COLOGNE/MÜHLEN. The UEFA European Football Championship 2021 across ten European countries, the Olympic Games in Tokyo, or the cycling event Tour de France: The summer of 2021, following times of sacrifices due to the pandemic, is once again centered around sports. More than ever, these major events are increasingly viewed through the lens of sustainability. Sports, with its significant impact on climate change, also holds the potential to contribute to the solution.

To collectively address the global challenge of the "climate crisis," robust and reliable partnerships are needed, even in sports. Therefore, starting from May 31, 2021, the largest sports news agency in Europe, the "Sport-Informations-Dienst" (SID), and the climate advocacy organization "Sports for Future e.V." are entering into a cooperation.

The focal point of the collaboration is initially a news ticker prepared by SID both in terms of content and technology. This ticker will be published on the Sports For Future website (www.sportsforfuture-relaunch.agenturwerk-entwicklung.de). The ticker compiles cross-sport news and stories related to climate protection and sustainability. SID maintains continuous communication with Sports For Future regarding these topics.

Rainer Finke, Managing Director SID: "As a sports news agency, we serve an information need of our media and business customers as well as institutional subscribers that goes far beyond pure sports events. The socially relevant topics from our news feed related to climate protection and sustainability deserve a more prominent presentation, which is now explicitly possible through the partnership with Sports For Future e.V. As a fan from the very beginning, we are now becoming a double partner."

SID, as a company, is also addressing its carbon footprint and will use this partnership as an opportunity to reduce it by compensating for necessary flights, starting with the pan-European European Championship this year. The reforestation campaign "Sports4Trees" will be the primary beneficiary.

SID Sport-Informations-Dienst GmbH was founded in 1945 and is Europe's largest sports news agency based in Cologne. Offices in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, and Munich ensure nationwide coverage and fast, reliable reporting in text, multimedia, and video. SID is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AFP GmbH and employs more than 50 salaried and around 100 freelance journalists in Germany.

Stefan Wagner, 1st Chairman Sports For Future e.V.: "Sports play a significant role in society. In many cases, it serves as a role model, a pioneer, a multiplier, and a driver. Sports can also use this power to tackle the climate crisis. However, strong partnerships are needed for that. With SID, we, as Sports for Future, can now spread the topic of 'Sports and Climate Protection' even more broadly within the sports community and beyond. We want to connect, inspire, keep people healthy, motivate, lead, and unite through sports. If this can be achieved with a focus on the climate crisis, it would be a great gain for society – and our playing field, Earth. We are very excited about the collaboration with SID."

The Sports For Future initiative, founded in July 2019, collaborates with athletes, clubs, and associations to leverage the unifying power of sports to collectively address the challenges of the climate crisis. Co-initiators include TSG Hoffenheim, Werder Bremen, VfL Osnabrück, the German Sport Youth (DSJ), Global United e.V., as well as individual athletes such as Fabian Hambüchen and Anni Friesinger-Postma. The initiative's 300+ supporters, including national hockey and rowing teams, the General German University Sports Association (adh), Team Malizia led by world sailor Boris Herrmann, 1. FSV Mainz 05, and the German Football Association (DFB), collectively represent more than 22 million athletes.

With financial support from the Dietmar Hopp Foundation and additional individual donations from the sports community, Sports For Future has already initiated initial projects and launched the reforestation campaign "Sports4Trees." Tree-planting and education projects in the global South (Senegal, Nigeria, Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya) are in progress with partners such as myclimate, WWF, or the Zenaga Foundation. As of now, more than 80,000 trees in Africa and 100,000 mangroves in the Philippines have been planted, protecting a forest area the size of 9,010 football fields and involving approximately 15,000 students in the projects.

"With the Sports4Trees campaign, people can easily engage in climate protection in their everyday lives and support our reforestation projects. For example, put the euro change at the cashier of the local club into a donation box we provide, purchase an online climate ticket, as TSG Hoffenheim already offers, organize charity runs, and much more. Clubs or sports events can also use the campaign as a vehicle on the way to climate neutrality," says Stefan Wagner, emphasizing: "All of this requires a strong network of supporters."

This now includes the Sports-Informations-Dienst.

Additional Information:

Sport-Informations-Dienst http://sid.de as well as on social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Sports For Future http://www.sportsforfuture-relaunch.agenturwerk-entwicklung.de/  as well as on social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. #readysteadygrow

Reforestation Campaign Sports4Trees http://www.sports4trees.com/ as well as on social media channels: Instagram and Facebook. #readysteadygrow