Climate change: the next game changer for sport and exercise psychology

According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change experts, recent changes across the climate system are unprecedented, and the next decades are the most decisive in human history to drastically reduce global annual greenhouse gas emissions. This text argues that sport and exercise psychology, as a scientific discipline, needs to address anthropogenic climate change by helping athletes, sport students, psychologists, coaches, physical educators, youth, sport communities and stakeholders and all populations concerned by our field to adopt adaptation and mitigation behaviors and trigger social changes in their respective communities. We briefly present the bidirectional associations between physical activity, sport and climate change. Then, we highlight three key points about climate change: its effects on health, equity issues and behaviors change in line with currently needed climate efforts. Furthermore, we suggest a series of research questions for physical activity and sport psychology domains. Finally, we conclude by presenting a call to action.

Automated summary

This article argues that sport and exercise psychology should address climate change by helping individuals adopt adaptation and mitigation behaviors and trigger social changes in their communities. It highlights the effects of climate change on health, equity issues, and the need for behavior change. The article also suggests research questions for the field of physical activity and sport psychology.