According to Mike Berners-Lee, climate and sustainability expert and professor at Lancaster University, the carbon footprint of a pair of synthetic running shoes is at least 8kg CO²e. Depending on who’s figures you choose, somewhere between ½ billion and 1 billion pairs are sold worldwide. And the market is growing. Clearly, if we are going to tackle climate change, the sports industry will have to play a major role.

In 2024 the Carbon Literacy Project launched  their sector toolkit for the sports industry. We were delighted to be using the toolkit to launch the first open Carbon Literacy course for the Sports Industry and to date have certified over 140 individuals as Carbon Literate using the sports toolkit.

Course participants will;

• Gain an appreciation of the science of climate change, the scientific consensus and impacts;
• Examine the impact of the sports industry on climate change;
• Understand the need to take responsibility for reducing the carbon footprint of their own activities and that of their organisation.

We aim to support learners in achieving their personal sustainability goals and to provide the knowledge and tools that will help accelerate the collective change in understanding and behaviour to meet the climate challenge across their organisations.

Consisting of 2 3.5 hour sessions, the course is fully accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project and successful completion will result in the awarding of Carbon Literate certificates to each participant. In addition, where multiple individuals from the same organisation complete the course, organisations may choose to apply for Carbon Literate Organisation status.

Open Courses

These courses are open to anyone in the sports sector. This includes sports clubs (amateur and professional), equipment manufacturers, events organisers, governing bodies etc. Use the booking form below to reserve your place.

The following courses are taking bookings now!

Cohort 11: Thursday 19th February/Thursday 26th February 9:30am – 1:00pm GMT

Lancaster, United Kingdom Thu, 19 feb and 26 Feb 2026 at 09:30 GMT
Paris, France Thu, 19 Feb and 26 Feb 2026 at 10:30 CET
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Thu, 19 Feb and 26 Feb 2026 at 13:30 GST
Melbourne, Australia Thu, 19 Feb and 26 Feb 2026 at 20:30 AEDT
Perth, Australia Thu, 19 Feb  and 26 Feb 2026 at 17:30 AWST
New York, USA Thu, 19 Feb and 26 Feb 2026 at 04:30 EST

Cost per delegate: £150 (including certification fee) – bulk discounts available for 3 or more bookings from a single organisation, 

.Unfunded grassroots sports clubs/charities etc: £75 (including certification fee).

NOTE: the course is split over 2 sessions on 19th and 26th February. Attendance at both sessions is mandatory in order to become Carbon Literacy accredited.

*If you wish to purchase multiple seats for the same organisation, or wish to organise a course for your organisation, please drop me a line: john@creativeblogs.net

For every course booking we will plant a tree through One Tree Planted.

Delegate Testimonials

Really enjoyed it, lots of interesting topics covered and John helped make it relevant to sport.

Thanks so much for setting such a comfortable tone for the session, it was great to get everyone on the same side of the table to move the conversation forward in a practical and positive way!

Excellent course and highly engaging trainer. I was very impressed with the content and will take a lot from the sessions.

Great examples of the urgency to act and the current impacts of climate change. I also enjoyed listening to the experiences shared by the Australian course participants.

The trainer provided a very comfortable space to share and learn.

Trainer was fantastic. Knowledgeable. The style and storytelling were super engaging.

Course Booking Form

Course Tutor

John Sutton is a teacher and an accredited Carbon Literacy Trainerr. He is a longtime triathlete and a member of the adidas blogger community. He has completed around 90 triathlons including 10 Ironman races. He has represented GB at Age-Group Triathlon.  His blog is probably the longest running individual triathlon blog on the internet. A bit of a sport obsessive, John carries the current burden of supporting Southampton FC as well as holding a passion for professional cycling.

A few of John’s blog posts:

• How to be a green triathlete
• How sustainable are your running shoes?
• Made from sustainable materials

We plant trees. Currently we plant 16 trees a year in Australia supporting forest fire recovery through One Tree Planted.

Leaping girl image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

Carbon Stripes by Ed Hawkins CC by-SA 4.O