What have we learned since UTMB’s announcement that Dacia are no longer the headline sponsor of UTMB Mont Blanc?
Well we’ve learned that this is certainly the case, with Hoka taking over the headline sponsor role. On the flip side, we’ve learned Dacia are a premier partner of UTMB’s European events. That’s around 20 events, including the upcoming Ultra-Trail Snowdonia (UTS). As a consequence Dacia’s name features heavily in UTMB’s promotional material for these events.
We can also announce that we remain in discussions with UTMB and that we met with them as recently as this week. UTMB have impressed on us that they continue to build their sustainability plans and will have more to announce in due course. Needless to say we aren’t in a position to comment on those plans until we know more, but we are grateful to be involved in the process to clean up our sport.
We also discussed their partnership with Dacia and our ongoing issue with sportswashing. UTMB told us that they expect their partnership to focus on Dacia’s EV range. That, however, doesn’t wash with us. As you will already have seen, Dacia’s name is used across UTMB’s promotional material. And this in itself promotes the Dacia brand with no reference to EVs. And given that around 90% of Dacia’s output are Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles it follows that promoting Dacia promotes those ICE vehicles. Not cool (pun intended).
Sportswashing is the practice of high-carbon companies, such as Dacia, using the positive image of sport to deflect from their problematic practices. You can read more about why we object to sportswashing here: Sportswashing – should events take oil money and use it for good? – (thegreenrunners.com)
In summary, we will always support action taken by companies to materially drive down their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. But these actions should never be taken as alternative to dropping high carbon sponsors. It’s not ‘either or’;. it has to be ‘and’.
We will continue to engage with UTMB, and are grateful for the opportunity to do so. And Aat the same time we willtime will continue to make our position clear to all.
If you would like to support us then please consider taking one or more of the following actions:
- You could write to UTMB ([email protected]) explaining why sportswashing – and Dacia in their case – has no place in our sport;
- You could speak to other runners and raise the issue of sportswashing with them;
- If you happen to be at the UTS, then do let us know if you identify any concerns regarding the sustainability of the event so that we can feed this back to UTMB and help them make running greener;
- Sign our petition (which also includes our 2023 open letter to UTMB) https://www.change.org/p/tell-the-utmb-to-ditch-their-high-carbon-sponsor-keep-fossil-fuels-out-of-running
- Raise your concerns on social media e.g. by sharing this blog.
