Sports and climate action

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.

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 as Project and Engagement Director, 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.