The Swiss National Olympic Committee (NOC) and two European Olympians are among the winners of this year’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) Climate Action Awards.

This is the second year of the IOC Climate Action Awards supported by Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner Deloitte, which serve to recognise the efforts of athletes, NOCs and International Federations in making sport more sustainable.

Great Britain’s Olympic rowing champion Imogen Grant and two-time beach volleyball Olympian for Bulgaria Lina Taylor were named as the 2024 winners in the athlete category during Climate Week NYC.

Grant won gold in the lightweight double sculls at Paris 2024 and has played a leading role in the launch of the Clean Water Alliance to improve river health and water quality, and as part of a sustainability group has helped introduce measures including recycling plastic waste and composting food waste at the national training centre for British rowing in Caversham. She is also an ambassador for the Rivers Trust which has encouraged water-testing initiatives, and has spoken at a number of events to educate athletes on sustainability.

Taylor’s Climate Executive Coaching non-profit helps accelerate climate action through science-based climate education, professional coaching and collaboration with professionals from government, corporations and NGOs. This has seen her engage with more than 2,000 people across 30 countries in two years.

In the NOC category, Swiss Olympic was recognised for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions for 2023 by 66% compared to the previous year, helped by initiatives including travelling by train instead of plane across Europe. It also has a Swiss Olympic Climate Fund to support National Federations’ carbon-reduction efforts.

This year’s successes for European athletes and NOCs follow on from the 2023 edition of the IOC Climate Action Awards, when the Spanish Olympic Committee and fencer Marcus Mepstead of Great Britain won the sustainable travel award.

The Spanish Olympic Committee was among the nominees in the NOC category announced in August for this year’s Climate Action Awards, along with the Hellenic Olympic Committee.

EOC Executive Committee member and Chair of the EOC Sustainability and Active Society Commission Berit Kjøll congratulated the European award winners.

She said: “It is inspiring to see athletes and NOCs from Europe continue to take their responsibilities to combat climate change very seriously and lead the way when it comes to innovation in this area

“We are pleased that the achievements of Swiss Olympic, Imogen Grant and Lina Taylor have been recognised by the IOC through the Climate Action Awards, and we are encouraged that many more athletes and NOCs are undertaking initiatives of their own which are making a difference.

“Sport is uniquely positioned to encourage wider society to make positive changes when it comes to climate action and sustainability. The EOC is firmly committed to contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we will continue to make reducing the environmental impact of all our events a priority.”

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