The Climate Cup

Turning climate action into a team sport

What is The Climate Cup?

The Climate Cup brings together climate action, nature restoration, wellbeing, student leadership and sport. Athletic Union clubs are challenged to develop their own sustainability actions and compete through positive impact.

The programme is athlete-led, giving clubs the freedom to create actions that reflect their sport, their members and their communities.

Clubs take action across areas including:

  • Climate action and carbon reduction
  • Nature restoration and volunteering
  • Pollution prevention
  • Sustainable travel
  •  Kit reuse and circular economy
  • Wellbeing through time in nature
  • Athlete voice and peer-to-peer inspiration

How it works

Across the year, students are supported by sustainability experts from Carbon Jacked, the University and professional content creators.

The programme includes:

Learning

Live sessions help students explore sport and sustainability, climate impacts on sport, careers, nature and wellbeing.

Competition

Teams are ranked on their actions across climate, nature and pollution, creating friendly competition and momentum across Athletic Union clubs.

Wellbeing

Students are encouraged to spend time in nature, volunteer on restoration projects and build a deeper connection with the environment.

Careers

The programme provides specialist sustainability career sessions, networking opportunities and internship pathways.

Strategic communications

Students are supported to share their actions and inspire others across the sporting community.

Student-led action

The Climate Cup has already inspired a wide range of club-led actions, including:

Mountaineering Club planning tree planting in the Peak District, where members regularly climb
Karting using e-karting venues, reducing emissions and encouraging its governing body to take more climate action
Sailing and Windsurfing moving to plant-based cleaning products to reduce chemical run-off
Loughborough Athletics partnering with JOGON to run a kit swap and donation day
Men’s Hockey travelling by train to fixtures instead of driving, reducing travel emissions

Impact so far

The Climate Cup has delivered practical action and strong student engagement.

Highlights include:

  • Partnerships with Trash Free Trails and Canal & River Trust
  • More than five miles of local river and canal cleaned
  • Over 100kg of waste cleared
  • Repair and maintenance work to bridges and footpaths
  • Student internships with SailGP and Carbon Jacked
  • More than £2,000 donated to environmental charities on behalf of the top three teams

Student feedback showed the programme was more engaging than typical sustainability initiatives, inspired action within clubs and helped students better understand what the University is doing on sustainability.

Why it matters

Sport has the power to reach people in ways that traditional sustainability campaigns often cannot. The Climate Cup uses team identity, competition and athlete leadership to make sustainability visible, practical and motivating.

By supporting students to act through their clubs, the programme builds skills, confidence and momentum that can influence sport at Loughborough and beyond.

Take part in The Climate Cup

If you are part of a Loughborough Athletic Union club, The Climate Cup is your opportunity to lead action for climate, nature and sustainability through sport.