The UCI has announced that 80 founding signatories have committed to its Climate Action Charter as the sport of professional cycling makes a first united step to reduce its environmental impact.
By signing the UCI charter, federations, men’s and women’s WorldTour teams and major race organisers like ASO, Flanders Classics and RCS Sport have committed to measuring and reporting emissions to internationally recognised standards. They will also take action to reduce waste and energy demands.
Jumbo-Visma, Trek-Segafredo and EF Education-EasyPost are amongst the teams to sign-up, while the presence of ASO, Flanders Classics and RCS Sport means most of the sport’s biggest races are involved, including the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia.
Professional cycling promotes cycling but also creates a significant carbon footprint as race convoy’s travel long distances each day and riders and teams travel across Europe and the globe to compete. Races also generate significant waste.
A report compiled by nZero with the Tour of Luxembourg found that 49% of emissions associated with the race came from teams, mainly travel to and from the race, while the biggest source of organiser emissions come from race vehicles and helicopters for television broadcasts.
The UCI's move comes after stage 10 of this year’s Tour de France was blocked by a group of protestors demanding action against climate change, raising awareness in the peloton and the sport. Riders like Michael Woods have already started to reduce their own carbon footprint.
The UCI described its Climate Action Charter as “an important stepping-stone before sustainability obligations are formalised over the coming years in collaboration with the sport’s stakeholders, in line with the UCI’s Agenda 2030 and ongoing work to reform professional cycling and update UCI Regulations, contract requirements and organiser guides.”
The full UCI Climate Action Charter and its eight commitments are published on the UCI website.
“I am delighted that so many stakeholders have already committed to our UCI Climate Action Charter. Our aim when adopting this Charter was to unite cycling’s stakeholders to reduce our sport’s emissions and help slow climate change,” UCI President David Lappartient said.
“We need to work together, learn from each other and collaborate on solutions for the shared challenges we face to achieve climate neutrality for our sport.”
“It is clear from the early response that our stakeholders share our concerns and desire to contribute to a better world, and I look forward to seeing the list of signatories lengthen.”
The UCI will help signatories meet the commitments through continued support and will provide the necessary tools and resources for initiatives in favour of the UCI’s sustainability strategy.
A more detailed status update will be published in 2024 following an audit of signatories and analysis of the emissions reporting.
