The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is thrilled to announce that Oliver Scholfield, of the Canadian men’s national hockey team, has been shortlisted for the International Olympic Committee’s inaugural Climate Action Awards, which celebrates those in the Olympic Movement who are taking tangible steps to tackle the climate crisis.
Oliver's work with the organisation ‘Racing to Zero’ has seen him get shortlisted for the award in the Athlete’s Advocacy category, which highlights the endeavours of athletes who actively engage people and communities in the fight against climate change.
Racing to Zero was created by Canadian Olympian (Track & Field and Bobsleigh) Oluseyi Smith in 2019 and he was joined at the very beginning by Oliver, as they worked with several grassroots clubs to measure and improve the sustainability of their operations and events.
They have since expanded their work to encompass a variety of sports and organisations of all sizes to maximise their impact.
Through education, event measurements, strategy development and carbon reduction programs, Racing to Zero works with sport organisations of all sizes to create communities equipped with the tools and knowledge to tackle climate change and reduce their own impact.
Some of their projects have included measuring the sustainability of major events, such as the 2023 Men's World Curling Championship and 2022 Ontario U20 Open Championships (Athletics). Their work in the sport of curling has been highly notable over the recent past. This includes conducting workshops with the World Curling Federation and Curling Canada. Their work also includes a collaboration to develop a long-term sustainability strategy for Curling Canada.
We spoke with Oliver about the motivation to contribute to the work being done by Racing to Zero and he said: “I got involved with Racing to Zero after experiencing first-hand the amount of waste produced at major sporting events and recognizing the impact that hosting those events has on the environment. Seeing the steps that leaders in this space are taking has been inspiring and as a group we are looking to maximise the impact that organisations, athletes and fans can have on creating positive environmental change through sport.”
FIH President Tayyab Ikram, speaking on Oliver’s nomination, said: "Congratulations to Oliver Scholfield for being shortlisted for such a meaningful award! This is a huge recognition of his fantastic commitment to such a noble and important cause. I wish him a lot of success, both for this award and for the wonderful organisation ‘Racing to Zero’ he is associated with. As a sport and an International Federation that cares for the wellbeing of our society, sustainability is a very high topic on our agenda and, in particular, of our recently-launched Empowerment and Engagement strategy."
FIH has added Racing to Zero as a case study of its Sustainability strategy.
