Abstract
Cricket has an intimate relationship with the natural environment. As a climate-dependent sport that is reliant upon a stable environment for its reproduction, cricket is both sensitive to changes in that environment and exposed to these changes, particularly because of the climate-vulnerable environments in which the game is played, most notably in the Caribbean and Southern Asia. Increased temperatures and heat waves threaten the safety of players and spectators, as well as the preparation and maintenance of playing surfaces. Moreover, cricket is vulnerable to variable rainfall and changes in water supply. Air pollution, especially in the Indian subcontinent, continues to cloud the game. Rising sea levels and extreme weather events, particularly hurricanes, pose a significant threat to coastal communities in cricketing nations, especially in Bangladesh and the Caribbean. Equally, cricket has a substantial environmental impact, both from local resource use and the global carbon footprint of the cricket industry, which is comprised of elite international cricket and franchise competitions. Conversely, the cricket industry has made few attempts to quantify and mitigate its environmental impact. While comparative global sporting bodies like the IOC, FIFA and World Rugby have developed substantive environmental sustainability policies, the ICC has not meaningfully addressed its environmental impact. Moreover, outside of England, none of the major national governing bodies have published sustainability policies. In this study, I explore the drivers of this inaction, with a particular focus on the distinct economic and geopolitical dynamics of the cricket industry.
Presenters
Chris Mc MillanTeaching Fellow, School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Sports Management and Commercialization
KEYWORDS
Cricket, Climate Change, Sustainability, Capitalism
