Greenwashing Sport

Greenwashing Sport examines sport’s complicity with our environmental crisis, arguing that first, sport creates its own carbon footprint and second, it provides the gas and petroleum industries with social licenses to operate by accepting sponsorship that imbues corporations from these sectors with a pro-social image. Using Formula 1, FIFA Men’s World Cup, and the Olympics as case studies, Miller argues that oil companies make cynical use of sport as a means of ‘greenwashing’ their public image, while also considering the work of activists who resist such complicity, such as progressive football fans and non-government organizations.

Professional sports promote their green credentials and yet remain complicit in our global environmental crisis

Sports are responsible for significant carbon footprints through stadium construction and energy use, player and spectator travel, and media coverage. The impact of sports on climate change is further compounded by sponsorship deals with the gas and petroleum industries—imbuing those extractive corporations with a positive image by embedding them within the everyday pleasure of sport. Toby Miller argues that such activities amount to "greenwashing".

Scrutinizing motor racing, association football, and the Olympics, Miller weighs up their environmental policies, their rhetoric of conservation and sustainability, and their green credentials. The book concludes with the role of green citizenship and organic fan activism in promoting pro-environmental sports.

This is a must-read for students and researchers in media, communications, sociology, cultural studies, and environmental studies.