Sport for People and Planet: What the New WEF Report Means for Australia
The World Economic Forum’s new Sports for People and Planet report reframes sport as a powerful economic system, worth around US$2.3 trillion today and projected to grow to US$8.8 trillion by 2050. But it also issues a clear warning: rising physical inactivity, climate change and nature loss could erase up to 18% of annual sport revenues by mid‑century – more than US$1.6 trillion a year.
For Australia, heading into a “golden decade” of major events and Brisbane 2032, this is not just a global statistic. It goes to the heart of our future sport economy: participation pipelines, event viability, tourism flows, infrastructure resilience and the environments our sports depend on.
The report outlines three big shifts for a more prosperous, resilient sports economy:
Champion resource stewardship – from water and heat management to circular apparel and lower‑waste events.
Place sport at the heart of cities – designing urban spaces, facilities and transport that make everyday movement and community sport easier.
Catalyse purpose‑driven capital – using sponsorship and investment to drive shared health, social and environmental outcomes, not just short‑term returns.
Women’s sport sits squarely inside this agenda. It is one of the key global growth drivers identified in the report and, in markets like Australia, offers a unique opportunity to build more sustainable, inclusive models from the ground up, across competition design, fan communities, commercial structures and athlete storytelling.
At Inner Sanctum Sports Management, we see this as the next frontier: helping athletes, brands and sporting bodies use women’s sport not only to unlock new value, but to strengthen participation, community wellbeing and environmental resilience as we move towards 2032 and beyond.
Source: https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Sports_for_People_and_Planet_2026.pdf
