Lausanne, Switzerland: The
International Hockey Federation (FIH) is delighted to announce that the finalists of the 2024 IOC Climate
Action Awards,
revealed today, include both FIH and Canadian hockey player Oliver Scholfield!
In the International
Federation category, FIH has been selected as finalist for working with the
artificial turf industry to develop a new technology that reduces the amount of
water needed for hockey pitches, achieving a 40 per cent reduction from London
2012 to Tokyo 2020, and an anticipated further 30 per cent reduction for Paris 2024. FIH has also developed “wet balls” that release water at the point of
contact between the ball, the surface and the stick, to ensure the sport can be
played at the highest level on dry turf.
In the athlete category, Oliver Scholfield has been selected for
co-founding “Racing to Zero”, a sport-focused sustainability consultancy that helps organisations
to understand and mitigate their environmental impact.
Commenting
on the news, FIH President Tayyab Ikram said: “Environmental protection
is a key part of our sustainability strategy. With water sadly becoming more
and more scarce, it is imperative to reduce the water consumption for hockey
pitches, and I’m happy with the progress made in this regard by the turf
manufacturers members of our Quality Programme. We also launched last year the ‘Give
back to forest’ initiative, consisting in planting thousands of trees all
around the world.”
The IOC
Climate Action Awards encourage, recognise and reward innovative projects from
National Olympic Committees (NOCs), International Federations (IFs) and
athletes aimed at reducing the environmental impact of sport, while inspiring
the wider Olympic Movement to take action.
The names
of the winners of this year’s awards will be announced during UN Climate Week,
between 22 and 29 September.
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