Sport’s most impactful climate movement.
Built by the world’s top researchers. Backed by the world’s best athletes.

The long-term ambition is to make high-impact climate action a normal part of being an athlete. Not a niche cause or a risky stand, but a standard expectation, like community engagement or anti-doping. The goal is to break the hypocrisy trap permanently and create a path where athletes lead confidently, sport reduces its footprint over time, and the systems behind global sport evolve because athletes helped accelerate the transition.

Growth will come through three channels. First, athlete-to-athlete influence,  athletes encouraging each other to join. Second, support from teams, National Olympic Committees, and International or National Federations, who can help amplify stories and integrate the Fund into their sustainability strategies. Third, brand partnerships that focus on genuine climate impact rather than marketing. When those three elements align, growth becomes exponential rather than incremental.

The level of alignment across athletes from completely different sports has been striking. Whether it’s golf, tennis, hockey, rowing, or athletics, athletes recognise the same barriers and want the same credible path forward. The sense of collective momentum, and the honesty underlying it, is incredibly powerful. It shows that climate action in sport is shifting from something individual and reactive to something collaborative and proactive.

Climate impacts are affecting sport directly, through heatwaves, wildfire smoke, travel disruption, and damaged venues. Protecting the future of sport is not a political issue; it is a practical one. The Fund focuses on science-based solutions that are broadly supported across the climate community, not on political ideology.

The Fund is designed to scale. If just one thousand athletes committed one percent of their income, it would unlock millions in annual support for the most effective climate solutions in the world. That level of concentrated, high-impact giving is rare in sport and has enormous potential. Beyond the funding, the cultural influence of athletes makes the movement even more powerful.

Athletes are already doing what they can within their own sphere, but they cannot decarbonise aviation routes, global tournament schedules, or stadium construction materials through personal choices. The Fund is designed to support the solutions that can fix those structural issues. It is not an either-or. Personal responsibility and systemic action can happen in parallel.

Performance would look like carbon-neutral claims or offsets that don’t address root causes. This is the opposite. It is transparent, evidence-based, and focused on systemic solutions. Athletes are clear about the limits of their own footprint and honest about the reality of their careers. That transparency is the best antidote to the idea of performance.

That contradiction is real, and athletes feel it deeply. But waiting for the system to be perfect before taking action would mean waiting forever. Athletes can lead even while acknowledging the tension. Their leadership helps build pressure for reform and supports the solutions that can decarbonise the travel and energy systems sport relies on. Change often starts with individuals acting despite the imperfections around them.

Backlash is real, but silence has its own cost. Many athletes describe feeling pressure to choose between staying quiet or being called hypocrites. This Fund gives them a credible foundation to speak from: independent research, transparent impact, and a collective movement behind them. It replaces fear with confidence and replaces isolation with community. The more athletes speak together, the safer and more normal these conversations become.

Sport sits at the centre of culture. It shapes entertainment, media, fashion, sponsorship, and even political conversations. A single athlete’s post can reach more people than a major newspaper. When athletes speak, they spark conversations across households, workplaces, and online communities. Climate impacts are also already affecting sport, from extreme heat to wildfire smoke, which makes the issue relevant to fans in a direct way.

Because athletes are among the most trusted voices in society. Research from MIT and AimHi Earth shows they are trusted more than politicians, CEOs, or even scientists. Fans might not follow policy debates or climate summits, but they follow the athletes they admire. Sport reaches billions of people, crosses cultural boundaries, and creates shared emotional moments. When athletes lead, people pay attention. That influence can shift attitudes and expectations across society in a way few other groups can.

Success looks like thousands of athletes contributing millions of dollars each year to the most effective climate solutions in the world. It looks like major policy wins in aviation and energy, accelerated innovation in clean technologies, and real structural shifts that reduce emissions across global sport. But success is also cultural: athletes leading with credibility, fans seeing that leadership, and effective climate action becoming a normal part of the sporting world.

That is exactly why we work with an independent evaluator. Giving Green assesses each organisation against strict criteria, including the strength of evidence. Their evaluation is transparent and published publicly. This removes guesswork and ensures athletes are supporting organisations with the strongest evidence behind them.

