Embedding an ‘Environment First’ mindset at London Marathon Group

London Marathon Group is committed to driving positive environmental change through its own actions and inspiring partners and stakeholders to do the same. With an ambitious goal to be Net Zero by 2030 (excluding participant travel), sustainability is embedded into their Events arm under the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and their Foundation as part of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change.

Both frameworks emphasise systemic change and integration – meaning sustainability must be embedded across all programs, priorities, and processes.

With this in mind, Head of Sustainability Kate Chapman approached Livvy of the Sustainable Sidekicks to explore how to engage all staff in making sustainability a priority in their daily work. Together, they co-created an interactive workshop designed to build an ‘Environment First’ mindset across the organisation.

Brief:

Develop an engaging 1.5-hour workshop to help London Marathon Group staff:

• Identify where their role impacts the environment and how to address it
• Adopt an ‘environment first’ approach to decision-making
• Take tangible day-to-day actions to reduce carbon, waste, and resource use
• Share ideas on how the organization can support change and remove barriers

Key Focus Areas:

• Carbon emissions – Travel, digital footprint, event materials
• Waste – Reducing single-use plastics & unnecessary disposal
• Procurement – Rethinking purchases, especially for one-off events
• Communication – Educating & influencing stakeholders
• Partner choices – Ensuring sustainability is a key factor in collaboration

The Approach

Over two weeks, staff had the opportunity to attend one of four 90-minute workshops (20–30 participants per session) out of the 130-person organisation.

Setting the Scene

To frame the discussion, Livvy advised Kate to open each session by grounding sustainability in the context of their work, focusing on:

• Why their work depends on a stable climate – e.g., clean air and safe temperatures for runners, playable surfaces for children
• What’s already happening in the industry – e.g., bans on plastic bottles at marathons
• What London Marathon Group is already doing – positioning staff as part of a forward-thinking organisation

Rather than focusing on climate science, this real-world framing helped staff see their role in the sustainability journey.

Identifying Impacts & Alternative Actions

In mixed-team table discussions, staff wrote down where their role had an environmental impact across:

• Procurement – e.g., buying new uniforms for every event
• Waste generation – e.g., single-use materials
• Travel & energy use 
• Communications & messaging
• Partnerships & stakeholder influence

Next, they brainstormed actions they could take to reduce their impact, such as:

• Buying one uniform for the year instead of per event
• Reducing printed materials and increasing use of digital tools
• Cutting redundant digital content to reduce energy use

Understanding Barriers to Change

With their current and ideal actions mapped out, the session shifted to behavioural science:

What’s stopping people from making these changes?
Staff placed orange post-it notes on actions where they identified barriers, categorised into:

• Psychological barriers – e.g., habits, resistance to change
• Infrastructure & structural blockers – e.g., policies, processes
• Social influences – e.g., workplace norms, industry expectations

By stepping back and analysing these barriers objectively, teams uncovered new opportunities to drive change.

Activating Change Drivers

Livvy then introduced behavioural science-backed tools for overcoming these barriers, using examples from London Marathon Group’s existing initiatives, such as:

• Changing systems to reduce waste – e.g., issuing one staff lanyard for the whole season
  Adapting catering to minimise food waste – e.g., pick-and-choose lunch bags instead of pre-packed meals

Using green sticky notes, staff brainstormed actions they could take individually, while yellow sticky notes captured ways the organisation could support them.

This created a collaborative, action-focused discussion, where people shared practical ideas and identified structural support needed for success.

Commitments & Next Steps

To ensure accountability, staff made one commitment each via Mentimeter, which the Sustainability Lead would follow up on.

Key Outcomes

The workshop generated hundreds of tangible actions, including:

Individual Staff Actions

• Reduce text & increase icons in communications to boost engagement
• Delete unused website pages to cut digital energy consumption
• Use ‘Inside Track’ to share sustainability stories
• Set a timer to unplug laptops after an hour

Organisational Support Ideas

• Allocate 10% creative time for staff to suggest improvements
• Provide consistent environmental reminders
• Showcase best practices through case studies
• Give clear, actionable examples of what staff can do

Building on the work we had already done as an organisation on “imagination activism” with Rob Hopkins, the session with Livvy helped people to get more granular and objectively unpack why they may not be taking an environment first approach and what else they could do. Since the session we have seen a huge range of actions – both at individual and team level – across the organisation which are demonstrating “environment first” thinking. A really great example is that our comms and marketing teams are now prioritising using imagery that promotes the behaviours we want to encourage in our participants – e.g. pictures of runners wearing hydration packs or carrying their own reusable water bottles. This is an idea that came from the workshop and is now making a tangible difference to the environmental impact from our events.