There is no denying the huge impact the TCS London Marathon will have on the capital and beyond on Sunday 23 April 2023 but an enormous effort is being directed towards London Marathon Events' aim to reach its carbon emission goals which include reaching net zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2024 and removing more carbon than it emits across all operations by 2025.

London Marathon Events (LME) has teamed up with the Council for Responsible Sport to measure the social and environmental impact of the 2023 TCS London Marathon. In 2023, LME will be using the ReScore app, a cloud-based application developed for the Council for Responsible Sport by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which enables event organisers to measure, track, report, and verify progress across a broad range of social and environmental indicators for sports events.

Among the innovative measures introduced for the 43rd TCS London Marathon are goody bags made of sugar cane and vehicles that run on chip fat! Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) to be precise, that is significantly lower in carbon and particulate emissions than diesel. ReScore will assist in verifying LME’s sustainability progress to help it reach its carbon emission goals. To achieve this, LME has introduced a wide range of initiatives across its events and the 2023 TCS London Marathon will also see:

• A £26 carbon levy paid by all international participants 
• New Balance T-shirts made from 100% recycled polyester
• 100% electric lead vehicles, and more than 50% electric logistics vehicles 
• Medal ribbon made from recycled materials
• Partnership with Trees not Tees so participants may opt out of the finisher T-shirt
• Specially designed 95% recycled material bottle belts to save wasting water 
• Clothing discarded at the start is collected and sent for reuse and recycling

Hugh Brasher, Event Director for London Marathon Events, said: “London Marathon Events is passionately committed to maximising our social impact and minimising the environmental impacts of our events. Our environmental focus is to Eliminate, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and we are working towards achieving net zero carbon emissions across our own events by 2024."

Kevin Phelan, Board Member, Council for Responsible Sport, said: “London Marathon Events is taking a truly systematic approach to not only track and measure its progress on environmental, social and economic factors at the TCS London Marathon through the use of ReScore, but is demonstrating strong leadership and innovation in critical areas for the industry. We are excited to be collaborating with LME on their journey and their commitment to responsible sport.”

London Marathon details, previous results, and reports at runABC South race listing here.

Image courtesy TCS London Marathon