Everything starts with knowledge, then comes commitment. The means to influence are available for everyone. The IFF fan survey late 2018 early 2019 displayed that the image of the IFF as an “Environmentally friendly” stood at 3,62 on the scale of 1-5 so there is still some work to be done.
In 2015 at the Women’s World Floorball Championships in Tampere, Finland the IFF and the local organizing committee (LOC) decided to apply for the EcoCompass label. To achieve the label the LOC had to comply with a set list of requirements ranging from type of used electricity through waste management to educating spectators about environmental choices. Committing partners required a lot of work but the biggest task was communication with fans and spectators in all channels. Even though social media is very effective huge results were achieved with on-site eco-guides.
As the head organisation of floorball, the IFF needs to set an example. We also want to assist the national federations as well as our sponsors in their efforts to be more sustainable. The IFF is also working on a sustainability manual for event organisers to help them in their work. Hopefully, this will also create new elements for partnership negotiations. Through the partnership with myclimate the IFF also considers models for sponsors where they can finance education projects to encourage children to discover possibilities to act and become active in climate protection. Further, sponsors can also contribute to cover unavoidable emissions caused by IFF staff travel to events. A good example are the preliminary plans of UNIHOC to create a stick model with compensated carbon emissions.
But how can the floorball community as a whole help the environment? It can be argued if the decisions of individuals really make a difference in the big picture (individual vs industry) but it will most definitely display individual commitment. We can all make choices in our consumer behavior: what we buy, what we eat, how we travel, etc. Here you can for example calculate your carbon footprint or travel emissions and compensate for those emissions. We believe it culminates in the slogan “One World One Ball”. We need to unite to conserve our planet to secure future generations the chance to enjoy the environment. And the game.
