Chris Boardman is going for green, but how long will his legacy last?

Chris Boardman has created a high profile for Active Travel England in his three years as its first commissioner. Over the same period the former cyclist has been largely invisible as the chairman of Sport England. Now, though, Boardman’s roles are coalescing, not, as one might expect, around a health agenda but principally in a drive for sustainability. His passion, while admirable, also challenges conventional concepts of the role of chairmen and women, in both the public and private sectors.
Active Travel England was very recently constructed as a government agency promoting walking, wheeling and cycling. Health, safety and carbon neutrality are its stated prizes. Sport England, by contrast, can trace its roots back almost six decades. At present it is charged with making the nation more active, a broader remit than its “sport” title might imply.
I bumped into Boardman at a reception during this summer’s Paralympics. A few weeks before he had cycled from Manchester to the Paris Olympics to encourage sporting organisations to sign a “Going for Green pledge”. I didn’t ask how he had returned to the French capital for the Paras, but it’s safe to assume it wasn’t by private jet.
Our conversation focused entirely on Boardman’s ambition that the tens of thousands of grassroots sports clubs in the country develop individual sustainability plans, which collectively could have a positive impact on climate change. Sport England funding is his carrot; the threat of its removal his stick. Hard-pressed volunteers at grassroots clubs up and down the land might feel an unwelcome shiver down their spines. Warming to his task, Boardman has since called for a reduction in elite football’s carbon footprint.
The position of chairman in businesses and public bodies confers various privileges. Central to these are the ability to shape strategy, and the provision of a platform to promote the organisation’s products, people, ideas and ambitions. Some situations call for a chairman to seize the opportunities these present, shake things up and shout about it. At other times, careful stewardship is what’s required, aiming simply to leave things in at least as good shape as on arrival.
Too often the ambitions of a chairman and the needs of their organisation prove to be mismatched. The key question in any interview for the role should be what candidates want to do with it — how they want to exercise those privileges. Is the position a means to an end (and if so, what?) or an end in itself? Ask any serving CEO in a candid moment what their greatest fears are and you are likely to find a change in chairman prominent on their worry list. (Obviously, many others will have a change in the chairman high on their personal wish list!)
None of which is to suggest that Sport England’s core objectives and Boardman’s green aims are necessarily out of kilter, but in putting such a distinctive stamp on to the chairman role so late in his first term of office he has presented board colleagues and those who appoint them with a clear challenge. Do they embed his ideas so that they endure beyond his departure, or ring-fence them as bespoke to the man rather than absolutely core to their mission?
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Boardman’s first term in office at Sport England expires next July. He is eligible to serve for a second term. At present the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is advertising for three people to join the Sport England board as non-executives. As well as a set of essential criteria in the job description, there is also a long list of desirable ones, including “courageous mindset” and “demonstrable commitment in responding to climate change or sustainability goals”.
We will know soon enough whether Boardman fancies another four years at Sport England. Either way, the three NEDs he helps to choose now will have key roles to fulfil in embedding his green legacy. Chairmen of commercial enterprises will rightly want to assess the risks of a focused mission, especially given a company’s profit imperative, but this is nevertheless a case worthy of close study in the coming months and years.
Ed Warner sits on a number of boards. He is writing in a personal capacity