EHF sets ambitious goal to make handball “Europe’s most sustainable sport”
The 16th Ordinary EHF Congress in Basel is set to mark another milestone in European handball history, as the European Handball Federation is determined to put sustainable acting at the forefront of its doing.
Not only is one of the motions submitted aiming at making sustainable acting an integral part of the EHF Statutes, furthermore the first draft of an ‘EHF Sustainability Strategy’ will be presented to the Member Federations.
Over the past months the EHF Office has been working on the draft strategy together with German expert Christopher Jahns – and the strategy’s vision is bold as it would like to turn handball into “the most sustainable sport by 2027”.
Underneath that vision three goals have been set:
- Follow the ambition towards climate neutrality
- Be Europe’s thought leader for fairness and governance in sport
- Foster an equal, inclusive and skilled handball ecosystem and community
In order to reach these goals three action fields – the EHF as organisation, the federation’s tournaments and events as well as the EHF’s handball ecosystem and partners – have been identified, and six strategic priorities have been named.
- Climate action & energy
- Waste, consumption, recycling
- Equality and inclusion
- Health & education
- External governance (corruption, doping safety, incentives)
- Internal governance, reporting & communications
The proposed route to 2027 includes that for each of the priorities and within each of the three action fields a subject with KPIs, targets and measures is set.
In order to turn the existing draft into the federation’s final sustainability strategy, the EHF wants to take its stakeholders all along the way.
"Integrating our stakeholders’ perspectives into the final strategy is key for us and a core piece of the puzzle in order to be successful," says EHF Secretary General Martin Hausleitner.
"We understand the growing importance of sustainability for professional sports, not only on the ecological level, but also when it comes to the social and governance perspective.
"We have a mountain to climb, but together with our member federations we are now taking a first and important step towards a sustainable future for European handball."
