The IOC Climate Action Awards 2025
The 2025 edition of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Climate Action Awards is supported by Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner Deloitte across three categories: National Olympic Committees (NOCs), International Federations (IFs) and athletes. The awards aim to recognise, support and celebrate the actions of key stakeholders within the Olympic Movement to address climate change.
Through the awards, the IOC and Deloitte are collaborating to accelerate the reduction of emissions by NOCs, IFs and athletes through innovation, with the goal of making sport more sustainable.
The IOC Climate Action Awards 2025 invite innovative projects that actively reduce climate impact and align with clear sustainability or carbon reduction goals. Applicants are encouraged to present projects that deliver measurable environmental benefits, such as lowering overall carbon footprints, promoting the recycling of sports equipment, reducing waste and material use, or advancing sustainable food initiatives.
TOP Partner Deloitte is providing its unique expertise to develop programme criteria and prize offerings for winners.
Selection process
A judging committee made up of representatives from the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Deloitte and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will select winners from a shortlist of IFs, NOCs and athletes, drawn up by the IOC and Deloitte.
Winners
Athletes
Hugo is the co-founder of High Impact Athletes (HIA), a global movement that channels athlete visibility and resources towards evidence-based climate solutions. Through HIA, athletes direct funding to organisations delivering high-impact action in emissions-heavy sectors linked to sport, including aviation, energy and infrastructure. HIA now unites more than 240 athletes across 50 disciplines and 35 countries and has directed over USD 2 million to charities working on climate, global health and animal welfare.
Kevin founded Play Green to use sport as a platform for climate action in response to rising temperatures and desertification in Kenya. The programme has replaced single-use plastic bottles with reusable aluminium bottles for Kenya’s national rugby teams, saving nearly 1,000 plastic bottles every week. Through partnerships with 40 schools, Play Green combines tree-planting with workshops on water conservation, waste management and climate justice.
National Olympic Committees
Winner
International Biathlon Union (IBU)
As the first Winter International Federation to include its World Cups and World Championships in a climate transition plan, the IBU achieved a 6% reduction in emissions across all three scopes of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol in 2024, largely through increased use of renewable energy. Its Athlete Ambassador Programme empowers 26 athletes from 17 countries, while the Biathlon Climate Challenge has mobilised 12,000 fans and supported the planting of 150,000 trees in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Highly commended
World Sailing
World Sailing partnered with a maritime technology company to deploy an emissions-tracking system for support vessels at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, monitoring 285 boats. The data revealed opportunities to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by more than 20% through practical measures such as optimising fleet size, standardising engine power and providing eco-piloting training. Combined with an existing quota system that caps the number of coach boats, these measures support a long-term strategy to introduce efficiency standards across sailing events.
International Federations
Winner
NOC of the Netherlands (NOC*NSF)
The NOC*NSF has developed an integrated approach to sustainable mobility that is reshaping how athletes and staff travel. After identifying domestic travel as nearly 70% of its emissions, it combined electric vehicles, e-bikes and a digital mobility platform into one system, helping cut emissions by 40%.
Highly commended
NOC of Spain (COE)
Spain’s NOC has implemented a plan that prioritises sustainable mobility, 100% renewable electricity, solar panels, LED lighting and resource efficiency. Since 2018, it has reduced its emissions by close to 28% across all three scopes under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The COE also created the externally audited Sustainable Sports Seal, which has been awarded to 11 sporting events and seven sports organisations.
Prizes
The winning IF, NOC and athletes will receive the following awards, according to their category:
- IFs and NOCs: Customised Innovation Lab, delivered by Deloitte’s Greenhouse team, to accelerate their initiatives and impact.
- Athletes: Mentoring relationship over six months, approximately two hours a month, with a Deloitte sustainability consultant or leader, to accelerate their initiatives and impact.
For more information, please contact sustainability@olympic.org.