These sectors drive the majority of sport’s climate footprint and are responsible for some of the largest sources of global emissions. They are also areas where strategic philanthropy can unlock outsized impact, whether through aviation fuel standards, clean energy expansion, or shifts to lower-carbon materials. By targeting these systems directly, athletes can support solutions that protect the future of their sport, rather than focusing only on incremental or symbolic actions.

Two things protect credibility: independence and transparency. Giving Green evaluates impact separately from HIA’s athlete engagement work, and the portfolio is updated annually with public reasoning. We will publish transparent updates on contributions, allocations, and outcomes. Credibility is essential for athletes, and the Fund is built to maintain it over the long term.

We have clear boundaries. Any partner must support genuine climate progress, not use the Fund as a PR shield. Contributions are ring-fenced and cannot be tied to marketing claims about neutrality. We retain full transparency over how funds are used, and we will not endorse messaging that misrepresents the purpose or impact of the Fund.

No. Athletes are encouraged to reduce their footprint where they can, and many already do. But the reality is that individual actions alone cannot decarbonise aviation, energy systems, or stadium infrastructure. The Fund targets the systems that athletes cannot change on their own. It is a complement to personal responsibility, not a substitute for it.

If reputation protection were the goal, athletes could use offsets and make carbon-neutral claims. The fact that they are choosing not to do that is important. They are being open about their own limitations and supporting systemic solutions that genuinely matter. This is not about image; it is about impact, honesty, and responsibility.

Greenwashing usually happens when organisations make claims that overstate impact or imply that emissions are being “cancelled out.” This Fund avoids all of that. It does not claim neutrality, does not offer offsets, and does not suggest that donations erase emissions. Everything is grounded in independent research, transparent reporting, and clear boundaries around what the Fund can and cannot do. The focus is on supporting solutions with proven potential to reduce emissions at scale, not on marketing claims.

It shouldn’t, because we’re very clear about what the Fund is and is not. It is not a substitute for reduction. It is not about absolution. It is a pathway for athletes to contribute to the climate transition while continuing to pursue the sports they love competing in. Athletes are choosing to support the solutions that matter most for the future of sport, while being honest about the limits of what they can change individually.

The Fund aligns closely with S4CA because it supports high-impact “beyond value chain mitigation,” which the UN actively encourages. It does not rely on offsetting and does not claim to neutralise emissions. Instead, it supports the systemic climate solutions that S4CA identifies as essential for long-term decarbonisation. It complements the framework by helping athletes demonstrate leadership, advocate for climate action and support credible expert-led interventions.

No. Some offsets have value in specific contexts. But they are not the highest-impact option for athletes or for sport. If the aim is to protect the future of sport, the most effective contribution athletes can make is to support the solutions that reduce emissions across entire industries. That is what the Fund is designed to do.

Offsets compensate for past emissions, but they rarely transform the systems responsible for future emissions. The evidence shows that systemic solutions, including aviation policy, clean energy innovation, and novel low-carbon materials, deliver far greater long-term impact. Athletes want their contribution to matter at scale, and systemic interventions offer that leverage.

Because the methodology is public, rigorous, and updated every year. Giving Green evaluates evidence based on their Scale, Feasibility, and Funding Need framework, which looks at the magnitude of potential impact, the likelihood of success, and funding gaps within organisations. Their work is peer-reviewed by climate and economic experts, and their reasoning is openly published. This level of transparency is rare in the climate space and gives athletes a clear rationale for why these solutions matter most.

Athletes want confidence that their support is actually shifting the needle. Giving Green specialises in identifying high-impact climate solutions using transparent, evidence-based analysis. Their recommendations focus on the systems that drive most of sport’s footprint, including aviation, energy, and infrastructure. They bring deep expertise that athletes and teams do not have, and their independence ensures the portfolio is based on impact, not opinion.

High Impact Athletes oversees athlete engagement and communications, Giving Green provides independent evaluation, and an advisory group supports strategic decisions. The model is designed to combine athlete leadership with expert input while keeping the evaluation process entirely separate from fundraising and communications.

