SUSTAINABILITY

As part of our sustainability strategy, we want to minimise our carbon footprint. To achieve this, we have an approach based on the following three levers:

Reducing our own direct and indirect emissions;
Avoiding by helping others to reduce their emissions;
Offset via carbon sinks for our residual direct and indirect emissions.

We are taking action to reduce our direct and indirect emissions by changing our practices. By choosing a low-carbon means of transport or reducing your meat consumption, you can also avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and thus reduce your personal carbon footprint. There will still be ‘residual emissions’ from any human activity. In order to reduce our impact and that of our events on climate change, we aim, after the reduction and avoidance stages, to contribute to achieving global carbon neutrality. This does not negate our own impact but reflects an additional commitment to reduction and avoidance. This carbon contribution takes the form of funding for third party reduction and sequestration projects. Subject to the availability of local projects at the time of the event, we envisage this carbon contribution through regenerative agriculture. Indeed, agriculture can be a great carbon sink if sustainable practices are put in place. In any case, through the carbon contribution in which we propose to participate, we wish to take into account the notion of territorial impact by financing local projects (geographical proximity to the race venue) with numerous co-benefits: improvement of water and soil quality, preservation of biodiversity, financial support to farmers…

You can contribute to minimise your carbon footprint directly on our registration form!

MINIMISING CARBON

To respond to the impact on the environment and more particularly with a view to minimising greenhouse gas emissions, the Generali Genève Marathon encourages the use of public transport through concrete actions with its partners. Indeed, the train emits about 80 times less GHG than a car (1 person) or a plane trip.

Since our last edition, the Léman Express stops at the Genève Eaux-Vives train station, which is located right in front of the starting area of the Generali Genève Marathon, which is a plus in our strategy to minimise the carbon impact.

The Transports Publics Genevois (TPG) are mobilising their network to allow all participants, volunteers, partners, and team members to travel free of charge during the event but also throughout the city of Geneva and its surroundings.

Car sharing

For all the visitors and runners, and always with the aim of optimising motorised travel in the city, the Fondation des Parkings de Genève and Parkgest are offering preferential rates at certain P+R or to park in the city center and then travel using the entire TPG network.

We ask the participants who travel by car to come by carpooling to minimise the number of cars around the departure or the arrival and to reduce our carbon impact.

Bike

Numerous bicycle parking lots are also available around the start to motivate and encourage participants, spectators, volunteers, and staff to come by bike.
In the event village, we have created an exhibitor charter to require all our Food trucks to offer at least one vegetarian menu. This makes it possible to reduce meat consumption and therefore the pressure on the environment (carbon impact, deforestation, etc.) but also to promote quality vegetarian meals.

In comparison, a vegetarian meal is 5 to 14 times less GHG than a meat meal.
We are in collaboration with the Manotel group, which has a social and environmental program for its hotels.. https://www.manotel.com/fr/programme-social-et-environnemental.html
We are in partnership with Genève Terroir to promote products and producers from the canton of Geneva

MAXIMISING IMPACT

Together with the Human Safety Net Switzerland foundation, you are helping parents to lay strong foundations for their children’s future despite their difficult circumstances.

The lessons children learn in their first six years stay with them for life. But fragile family situations are often socially isolating for children. This means they miss out on important fundamental experiences. According to figures from Caritas Switzerland, around 133,000 children are affected by poverty. A further 317,000 are living on the poverty line.
We organise the half-chair race every year to allow everyone to enjoy the Generali Geneva Marathon, we also allow disabled people to participate in all the races, for example we open our races to visually impaired people accompanied by a guide.

We advocate gender equality by communicating to encourage women to participate in our long-distance races, which are mostly run by men.

On the event an anti-doping center is set up to control the winners and randomly the other runners.

Our partners are working with us in this way, such as Procter & Gamble where some of their employees are also supporting the local charity Clair-Bois, accompanying the handicapped children on the route in a “joëllette” (an adapted wheelchair) as well as by fund-raising.

Since 2024 we have been working with PRO, a foundation that reintegrates people excluded from the traditional economy, in particular because of a disability, into economically successful commercial activities that ensure its sustainability.
A collection of sportswear is organised in the Marathon Village and at the start of the races in favour of the Bilifou association which helps young people in Burkina Faso. Runners and spectators have the possibility to drop off clean and good condition sportswear, especially children’s clothes, at the Marathon Village. Shorts, T-shirts, and sneakers will be sent to the event.

For more information on this association: www.bilifou.ch

ASSUMING OUR RESPONSIBILITIES

We contribute to the preservation of the environment by setting up specific sorting bins (PET, aluminium, glass, other waste) on the entire site. This allows us to recycle the remaining waste and to limit the pollution of our environment as much as possible.

In this spirit, participants are obliged to dispose of their waste in the areas provided for this purpose

This year, the association of Aremacs is supporting us in this process to sort the waste in the village. We have also managed to remove 6,000 plastic bottles from the marathon thanks to the collaboration of SIG (Services Industriels de Genève). We also chose Vitale Vert electricity. Green, low-carbon and 100% local electricity to supply the entire event.

Thanks to our volunteers, we also preserve the beauty of our territory: the path is entirely cleaned by our Green team immediately after the participants have passed through.

We prohibit the distribution of flyers in the village and limit the distribution of goodies and free objects, except those made from recycled elements. Finally, posters and postcards are made available to the public (not distributed) and must be printed on recycled paper, FSC or PEFC certified paper.
For the Generali Genève Marathon, water is a key point in its strategy. The preservation of water is a major issue that we want to communicate to current and future generations!

Since 2012, the water supply of the runners is made with the Eau de Genève which allows to limit the waste on the event. Tap water in Geneva is of excellent quality and up to 1,000 times more ecological than bottled water.

At the refreshment stands, no more PET bottles are used for water, only cardboard cups are used.

Moreover, the water used is first analysed in a laboratory before being given to the runners to preserve them and ensure their safety.
The event uses Vitale Vert electricity composed of “naturemade star” certified low-carbon energy produced by over 600 solar installations in the Canton of Geneva.
We create delimited smoking areas in the village in order not to pollute the space and to center the waste of butts in one place, 2 butts pollute up to 1000 liters of water.
For the 2024 event, reusable tableware was used for :

Drinks ordered from the refreshment stand

Orders placed with food trucks in the village

Meals for volunteers and organization staff in the village

Finish refreshments for each race

Marathon distance refreshment stand

UNTIL EVENT STARTS

OFFICIAL TIMEKEEPER