A group of climate experts and high-profile runners, including Damian Hall and Jasmin Paris, are calling on European Athletics to drop Shell as a sponsor following the high profile branding at the European Indoor Championships.
An open letter with 100 signatories, from Olympians to everyday club runners, was yesterday sent to European Athletics asking for this change to be made.
The letter, created by New Weather Institute, Green Runners and Champions for Earth, states: “We were both surprised and disappointed to see the very high-profile sponsorship by Shell, the biggest European oil and gas producer and one of the 10 most climate-polluting companies in the world, of the recent European Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul. We are asking you to discontinue any commercial relationship with Shell, whether through advertising or sponsorship.”
“Allowing athletes to be used as a billboard to promote a company like Shell, normalises a major polluter and gives them a social license to operate.”
Among the athletes to sign the letter was U20 England runner Ellen Donald, who said: “As a young aspiring distance runner, I am appalled that European Athletics is willfully promoting Shell, a company whose reckless and destructive actions are already threatening the viability of athletics for young people worldwide, and are putting our hopes and dreams of a liveable future in jeopardy.”
Andrew Simms, co-director of the New Weather Institute, said: “Running is one of the best ways of experiencing the world, but major polluters like Shell are wrecking the climate that runners depend on. Oil companies are making ever more green claims while spending billions on drilling for more polluting fossil fuels. European Athletics letting itself be used as a billboard by Shell is like them blowing smoke in the face of their own athletes. We have to stop sponsorships fuelling the climate emergency.”
Runner’s World UK contacted European Athletics for comment but has not heard back.
Rick Pearson is the senior editor at Runner’s World UK. He’s been with the brand since 2017 and loves testing PB-friendly shoes for on and off road. Rick is a sub-three marathoner and occasionally likes to remind people of this on the Runner’s World podcast, which he co-hosts. He once raced a steam train over 14 miles (he won, narrowly) and a horse over a marathon (he lost, comfortably).