All donations go into a pooled fund that is distributed proportionally across the climate organisations in the portfolio. Giving Green updates its recommendations annually, so allocations adjust as new evidence emerges. This ensures donations always go to the most effective climate solutions available at the time, rather than being locked into a fixed list.

No. Giving Green does not receive any share of the donations. Their work is independently funded so that they can focus entirely on rigorous, impartial analysis. This separation protects credibility and ensures that evaluation is not influenced by fundraising considerations.

No. High Impact Athletes does not take a percentage or fee from athlete donations. One hundred percent of contributions flow directly to the climate solutions selected through independent evaluation. The structure is intentionally designed to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure the focus stays on impact, not revenue.

Athletes are often the first movers, and teams tend to follow once momentum builds. We expect clubs, NOCs, and federations to integrate the Fund into their sustainability work, partner on storytelling with their athletes, and consider how high-impact giving fits into broader climate commitments. Athlete leadership can speed up that process.

Only under strict conditions. Any contribution must support genuine climate progress, not serve as a PR programme. Transparency is the guardrail. If a partner wants an association without substance, we are not the right platform.

This is the reality of global sport today, and athletes are often stuck in the middle. They do not sign those sponsorship deals. The Fund is designed for that reality. It allows athletes to support the solutions that can actually decarbonise aviation, energy, and infrastructure, the core sectors behind those sponsorships. Over time, athlete-led action can help shift what “credible climate leadership” looks like for teams and partners as well.

Athletes cannot control sponsorship contracts, competition schedules, or operational decisions, but they can control how they use their voice and their influence. Research shows athletes are among the most trusted messengers in society, and that gives them cultural power that teams often don’t have. Athlete leadership has already shaped public attitudes on equality, health, and social justice. Climate is no different. When athletes act collectively, they shift expectations across the whole ecosystem and help accelerate change from the ground up.

No. The Fund is not an excuse to ignore reductions. Athletes should still make responsible choices where possible. What the Fund does is target the parts of the system that individual behaviour cannot fix. It is a way to contribute to long-term solutions while continuing to compete.

This is the pressure athletes feel most strongly. They compete in a system built on global travel, energy-intensive venues, and resource-heavy infrastructure. Athletes do not control those systems, but they are expected to answer for them. The Fund gives athletes a credible way to act within that reality by supporting the solutions that can actually decarbonise those systems over time. No athlete is claiming to be perfect. They are saying, “I know I’m part of the problem, and I’m helping fund the solution.” That honesty is what makes this credible.

No. The Fund is not designed to replace personal responsibility or reductions. Athletes should reduce their footprint where they can. But individual actions cannot decarbonise aviation, energy generation, or the materials sport relies on. The Fund provides a credible way to support the systemic solutions that individuals cannot influence alone.

No. Athletes earn very differently across sports, so setting a minimum would exclude people the movement wants to include. Some athletes commit one percent of their income, some donate after specific performances, and some prefer a single annual gift. What matters is meaningful participation, not a uniform number.

Signing up is not a legal contract, but it is a meaningful commitment. Many athletes have decided to pledge based on their competition schedules or income cycles, and more are preparing to activate performance-linked commitments. The expectation is that if you join, you contribute. To maintain credibility, we will publish transparent updates so people can see real momentum, not just names on a list.

It solves a very specific dilemma that athletes face. They want to act, but the choices available to them were limited to offsets, silence, or personal sacrifice. None of those options fixes the underlying systems driving sport’s emissions.

The Fund provides a fourth option: supporting high-impact, research-backed solutions that can decarbonise those systems over time. It allows athletes to acknowledge their role in the problem while actively contributing to the solution, and it turns climate leadership into something athletes can do collectively rather than individually.

Athletes have cared about climate for a long time, but the system they compete in made it extremely hard to act without backlash. Speaking up often led to accusations of hypocrisy, while staying silent felt like wasting influence. At the same time, the biggest parts of sport’s footprint - aviation, energy and infrastructure, are outside any individual athlete’s control.

Sport One Carbon Zero was created to give athletes a credible way to act that matches the scale of the problem. It focuses on systemic climate solutions, not offsets or individual guilt, and it allows athletes to lead without needing to be perfect. It breaks the “hypocrisy trap” and gives athletes a clear path from concern to meaningful action.