SPORTING CHANGE: Do we need a ‘Marcus Rashford’ for the climate?
The Sporting Change series from the Cool Down Sport For Climate Action Network draws together expert insight and academic rigour for the sport community, addressing the most pressing issues at the nexus of global sport and climate breakdown.
There is a widespread truism that sport has power to change lives - and that athletes are imbued with this power. While this feels true, this power remains elusive. We do not know how it functions, in what contexts, and whether it can be harnessed to accelerate the social transformations and lifestyle changes required to stave off climate breakdown.
As a growing number of elite athletes use their platforms to call for more ambitious climate action and lifestyle changes, it is crucial to understand the impacts that athlete leadership could have - both on the brave athletes that pursue it and those that they are speaking to. Freddie Daley chatted to Dr. Steve Westlake, a leading expert on low-carbon leadership, who describes it as a “crucial missing link” to addressing climate change.
Freddie Daley [FD]: What is your definition of leadership?
Dr. Steve Westlake [SW]: My definition of leadership is a broad one. A leader is a person who is trying to influence a group towards a common goal. The group being influenced can be very broad or quite narrow. As humans, we probably evolved to follow leaders because they were leaders for a reason. Perhaps they had specific skills for gathering food, or certain knowledge about predators, and if we followed them, we were more likely to survive. In our research, which is focused on the UK, we have looked at celebrities, politicians and business leaders that are advocating for greater action on climate change. Elite athletes and sports stars would undoubtedly fit into our definition of leaders.
FD: And why is leadership so important for addressing climate breakdown?
SW: Because of the type of problem climate change presents. Climate change is primarily driven by energy use and the consumption of resources - and that cannot be separated from the way people go about their lives. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions requires significant lifestyle changes, especially in the Global North and among wealthy citizens. Although these changes are essential, they are deeply contentious, can feel challenging, and face strong resistance from some parts of society.
To navigate these challenges, we need leadership - I believe it is a crucial missing link in efforts to tackle climate change. The public needs to be shown that changes are essential, how easy or difficult these shifts might be, and why a low-carbon lifestyle can be fulfilling and joyful. But it is not straight forward. The wealthier you are, the more likely you are to lead a high-carbon lifestyle where you consume more resources and, as a result, cause comparably greater levels of emissions. This creates a tension for those with influence and sway amongst the public that want to be low-carbon leaders - and our research suggests that this tension is potentially problematic.
FD: Could you explain that within the context of sport?
SW: Take Marcus Rashford, for example. I don't think there's a conflict between him advocating for feeding children properly, trying to reduce economic inequality, and his relatively privileged position in society. There's no inconsistency between his own lifestyle and lived experience, and his mission to help kids. Whereas if Rashford was advocating for the rapid reduction of emissions, while himself living a very high-carbon lifestyle, there is a clear contradiction. It’s a situation that faces many people with high social status, and it can prevent them speaking up on climate change.
Our research suggests that this is an embodied contradiction - and it is powerful because we all attach meaning to what other people do, especially those with prestige that we look up to. Our research shows that influential people, such as elite athletes, who advocate for action on climate change but without making changes themselves will not be received well by the public. This is because we feel the embodied contradiction between their words and actions. So we perceive them as less trustworthy, credible, moral and knowledgeable. Crucially, though, they are also less inspirational.
FD: So, if an athlete has prestige and influence, do they need to acknowledge this tension of leadership and attempt to address it?
SW: Yes. If an athlete has prestige and influence, fans and followers will take cues from them - some conscious and some unconscious. We're more likely to buy products that they promote and listen to what they say on social issues, even when they do not have any specific expertise. Our tendency to follow people with prestige means that if they are displaying and modeling lifestyles that are high-consumption, high-status, and high-luxury, we're likely to try to achieve that too because it’s aspirational. This process is super-charged by the demands of a growth-based economy where we are encouraged to consume more and more. For example the push towards ever-bigger SUVs. The tension for those advocating for climate action while continuing to display a high-carbon lifestyle is that their actions appear to be pulling the opposite way to their words, so they are leading in two conflicting directions, and this limits the effectiveness of their advocacy. In other words, those that “talk the talk”, but do not “walk the walk”, may be slowing down the changes we need to see throughout society.
