On 22 February, the EOC EU Office hosted the kick-off meeting of the OCEAN (Olympic Committees of Europe Approaching Carbon Neutrality) project in Brussels. The OCEAN project aims to empower National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to measure and reduce their carbon footprint and enhance good governance in the field of climate action within their NOCs. The meeting was opened by EOC President Spyros Capralos, who highlighted the relevance of the OCEAN Project and the responsibility of the Olympic movement to tackle climate change. The meeting gathered representatives from 18 NOCs (Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Kosovo, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) together with representatives from IOC, ANOC as well as the German environmental research institute Öko-Institut.
In order to assist NOCs in getting as near to carbon neutral as possible, the project seeks to create and offer training for "Climate Action Officers." Subsequently, the project's main objective is to assist partner NOCs in creating a customised strategy for carbon reduction following an assessment of their carbon footprint with the support of Öko-Institut. The project's foundation and goals were outlined in the first training course module for Climate Action Officers, which was concurrently held on 23 and 24 February.
The first module included a number of presentations on the impact of climate change on sport as well as the responsibility of the sports movement to address climate change and take appropriate action. The Climate Action Officers thus gained valubale insights on the relationship between climate change and sport, acknowledged the responsibility of the Olympic and larger sport movement to respond appropriately, and laid the groundwork for the project.