| dc.description.abstract | This study investigates the organisation of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships (NWSC) 2025 in Trondheim with a focus on achieving sustainability and the NWSC 2025’s ambition of becoming the “world’s most sustainable sport event in 2025”. Due to global challenges such as climate change and rising social inequalities, sport events recognise the growing importance of sustainability for their organisation. The research aims to understand challenges faced by the NWSC 2025 and explores measures to implement, maintain, and evaluate sustainability. Additionally, the study examines the potential environmental, social, and economic impacts by implementing realistic sustainability measures for Trondheim and its citizens. The research questions are addressed through qualitative methods with a case study as its baseline including semi-structured interviews, a document analysis, and a workshop that was arranged between United Cities and Ski-VM Trondheim 2025 AS.
The findings highlight the challenges of communicating sustainability and meeting the promised zero-emission transport goals for athletes and officials. The time pressure to complete the infrastructure, to execute all lighthouse projects, and to establish sustainability measurement tools emerges as a significant challenge. The study reveals that lighthouse projects aligned with the six prioritised Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG 3, SDG 9, SDG 10, SDG 12, SDG 13, and SDG 17, form a key strategy for the NWSC 2025. The lighthouse projects aim to target larger societal, environmental, and economic issues such as public health and responsible consumption. Furthermore, the research shows that the NWSC 2025’s sustainability strategy considers the interconnectedness of environmental, social, and economic dimensions, reflecting the widely accepted understanding of sustainability.
As the research is conducted in the period from January 2023 to June 2023, the pre-phase of the organisation of the NWSC 2025, the study presents the state of the art of the organisation as of June 2023 and provides insights that can guide future research and assessments of the event’s progress. Further studies could assess the development of sustainability efforts leading up to the event, explore post-event impacts, and investigate the legacies and implications for future NWSC and other events. | |