7th World Conference on Sport and Environment The Conference, held in Beijing, China, from 25 to 27 October, was opened by speeches from several persons from the IOC, the UN and the BOCOG (organising committee of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games). Among the speakers were the IOC President Jacques Rogge, the UN Under-Secretary Shafqat Kakakhel, the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General Adolf Ogi, the President of the IOC Sport and Environment Commission Pál Schmitt as well as the major of Beijing and the BOCOG President. The main theme of these speeches was “from plan to action”, the title of the conference. During one of the sessions, the main subject was the know-how and the exemplary practices of the International Federations (IF). Mr Falt, Director of the UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information, presented a very eloquent portrait of several International Federations, in particular that of the FIM which was presented as an example to follow. Two principles were clearly mentioned by all participants during the day: – It will soon be normal and usual to offset carbon emissions – The price to pay for the protection of the environment is not an expense but an investment. In the future, the price to pay will be far more if we don’t make the efforts required today. More and more federations, national Olympic committees and other sporting bodies are investing in the area of protecting the environment and exchanging their respective work.