Energy companies have spent $5.6 billion on 'sportswashing': report

PARIS – Oil and gas giants have spent $5.6 billion on sports sponsorship through some 205 accords, said a study by research group New Weather Institute released on Wednesday that describes the outlays as "sportswashing".

The report, entitled "Dirty Money - How Fossil Fuel Sponsors are Polluting Sport", says football, motor sports, rugby and golf are the sports most sponsored by energy companies.

The biggest spenders in the industry include Aramco ($1.3 billion), Ineos ($777 million), Shell ($470 million) and TotalEnergies ($340 million).

Middle East petrol states are growing their presence in the sports world, even as the summer of 2024 was globally the hottest ever, the report says.

The study identified 205 still active sports agreements signed by companies linked to fossil fuels, of which only 41 revealed financial details.

To fill the data gap, the authors made estimates based on similar agreements whose amounts were disclosed, using SportBusiness database and publicly available sources.

Sports organizations have faced pushback from the public for their ties to companies responsible for carbon emissions.

At the 2023 Rugby World Cup, TotalEnergies kept a low profile at the fan zones in Paris. It decided against being a sponsor of the Paris Olympics in 2024 after Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo expressed her opposition.

"Air pollution from fossil fuels and the extreme weather of a warming world threaten the very future of athletes, fans and events ranging from the Winter Olympics to World Cups," said Andrew Simms, co-director of the New Weather Institute.

"If sport is to have a future it needs to clean itself of dirty money from big polluters and stop promoting its own destruction."

The term "sportwashing" refers to being associated with popular sporting events to improve one's image and draw attention away from controversial practices.