Small decisions, big impact: what FIBA 3x3 shows us about sustainable event delivery

A recent FIBA 3x3 event in Japan is a useful reminder that making sport more sustainable doesn’t always begin with one huge initiative. Often, it starts with the decisions made every day in planning and delivering an event.

At the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Opener in Japan earlier this year, sustainability was built into a number of areas of event delivery - from the materials used for signage to energy consumption and team travel.

Held on 25–26 April, the event introduced measures designed to reduce its environmental impact and support more responsible event operations, working with the Utsunomiya Local Organising Committee and local partners.

Among the initiatives were 70 pieces of event signage made using recycled and biomass-based materials, including banners and information boards used throughout the venue and across the city.

The event also accounted for greenhouse gas emissions associated with participating teams and player travel, venue electricity and generators, with FIBA reporting that 16 tonnes of CO₂ emissions were offset as part of the event’s carbon programme.

Making sustainability part of event delivery

None of these actions, viewed in isolation, will solve the environmental challenges facing sport.

But that’s also the point.

For Sports Environment Alliance, examples like Utsunomiya demonstrate what can happen when sustainability begins to move beyond being a standalone initiative and becomes part of the way an event is actually planned and delivered.

What materials are we purchasing? Where will they go after the event? How is the venue powered? How are athletes, officials and spectators travelling?

What are we measuring - and what could we do differently next time?

These can seem like relatively small operational decisions. Multiply them across a season, a competition, a venue or an entire sporting organisation, however, and they become part of something much bigger.

FIBA itself describes Utsunomiya’s initiatives as an early step in the event’s sustainability journey, with a commitment to continuing to strengthen its approach in future editions.

That willingness to measure, learn and improve matters.

From individual initiatives to a broader approach

The Utsunomiya event also sits within a wider sustainability programme across FIBA 3x3.

FIBA has maintained ISO 20121 certification, the international standard for sustainable event management, for three consecutive years. Its 3x3 events have also trialled initiatives including reusable event structures, public transport for participants, reducing food waste and disposable plastics, improved recycling and renewable energy solutions.

It’s another reminder that sustainable sport isn’t necessarily about finding the one big answer, but about looking across the entire way sport operates and asking where we can make better decisions - then doing it consistently.

From an international event to a community club, there are opportunities everywhere.

And when those better decisions become simply the way we do things, that’s when real change starts to build.