Green Sport Awards 2024: Winners World Athletics and Pledgeball using sport to tackle climate change

It is not only in elite sport where changes can be made, but at grassroots level too.

That is what founder Katie Cross has been able to achieve through her research-driven charity Pledgeball.

Founded in 2019 as a way to empower fans to make small changes through pledges that can have a direct impact on reducing carbon emissions, Pledgeball is the BBC Green Sport Awards 2024 Grassroots Organisation of the Year.

“If we step back and look at what is happening around us, the loss of wildlife, the changing temperatures and impact that is already having, these are a series of dots that we will look back and wonder why we didn’t act and act rapidly,” Cross said.

“This change is not going to come from government and top unless we make a noise that we care and want change.”

Last season, fans from more than 180 clubs took part with the collective pledge of over 62m c02e per year – the equivalent of taking more than 13,000 cars off the road.

“We want this to become normalised across so many leagues so fans can really show that they care and take action,” Cross added.

“I want that to accelerate systemic change so we see organisations, governments, businesses take the lead we all want to see to protect those things we all truly care about.”

While consistently active in the football community, Pledgeball is increasingly partnering with other sports and organisations.

In the past 12 months, it has introduced a sustainable travel charter to help clubs choose a more sustainable way to travel, delivered a workshop on fan engagement with environmental sustainability and worked with Uefa and the Biathlon International Union.

“We can feel climate change is such a big issue that we cannot take part and so we turn off to it,” Cross said.

“What Pledgeball does is show a clear way in which you can have an impact, illustrate what that is and help see you are a part of a huge community that also cares and wants to take action.

“We get a lot of lovely feedback from fans to tell us they are so delighted that we are doing this, to keep on going – it is quite amazing.”