London Marathon Events awarded Evergreen status in world first by Council for Responsible Sport

The Council for Responsible Sport (CRS) is the world’s leading sustainability certification programme dedicated to sports events and organisations and the Evergreen certification follows a comprehensive assessment of LME’s approach to driving positive social and environmental change. This was the first time LME had been assessed by CRS across the whole organisation, rather than a single event. 

This builds on LME’s previous achievement of Gold certification for the 2023 TCS London Marathon, which became the first major event in the UK and the biggest running event in the world to achieve that status. 

LME used the ReScore app, a cloud-based application for responsible event planning developed by Tata Consultancy Services. ReScore enabled LME to measure the environmental and social impact of its work, as well as report, verify, and certify against sustainability standards set by CRS. Specifically, the app offers a tracking and monitoring system, templates, resources, and best practice case studies to support transparent and verifiable impact reporting.  

The CRS assessment is based on six key areas of social and environmental impact. These are: planning and communications; procurement; resource management; access and equity; community legacy; and innovation and excellence. The ReScore app is used to consistently capture, measure and assess performance across these critical areas. 

CRS highlighted the following standout achievements by LME: 

• Planning and communications: comprehensive information about LME’s environmental and social impact programmes is shared with all stakeholders across multiple channels 
• Procurement: great progress has been made on sourcing products that are ethically and responsibly made and that can more easily be re-used and recycled 
• Resource Management: taking responsibility for carbon emissions generated by LME through detailed measurement and analysis, actions to reduce emissions and the purchase of carbon removal credits to address the impact of residual emissions  
• Access and Equity: inclusion measures such as multi-faith prayer spaces and sensory calm spaces at all LME’s events 
• Community Legacy: donations totalling £115,700 were made to schools for finishers in the 2024 TCS Mini London Marathon to enable schools to buy sports or computer equipment 
• Innovation and Excellence: prize money parity between wheelchair and non-disabled athletes with all athletes achieving podium places in the elite races receiving equal prize money 

Michelle Sandquist, Certification Director for the Council for Responsible Sport, said: “London Marathon Events has set a new global benchmark for what it means to lead with purpose. Earning Evergreen certification is not only a recognition of the depth and integrity of their sustainability efforts—it’s a statement that positive social and environmental impact can and should be central to event operations. Their work exemplifies what’s possible when innovation, accountability, and community are at the core of event planning.”  

Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events, said: “Positive social and environmental change is at the heart and soul of London Marathon Events. We work to inspire our participants, our stakeholders and our partners, as together we can achieve so much more. We’re delighted that our work has been recognised by the Council for Responsible Sport with Evergreen status and we will continue to strive to do more. 

“The ReScore app, developed for the Council by our headline and technology partner, TCS, offers all event organisers the opportunity to effectively measure social and environmental impacts and we hope other event organisers in the UK and around the world will also use ReScore to deliver responsible events.” 

The full list of events around the globe certified by the CRS can be viewed on their site. It includes world-leading basketball, track and field, golf, ironman and mass participation running events.