The London Marathon’s sustainability strategy can go the distance
The London Marathon leads the race to Net Zero
The 2025 London Marathon was a record-breaking edition, with 56,640 runners crossing the finish line. It surpassed the previous record of 55,646 set during the 2024 New York City Marathon.
Only a week after the race, the 2026 edition has already broken a new record. Over 1.1 million people have entered the ballot in the hope of running this iconic marathon.
“This is an absolutely staggering total which reaffirms London as by far the most popular marathon on the planet.”
Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events
With ever-growing affluence, the London Marathon is dedicated to minimising its climate impact and managing environmental risks to maintain its social license to operate.
“Extreme weather conditions—heatwaves, storms, heavy winds, and flooding—are becoming more common, and they pose a real challenge to mass participation events.”
Jeanette Wong, CFO of London Marathon Events
On this journey, the London Marathon Group has committed to achieving net-zero by 2030. As the organisers of one of the world’s largest races, they’re leading the way for other races to follow suit.
Accelerating climate action in mass participation sports events
Before they start running, participants can donate the extra layers they wore to the start line to the Salvation Army, which will recycle, resell, or reuse them.
This year, the London Marathon even piloted the collection of urine at pre-race toilets with a start-up, recovering around 1,000 litres of urine to create bio-based fertiliser.
“Part of our environmental strategy is to try and find an ‘onward use’ for all waste that is generated at our events, for instance composting, reusing, upcycling and much more besides.”
Kate Chapman, Head of Sustainability for London Marathon Events
During the race, the organisers have opted for electric vehicles to lead the course and are using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil to power generators.
Keep Clean Zones and Recycling Zones are also clearly indicated, highlighting to runners where they can dispose of bottles or gel wrappers as they make their way towards the finish line.
Once they reach the iconic finish line in front of Buckingham Palace, runners can collect a medal made from recycled zinc and donate unwanted trainers to JogOn who will redistribute them.
Runners can decide to forego a finisher’s t-shirt and plant a tree instead with Trees Not Tees. Those who have opted out of receiving a medal are offered a finisher’s photo opportunity instead.
Taking strides towards Net Zero with carbon removals
On the race to Net Zero, the biggest challenge for the London Marathon will be to address the emissions associated with participants’ travel.
That’s why they have partnered with You Smart Thing to help runners find low-carbon travel options and give them the option to offset their travels as they make their way to London.
To address the travel emissions of international participants, the London Marathon Group has implemented a £26 climate levy to finance carbon removal and offsetting projects.
From Mercedes’ Formula 1 Team to Liverpool Football Club, we’re seeing an increasing number of sports organisations implementing carbon removal in their sustainability strategy.
In 2023, the London Marathon partnered with CUR8 to remove over 280 tCO2e and in December 2024, they announced their third deal with them to purchase 1,935 tonnes of carbon removals.
The 2026 London Marathon promises to be an exciting and action-packed edition, and we can’t to see the new sustainability initiatives they will be implementing on their journey to Net Zero.
