From Curiosity to Action: Two Years of Driving Green Transition in Sports
Over the past two years, Green Producers Club has had the pleasure of working closely with NIF (the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports) on Team Green (Grønt Lag), an initiative designed to accelerate the green transition across the sports sector.
NIF serves as the umbrella organisation for all organised sports in Norway, making them a key driver for large-scale systemic change. Through this partnership, 30 sports clubs and federations were equipped with the Green Producers Tool to map their carbon emissions, make data-driven decisions, and implement targeted climate actions.
Removing Barriers
True climate action requires data, resources, and time. One of the most groundbreaking elements of this collaboration is how NIF actively removes financial and administrative hurdles for local clubs and federations. Through NIF's Sustainability Fund for Sports (Idrettens miljøfond), participating organisations receive continuous support spanning 2025, 2026, and 2027.
This multi-year funding model covers:
Full access and licenses to the Green Producers Tool.
Participation in annual workshops and peer-to-peer network sessions.
Financial coverage for administrative costs, funding the actual dedicated staff/resource hours spent gathering data and registering emissions.
"By financially supporting the human hours needed to map emissions from events, travel, and operations, this model ensures that clubs can move from good intentions to concrete actions without straining their everyday resources. We believe this supportive structure is a highly inspiring blueprint for sports federations internationally.»
- Marte Johannson, Sustainability adviser, NIF
From Curious to Proactive
Through this funded initiative, 30 sports clubs and sports federations have gained access to the Green Producers Tool to map their carbon emissions and make data-driven decisions.
Annually, we co-host 4 hands-on workshops (7 completed so far, with 1 more this year and 4 planned for next year). Through these gatherings, we have watched participating organisations start out as curious newcomers seeking guidance. Today, they are conscious, engaged, and proactive leaders in sustainability.
By committing to a multi-year journey from 2025 through 2027, NIF has incentivised lasting structural change. As we know, real climate action can never be "just a project", it requires long-term commitment and continuity. Norwegian sports are fully on board, and we are excited to see this momentum spread even further!
How It Works in Practice
Want to see how sports organisations are putting carbon accounting into practice?
Below are three case studies highlighting how measuring emissions leads to targeted, real-world climate action (note: case articles are in Norwegian):
Discover how The Norwegian Snowboard, Skate, and Surf Federation systematically integrates environmental considerations into their daily operations and events.
Photo: Pernille Holsvik
Learn how the Norwegian Alpine Ski Team uses carbon accounting as a foundation to build climate partnerships and drive emissions down across their winter operations.
Photo: Norges Skiforbund Alpint
A perfect example on how to use emission data to make informed choices:
After carbon footprint measurements revealed food and beverage as one of the largest emission drivers in sports, NIF launched a targeted challenge rewarding 50 local clubs for cutting food waste at their venues.
