Though cycling as a transportation method is widely seen as a sustainable method, professional cycling and racing are not. Though the first calls for sustainable action are made and the first efforts start to appear, not much has changed yet in the complex world of professional cycling.
This report describes the design of a sustainability strategy and plan for BEAT Cycling Club, a continental cycling team. As an innovative organisation that was founded to break through the status quo in professional cycling the sustainability journey fits BEAT. As one of the first teams taking sustainability seriously, the strategy helps BEAT to increase the quality of their sustainability actions beyond the ‘low-hanging fruits’ they have been tackling already.
The difficulty of starting a sustainability project is tackled by using the systemic design framework of the Design Council (2021) to guide innovation with a complex system like sustainability. The internal feeling of responsibility for sustainability of BEAT Cycling Club can be tackled by designing a strategy through a continuously diverging and converging process.
To help understand the sustainability context for BEAT Cycling Club and to guide the direction of the strategy, a (fast-track) life-cycle analysis is conducted. The results of this analysis are a set of emission hotspots: the actions and areas where most of BEAT’s emissions and environmental impact occur. These hotspots are used to further shape a strategy to tackle them.
This strategy is built through the design roadmapping methodology, resulting in a strategic and tactical roadmap. These are based on three horizons in which the role for BEAT in sustainability changes. These roadmaps are substantiated with a playbook that guides BEAT through the strategy and provides more detailed information about the steps that need to be taken. The playbook and roadmaps are not only strategic assets but are also important for BEAT to communicate their strategy with partners and other stakeholders.