FD: While this is understandable, what are these leaders in sport supposed to do to navigate this tension, especially when their roles as professional athletes require energy-intensive behaviours, such as frequent flying?
SW: It is difficult - and there’s obviously a limit to the agency of any individual due to the restrictions of the systems within which they live. A footballer, for instance, can’t refuse to fly to a pre-season friendly on the other side of the world, even though they might wince at the unnecessary environmental damage, without facing serious consequences that may be detrimental to their career. But in terms of navigating this tension, and becoming a low-carbon leader, it’s about going beyond awareness raising and advocating for change, to being the change wherever they can.
The change needs to be honest, consistent and non-tokenistic because the public see straight through gimmicks and publicity stunts. A rich athlete buying a high-end EV is better than them buying a fossil fuel powered super-car, but on its own it doesn’t signal the scale of the huge social changes that are required to help avert the climate emergency. If professional athletes really want to make a difference then it’s going to require some ongoing effort to significantly reduce their overall environmental impact. And that won’t necessarily be easy.
FD: What is the public attitude towards athletes that “walk the walk” and lead by example in adopting low-carbon behaviours as part of their climate activism?
SW: While our research hasn’t focused specifically on athletes, the findings we have on CEOs, politicians and celebrities are definitely applicable. And they show that there is widespread public appetite for influential figures to “walk the talk” on low-carbon lifestyles and lead by example. In fact, doing so increases the credibility of the leader with the public and improves the level of trust in their message.
A crucial driver of this sentiment is the perceived fairness of changes in behaviour. The focus groups and surveys we conducted showed that 90% of the public believed that “people with the biggest carbon footprints should make the biggest lifestyle changes to tackle climate change”. And this sentiment does not come at the cost of collective climate action: more than 77% agreed that “Everyone should make lifestyle changes at about the same time to tackle climate change”.
What this suggests is that not only is there a huge appetite from the public for low-carbon leadership to help chart a path forward towards a more sustainable future, but that this type of leadership works: it inspires others to act and fuels further collective action. This scalable change is exactly what is required to rapidly cut emissions.
FD: So for many elite athletes that are passionate about tackling climate breakdown, becoming a leader in the space might entail a sacrifice?
SW: Sacrifice is a bit of a taboo in climate circles, but our research shows that doing something difficult really enhances a leader’s credibility because if we see someone doing something that requires effort and commitment, we believe they must really mean it and they must really care about it. And that signal of commitment makes us more likely to do the same thing. It’s the classic “actions speak louder than words” - and difficult actions speak much louder. Sometimes walking the talk is not easy - and people recognise that and appreciate it. But that’s not to say that low-carbon behaviour has to be framed as a sacrifice. There are many positives and “co-benefits” to taking low-carbon actions, for instance the health benefits of active travel, and athletes can emphasise those too.
FD: Many athletes often cite the fact that they are wary of using their platform because of being labelled a “hypocrite” or being told to “stick to sport”. Is this understandable?
SW: That is a totally understandable concern, and unfortunately it’s unlikely to go away. The media, for instance, weaponises the idea of “virtue signalling” and uses it to push back against low-carbon behaviour change because they have a vested interest in the status quo and preserving highly-unequal lifestyles. An influential leader who tries to advocate for lower-carbon living will often find themselves accused of “hypocrisy”, as we see time and time again in sport and beyond. This, combined with the difficulty of avoiding some high-carbon behaviours such as flying, and the fact that it’s impossible to be perfectly low-carbon, mean that it often feels easier to not even try.
