Pledgeball has been announced as winner of BBC Green Sport’s Grassroots Organization of the Year in recognition of the charity’s work to inspire climate action among sports fans and clubs. The awards celebrate individuals and organizations from across the world that are contributing to a more sustainable future through sports. The Gulbenkian Foundation’s Sustainability Programme is providing core funding to Pledgeball to grow its network and help drive widespread support for climate action.

Pledgeball leverages the competitive nature of sports to make climate action more accessible, visible and popular to a wide audience. Through a digital platform, Pledgeball mobilizes sports fans to talk about sustainability and pledge to make lifestyle changes, which are totaled on a leader board to show which clubs are saving the most carbon emissions. In 2024 alone, fans pledged to save over 62 million kg of potential emissions, equivalent to taking more than 13,600 cars off the road.

This public demonstration of fans’ support for climate action addresses a key barrier faced by the environmental sector: most people support change, but they believe others do not. Analysis of Pledgeball’s model has shown that fans are more likely to talk about climate change, feel empowered to take action and make sustainable choices.  

The charity is also successfully influencing structural change in the sports world by working with clubs and groups in the UK and internationally to adopt initiatives such as sustainable travel commitments for their players. Partnerships with major networks, including the UEFA Champions League, the International Biathlon Union, Bristol Sport Group and the Women’s Rugby World Cup, are helping Pledgeball integrate climate action into global sporting events. Pledgeball was selected to work with UEFA and Mastercard during the 2024 Champions League, where its work was promoted as an example of best practice, leading to 91,000 pledges from fans during the tournament.

The Foundation’s Sustainability Programme is supporting Pledgeball as part of our strategy to equip non-profit organizations to ‘reach beyond the bubble’ of typical audiences and involve broad groups of society in climate action. The Foundation has provided core funding to Pledgeball since 2023, recognizing its potential as a small and early-stage organization with a growing network of sports fans and partnerships, and opportunities to scale in the UK and internationally.

“We are delighted to see Pledgeball receive this BBC Green Sport Award. Pledgeball’s success is a clear indication that the sports community is not only ready for change but is eager to be part of the solution. The Foundation is proud to support Pledgeball in its mission to drive climate action at scale through the powerful medium of sport.”
— Louisa Hooper, Director of Sustainability Programme, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

“Our partnership with Pledgeball has provided us with the ideal vehicle to educate and inspire fans around environmental sustainability. Pledgeball also enables us to communicate with audiences who may not typically engage with content around climate change and sustainability.” 
— Peter Smith, Group Head of Change and Sustainability, Bristol Sport Group (including Bristol City FC)

“Pledgeball’s approach is rooted in robust social science principles and has already demonstrated significant behavior changes and emissions reductions. There is huge potential to scale this success up to achieve sustainability across the sector.”
— Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh, MBE, Director of UK Center for Climate Change and Social Transformation