“No part of our sport will remain untouched” says David Pocock, former professional rugby player and current Australian Senator, in World Rugby’s recently released report that projects the direct impacts rugby will suffer globally in a warming world.
Scientific evidence, interviews with experts and data from ten member unions, including U.S, South Africa and France, illustrate the projected impacts of climate change on rugby in a world that has warmed by 2 degrees or more from pre-industrial levels. Evidence indicates we have likely already surpassed 1.5 degrees celsius.
Impacts include heatwaves affecting athlete performance and spectator health, an increased frequency of droughts that will affect turf pitches and infrastructure impacts from flooding and/or sea-level rise.
Of the ten nations included in the report, South Africa and U.S. are projected to be hit the hardest within the datasets available. They have the highest increase in number of hot days with temperatures above 35 degrees celsius, increased frequency and intensity of droughts, increased frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation and flash floods.
The U.S. will host the Men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2033. 2 of the 13 Major League Rugby stadiums will be at risk from annual marine submersion in a two degree celsius warming scenario, sobering news for JFK Stadium in Hoboken, New Jersey and Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Jamie Farndale, Scotland 7s captain and Scottish Rugby’s Sustainability Ambassador commented, “This report will make difficult reading for the organisers of the upcoming USA Rugby World Cups. With the competition to take place in cities all over the country, matches will face all kinds of different environmental risks – from extreme heat and drought to increased rainfall and flooding. The ability to effectively host an event of this scale is going to be hugely affected without urgent action.”
That urgent action can manifest now through the report’s recommendations to enhance rugby’s resilience to climate change. They include climate projections being integrated into relevant commercial and policy decision-making processes, a solidarity funding mechanism to support the most vulnerable rugby communities and rugby stakeholders developing and implementing plans to reduce environmental impacts.
Bill Beaumont, the chairperson of World Rugby summed these efforts up, saying “The choices facing us may appear difficult and stark at first but in reality, when faced with the alternatives, they are really quite simple.”
