One of the primary missions of the International Handball Federation (IHF) is to make all the competitions organised under its aegis more sustainable and carbon-neutral and design them to have a zero-waste policy, addressing the challenges of climate change in recent decades.

While climate change is one of the defining issues of our time – the impact on the world is clear – sports in general and handball in particular can act as catalysts to improve the conditions and reduce the effects on our planet.

Now, the world handball flagship event has joined the cause. The 28th IHF Men's World Championship, which will be held in Poland and Sweden from 11 to 29 January 2023, is the first international championship in any sport in Sweden – and the first international handball championship in the world – to achieve the "Sustainable Event" certification!

The sustainability company Greentime in Varberg, Sweden, is responsible for the "Sustainable Event" certification by engaging independent auditors to review the sustainability work done by the Local Organising Committee based on the certification criteria.

All five venues in Sweden – Gothenburg, Malmö, Kristianstad, Jönköping and Stockholm – have received the certification due to the hard work put in to ensure that all targets have been met and all the necessary measures have been taken to comply with the strict rules.
 
"Over the past decade, handball championships have been expanding their work on staging sustainable events. In the run-up to the European Championship in 2020, we got to grips with our work on sustainability, achieving international success with the activities that we performed," said Krister Bergström, CEO at Handbolls-VM 2023 Sverige AB, the organiser of the championship.

"Leading up to the World Championship in January, we then decided to obtain the sustainability certification. Over the past 18 months, everyone involved in organising the World Championship has been working together towards certification. Now we are there – which makes the 28th IHF Men's World Championship 2023 the first international handball championship to achieve sustainability certification. It feels really good," added Bergström.
 
The certification is provisional at this stage. The final certification will be received only after the World Championship, once the auditors have finished on-site inspections of the arenas to ensure that the host cities and the event itself comply with the objectives set, including plans in the areas of organisation, social sustainability and the environment.

This also includes being able to present an equality plan. A plan to persuade spectators to travel using public transport, details of how volunteers are involved in sustainability, separation of waste at source in the arenas, digital communication and ensuring that the coffee served in the public kiosks is KRAV or Fairtrade-labelled.

"The movement that we have seen during the planning of this championship in terms of sustainability is unique, and we have been impressed by what the organisers of the Championship, the cities and the arenas have achieved together," says Simon Strandvik, CEO at Greentime AB, the sustainability company that inspected the venues.

Once again, it is proven that handball adheres to true values like sustainability and accessibility, with the 2023 IHF Men's World Championship being an actual test for this, one that will be passed with flying colours.