But I would stress that the challenge we face - climate breakdown and the nature crisis - requires bold, brave and decisive leadership. To deliver the rapid emissions cuts we need, leaders need to be courageous. It is not about tip-toeing around and waiting for the public and media to get on board. It’s about seeing the crisis and showing others what must be done by doing it yourself. When it comes to tackling climate breakdown, winning slowly is losing. Top athletes may be forgiven for saying “But it’s not my job.” That’s fair enough, but whose job is it, and are they doing it? In my view, everyone has an opportunity to step up and lead.
FD: If you were going to advise a professional athlete on how to be a low-carbon leader in sport, what guiding principles would you give them?
SW: There are many ways to go about becoming a low-carbon leader, including:
Use your full sphere of influence: Leading by example is most likely to be effective if athletes are also seen to be using the full scope of their leadership power – or their sphere of influence – to address climate change. For instance, campaigning and advocating for change without your organisation or club, while using your status to raise awareness and promote climate action. These visible actions should be taken alongside leading by example with low-carbon behaviour. This shows that the leader is serious and committed, and lessens the chances of their personal action being dismissed as virtue signalling or tokenistic.
Be the change: Adopting low-carbon behaviours that appear to be undermined by other lifestyle activities will likely reduce the impact of leading by example and allow it to be dismissed as simply a gesture. For instance, the positive messaging effect of reducing meat consumption or using active travel will be undermined by private jet use, unnecessary flights or driving large SUVs. The aim should be to reduce the entirety of a leader’s lifestyle emissions, rather than just one aspect. The public understands that leaders must sometimes engage in high-carbon activities, such as flying, but efforts should be made to visibly reduce unnecessary carbon-intensive behaviours.
Clearly communicate the impact: It is important that the public understands by how much a leader’s low-carbon behaviours reduce their carbon footprint. This helps to highlight the most impactful behaviours and avoid misconceptions that a particular behaviour is irrelevant, or that a low-impact behaviour is more effective than it actually is. For example, if particular behaviour changes halve a leader’s carbon footprint, it would be wise to say this.
Emphasise a sense of moral responsibility and collective purpose: People respond to leaders who take morally motivated action, including self-sacrifice, for the benefit of the groups they lead. A sense of collective action can be encouraged when leading by example is perceived as genuinely motivated.
Acknowledge the realities: Leaders are much more likely to have greater choice in their behavioural options than members of the public, and more scope to reduce emissions immediately. Acknowledging that “not everyone can do this now” is likely to avoid negative reactions based on perceptions of inequality and privilege.
Be clear that behaviour change is only part of the solution: The public understands that systemic changes are required to tackle climate change and objects to responsibility being laid at their feet. As such, leading by example should be framed as a contribution, along with new technologies and international cooperation, rather than being framed as a standalone solution.
Lead by example together: The extent to which observers identify with a leader is likely to be a key factor in how much influence the behaviour has. Since people are prone to in-group and out-group loyalties, “cultural protest” against out-group leaders could be mitigated by leaders acting in concert with others who represent different groups. In other words, athletes should work together and support each other in their leadership journeys. In fact, athlete-to-athlete influence has the potential to be very powerful and effective too.
Be ready for a rough ride: The unforgiving combination of public and media scrutiny will not go away. A leader who adopts high-impact low-carbon behaviour that challenges social norms can be viewed as exercising power, and this can prompt both strong positive and negative reactions. Persistence is likely to be required when leading by example with low-carbon behaviour, along with a thick skin - characteristics that athletes undoubtedly have in abundance.
Consistency over time is crucial: People are highly attuned to publicity stunts and opportunism from leaders. To increase trust and the potential for emulation, behaviour changes should be long-term, and preferably motivated by genuine concern. Again, consistency is something that most athletes will understand well.
Keep going: Leadership is about movement and maintaining a direction of travel towards shared goals. Lifestyle changes to reduce emissions are likely to be necessary as an ongoing process and not something that is “achieved” and then forgotten about. Keep going and do not give up.
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To read more about Dr. Steve Westlake’s research, see his latest papers in Energy Research & Social Science and Nature Humanities & Social Science Communications. You can follow him on X and LinkedIn.