Rugby World Cup 2023: Oil companies should not sponsor World Cups, says David Pocock

One of the major sponsors of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which gets underway on Friday in Paris, is the French oil giant TotalEnergies.

The message, according to Pocock, should be that “you can’t sponsor us until you have a credible decarbonization plan, and you are Rugby World Cup 2023 converting your business.”

TotalEnergies responded by saying Rugby World Cup 2023 that it was “wrong” to say that its sponsorship was “greenwashing.”

The business will invest roughly five billion euros in low-carbon and renewable energy sources by the end of 2023.

The company said, marking the Rugby World Cup 2023 first time that low-carbon Rugby World Cup 2023 energy investments will outpace investments in new hydrocarbon projects.

Pocock, who led Australia at the Rugby World Cup 2023 World Cup, is a devoted advocate for climate change problems and is currently an independent senator in the Australian Central Territory.

For a Thursday Radio 5 Live feature titled “Rugby Tackles the Climate Issue,” he spoke exclusively to Sport.

Oil companies should not sponsor World Cups

After the recent European summer, former flanker Pocock called the current climate catastrophe. “A pivotal time in history” and “perhaps the largest problem we face as a species.”

“We recognize there is a hard issue around them. As a sponsor and as a fossil fuel corporation,” World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin said.

Gilpin added that there will be “a somewhat new paradigm for hosting” following this World Cup, but clarified.

That the agreement was made by the local organising committee for the Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. Not by World Rugby, the organisation that governs the sport.

World Rugby would then have “complete responsibility for delivering how that competition is handled, conduct and provided.

We again have the ability to take a different approach to the Rugby World Cup 2023 duties around sustainability,” according to the statement.

By the time of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, the new model will be in use.

The World Rugby Environmental Sustainability Plan seeks to cut its carbon emissions during Rugby World Cups by half by 2030. Will be the main focus of that competition and how it is carrie out.

Green Peace protested the sponsorship agreement with Total Energies by releasing a graphic film of the Stadium de France being fill with oil in the week before the event began.

A World Rugby representative responded to the video by saying: “Tournament delivery supports World Rugby’s Environmental Sustainability Plan 2030, centring on low carbon transportation like trains and the use Oil companies should not sponsor World Cups of existing infrastructure. For competition and training venues to reduce the event’s carbon footprint.”

Teams in the World Cup will primarily use coaches and trains. As a result of France’s government banning short-haul domestic flights. that can be complete in less than 2.5 hours on trains.

Oil companies should not sponsor World Cups

During the event, no new stadiums have been construct, and existing structures that are suitable for the purpose are being.

The main media hub for World Rugby in Paris, the Roland Garros tennis complex, serves as an illustration of this.

Along with encouraging spectators to take public transportation to games, stadiums will also reduce the usage of single-use plastics.

Although praising several of World Rugby’s initiatives including the fact that it does not rely. On offsetting Pocock came to the conclusion that getting Oil companies should not sponsor World Cups rid of fossil fuel sponsorship was crucial.

It would prevent firms that are essentially banking on us not acting on climate change. From having their logos prominently display alongside your favourite team or at this important athletic event.

That would have the greatest impact and convey a powerful message, in my opinion.