The International Canoe Federation begins an exciting programme of major events this week which will all take place with the aim of being carbon neutral.

The ICF announced earlier this year it had teamed up with major partner Starboard in a multi-year partnership designed to make all ICF world disciplines climate neutral. Several events, including next week’s ICF SUP world championships at Lake Balaton in Hungary, will strive to be up to 10 times climate positive.

This weekend the ICF will host a canoe slalom world cup in La Seu, Spain, and the 2021 junior and U23 canoe sprint world championships in Montemor, Portugal, and both will be part of the ICF/Starboard initiative.

Starboard will be assessing every event in terms of the carbon dioxide (and equivalent) emissions from attendees travelling to and from each event, as well as all electricity emissions from the event.

Once an event's carbon footprint has been determined, Starboard will work on ways to reduce and offset it using nature-based solutions, including by planting mangroves.

The project will require the participation of people at each event filling out questionnaires regarding their travel details. Scanning a QR code will take participants to an  online form which can be completed within minutes.