibility of setting a positive example to inspire the broader sports community. With ambitious climate targets aiming to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2030, the IOC implemented a range of measures to reduce the environmental impact of its organization. These included the introduction of carbon budgeting, the adoption of innovative carbon footprint management tools as well as specific measures targeting areas such as mobility, building management and procurement. The Olympic House, inaugurated in 2019, was built according to some of the highest sustainability standards and stood as a testament of the IOC’s commitment to sustainability. Strategies to reduce emissions associated with international business travel, a major contributor to the organization’s overall carbon footprint, were particularly successful. The impact of these measures had to be carefully evaluated, considering their potential effects on organizational culture, efficiency, communication, employee satisfaction and talent attraction. Furthermore, the IOC leadership reflected on the effectiveness of its actions in inspiring other organizations within the Olympic movement to embrace sustainability practices. Looking ahead, the IOC remained committed to intensifying its efforts to achieve its carbon reduction goals by 2030. This included exploring improvements in impact measurement and introducing incentive schemes aimed at further encouraging carbon reduction.

Learning Objective

Understand the challenges of sustainability strategy setting and its implementation through a concrete case of a carbon emission accounting, management, and reporting system.
Gain knowledge of mandatory sustainability reporting and GHG protocol and become familiar with current regulations and reporting standards for emissions and climate related risks and opportunities.
Reflect on risks and opportunities related to carbon emission management as well as organizational impacts.
Learn the steps to design and implement a carbon management system, how to report carbon footprints as well as assess and develop emission management strategies and tools
Understand broader organizational effects when new management tools are introduced.

Keywords

Sustainability, Accounting, Strategy, Non-profit, Decarbonization, Carbon Accounting, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Footprint Reduction, Planetary Boundary Framework, Sustainability Reporting, Environmental Social and Governance, Climate Action

Settings

Europe, Switzerland
International Olympic Committee, Travel and Leisure, Sports
2021-2024

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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Teaching note

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