What are we doing for the environment?
DNB Oslo Marathon wants to be a sustainable race, and will take our responsibility in the job of achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
In recent years, we have taken several measures both in our everyday lives and during the actual implementation of the DNB Oslo Marathon to reduce our footprint. We are heading in the right direction, but we are still working in several areas to map out what we can do, and how to solve various challenges to become a greener and more sustainable running event.
We want to inspire other running events and engage more organizers to become more sustainable. We also want to inspire and engage our runners, spectators, partners, suppliers and others involved in our event to make better choices and contribute to achieving the SDGs by 2030.
Our sustainability goals
- Social Sustainability
- DNB Oslo Marathon should be a running event for everyone. We will ensure that the event has an alternative available to everyone, regardless of age and prerequisites for participation.
- The event should be rewarding and inclusive for participants, spectators, volunteers, officials and everyone else involved.
- Economy
- DNB Oslo Marathon is owned by Sportsklubben Vidar. Our profits go back into sports, and we provide sports opportunities for people of all ages, children and young people, the general public and the elite.
- When using volunteer groups, we want to use a majority of organizations or groups where the payment for their efforts goes to good causes.
- Environment and climate
- DNB Oslo Marathon will take measures to reduce the amount of waste, and ensure that the waste created in connection with the event is sorted and recycled in the best possible way. We will facilitate easy sorting of waste and inform everyone involved in the event about the solutions to ensure good sorting of waste.
- We will focus on sustainability when selecting products, services and suppliers for the event
- We will make demands for our suppliers and partners in all our activities to choose the most sustainable options available
We cannot achieve these goals alone. We need help from everyone who is part of DNB Oslo Marathon, including runners, spectators, volunteers, officials, partners and suppliers. Together we will make it!
Environmentally approved event
In May 2023, we became an Environmentally Approved event through the FEE Norway Foundation, and we renew this every year.
FEE stands for Foundation for Environmental Education and they offer international environmental certification programs, and are a global network represented in 73 member countries worldwide.
Eco-labeled event is an award for organizers who want to reduce the environmental impact of their event. The organizer must meet a set of criteria in 8 areas in order to be awarded the distinction. We have initiated a process together with FEE and aim to improve and reduce our environmental impact more and more in the years to come.
Read more about FEE and the work they do on their website.
Measures we have implemented or are working on
In recent years, we have taken several measures both in our everyday lives and during the DNB Oslo Marathon. We are heading in the right direction, but we are still looking for more things we can do to become a greener race. Below you can read about some of our measures to become more environmentally friendly.
Reduce, reuse or recycle
Oslo Marathon has a large stock of equipment, tools and supplies that we use again year after year. We are already good at circular economy, but we also have a lot of room for improvement. One of the things we're focusing on now is making our signs out of environmentally friendly materials. A lot of things can be reused, but things get destroyed, changes or other things happen that make it no longer usable. We want it to be able to be recycled and live on.
We are also looking at areas where we can reduce consumption, and for example, we have a ban on giveaways that have no useful value for our participants. We can hand out rash patches or reflectors – it's nice to have when you're out running, but we don't give out things that aren't useful for our runners.
Cotton luggage bag
All participants who participate in the Oslo Marathon will be given a luggage bag, which for security reasons is the only bag that can be used if you are going to use our luggage area.
In 2025 we switched to a bag made of 100% cotton! It has previously been made of polyester or other plastic materials, and we are so happy that it is finally made of cotton!
Reduced purchase of T-shirts
From 2016, participants who wanted the t-shirt had to buy it, before this it was free. There were several who never picked up their shirt, and we were left with a lot of leftovers. They were donated to good causes, which is great! But we wanted to reduce the leftovers we were left with, and the initiative had a huge effect. We reduced production by 50%.
We know that the t-shirt means a lot to some of our participants, and we see it running around our city every day. Therefore, we want to keep it as an offer for our participants, but we want to reduce the footprint.
Ban on unnecessary paper materials
We have removed several things during the event that create unnecessary production of paper materials. We started by banning flyers, and we do not allow any unnecessary paper advertising in the arena.
In addition, we have switched to digital solutions for several of our services and information channels, examples are our volunteer handbook, trail maps and various information for participants and the public that was previously distributed in paper form.
Printed start numbers
In 2021, we changed the way we distribute the start numbers. Previously, these were printed in advance and put in an envelope. On the envelope, we printed maps and information for the participants. We removed the envelope completely, and the information that was previously on it is now given to the participants digitally. We print the start numbers on site, so now we only distribute start numbers to those participants who actually come to complete their race. This has meant that we have reduced paper consumption for start numbers during the event by over 100 percent!
Mains power vs generator
In 2023, we achieved a goal we had for a long time – to set up an arena using only mains power! This was possible because there was finally access to enough mains power at our arena, after we, in collaboration with Oslo Municipality and other events at Rådhusplassen, were able to arrange better access. Unfortunately, we need a fuel generator when we heat the Expo, as there are no other solutions from our suppliers right now. However, the use is limited to only when needed.
Our next goal is to achieve the same on the trail. There is still a need for some help from aggregates, but we are working on removing these as well.
In addition to this, we also strive to use electric transportation where possible. We require our suppliers to use electric vehicles and machinery where possible, and reduce transportation by using the same suppliers for multiple deliveries.
From helium to reusable flags
To motivate our runners forward on the course, we have pacers. In order for them to be easily visible to the runners who follow them, we previously used large helium balloons marked with the pace they were to keep. We have also used helium balloons to mark toilets and passages in the arena and along the course.
In 2019, we stopped using helium balloons. In the areas where we used to use them, we now use flags or other types of marking that we can reuse. For example, we were the first in Norway to use pennant bags on the backs of our pacers. They are still highly visible and the bags and pennants can be reused year after year.
The medal
In 2023 we did a lot of research on how we could make our medal more sustainable. For many years we had it shipped from China before we made it a little shorter and had it shipped from various countries in Europe. In 2023 we challenged our supplier, Trofe , to think differently. We wanted a medal made of recycled plastic with the shortest possible travel route. This resulted in a really fun project together with primary schools in England and a company called Recycle, where we produced a medal made of recycled plastic.
After two years of working on this medal, we made a medal in 2025 out of recycled zinc, with a ribbon made of cotton. The next goal for the medal is to bring the production to Norway and make the medal here! That would have been absolutely awesome!