Sport for Change

Sport for Change 17th September 7.30 - 9.00pm Balwyn Park Centre
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Location: Balwyn Park Centre, 206A Whitehorse Road, Balwyn

Australia is a sporting nation. We watch sport, we play sport, we love sport. From the Boxing Day Test to footy finals fever, from early mornings paddling out at breaks around the country to park runs in hundreds of cities and towns. But climate change is threatening the sports we love.

Our cherished sporting life vs global warming - how do we protect the sports we love? Hear from professional sportspeople about the challenges facing our community and sport as our world warms, and listen to inspiring stories about the power of sport for change. Panellists include Nicola Barr, a St Kilda AFLW  player and Decarbonising Sport Lead with Front Runners; Tom Campbell, AFL, is currently playing for Melbourne and co-founder of Footy for Climate, and Alexi Lynch, now CEO of Footy for Change, previously with Ironbark and ICLEI.

You can download our online agenda and check out more information on our sport and climate action page.

Event speakers:

Nicola Barr: Number one draft pick and current player for St Kilda FC in the AFLW, Board Director for Footy for Climate and on the board of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Nicola Barr is passionate and engaged in the cross section of sport and social & environmental issues.

Nicola works at the intersection of sport and climate, working with sporting organisations and codes to decarbonise sport. Alongside her playing career and work at FrontRunners, she is completing a Master of Sustainability at the University of Sydney. Frontrunners supports athletes and sporting bodies in addressing climate risks, advocating for policy change and climate literacy in sport.

Nic’s support for climate action extends into her personal life. She loves anything and everything to do with the outdoors. She can always be found cycling, hiking, surfing or swimming and finds calm and joy in being out in the open. Nic wants to be part of preserving these spaces for future generations.

Lizzie Hedding is the co-founder of Project Planet and Tilt Studio, and a former elite long jumper. Through her work in advocacy, design and marketing, she’s focused on how communities can shift the systems that shape our lives. Her athletic highlights include 2nd place at the 2024 Oceania Championships, a top 8 finish at the 2019 World University Games in Naples and a personal best of 6.48m.

Beyond the track, Lizzie is a co-founder of Project Planet, a not-for-profit initiative launched in response to the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires. Alongside Tegan Lerm, she created the platform to help Australians turn climate anxiety into practical action – whether by switching banks, voting with climate in mind, or simply understanding the issues more clearly. In 2025, the duo launched Build A Ballot, a digital tool designed to demystify voting. It empowers users to explore political candidates based on their values and build a personalised how-to-vote card. The platform quickly gained traction, reaching almost 600,000 users in the three weeks leading into the federal election.

Lizzie recently retired from professional athletics to focus full-time on advocacy and creative strategy. Her work continues to bridge the gap between information and action, helping Australians feel informed, empowered, and ready to shape their future.

Tom Campbell is a professional Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Campbell previously played for the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne and St Kilda.

Tom co-founded ‘Footy for Climate’ together with Jasper Pittard (North Melbourne and Port Adelaide) in the wake of the 2020 Black Summer bushfires. Tom and Jasper were North Melbourne teammates when their training was forced indoors due to hazardous air quality caused by those fires. This led to a conversation about climate change and the role AFL and AFLW players can play in supporting the communities being impacted by extreme weather caused by climate change.

Alexi Lynch: With over two decades of experience in sustainability and climate change, Lex co-founded the Environmental Jobs Network, expanding it across Australia and New Zealand to support environmental job-seekers. He managed ICLEI Oceania’s Cities for Climate Protection campaign, engaging over 230 councils representing 84% of Australia’s population. From 2009 to 2024, he led strategic projects on energy efficiency and climate action at Ironbark Sustainability.

In October 2024, Lex became CEO of Footy for Climate, leading its growth into a professional organisation driving climate leadership in Australian rules football.

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