Sport is an extraordinary medium through which values and messages can be communicated. With the evolution of sport-business and the transformation of many sports associations into joint-stock companies, numerous CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities have also been introduced, among them the drafting of social and mission reports. In recent weeks, a project dedicated to an athlete who has embedded corporate social responsibility into all his marketing and communications activities has stood out on the national sports scene; on 14 January, Emmanuele Macaluso (aka "EM314") published his social and mission report, becoming the first individual athlete to do so in the history of Italian sport — an initiative that led several media outlets to describe him as "Italy's greenest athlete".

As well as being a professional athlete who races in MTB, Emmanuele Macaluso is also the author of the Manifesto del marketing etico.

Emmanuele Macaluso, why "EM314"?
In sport, especially two-wheeled sport, it often happens that an athlete's initials and their chosen race number become their "logo". "EM" are my initials; "314" was my race number in the competition that closed the first phase of my professional sporting career in 2009. When I decided to return to this world, I wanted to maintain continuity by choosing the number that had accompanied me in that final race. EM314 is therefore my sporting alter ego.

Why did you choose to incorporate CSR practices into a sports project?
Ever since I published the Manifesto del marketing etico in 2011, I have incorporated CSR into every project I have created or managed directly. The reputational and social advantages of making one's social responsibility initiatives known and explaining them are clear, not to mention the possible "emulation effect" — the hope that others will decide to become socially active on causes aligned with their own personal sensibilities is part of the equation. The need for greater transparency is engaging an ever-growing number of people and organisations, but it is even more necessary in sport, where the concept of "value" is truly fundamental.

For this initiative, some media outlets have described you as Italy's greenest athlete.
Yes, and I must admit it also surprised me — when the press office that issued the release sent us the press review, I was very struck by it. Research revealed that no individual athlete had ever produced a social and mission report, whereas some companies, primarily those listed on the stock exchange, publish one regularly. My collaborators and I are very proud of this result; in sport, off-the-field achievements count too, and the idea that other individual athletes might follow suit in this regard really motivates me. Ultimately, a professional athlete "moves" dozens of people — they are nothing other than a small company, and it is therefore hard to understand why they should not report to their stakeholders.

In what way can a project like this be considered "green"?
The discipline I have chosen is green by definition — cross country (MTB) takes place in the mountains and all athletes are committed to minimising their footprint on the planet as much as possible. Even the products we use to maintain our bikes have a low environmental impact, or none at all. Then there are sport's founding values, which are based on loyalty towards others and certainly towards the environment as well. The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) itself has created stringent environmental protocols: we cannot discard even our water bottles or the wrappers from gels or food after use — rightly so — but must carry them with us to the finish line, and those too are biodegradable. As for EM314, in my capacity as testimonial/ambassador I support and give visibility to four social campaigns: "Giù le mani dai bambini" Onlus, the most important pharmacovigilance campaign against the abuse of psychotropic drugs on minors; "Mission dark sky", a global campaign on light pollution and its effects on human health, flora and fauna; "Io rispetto il ciclista", the road safety awareness campaign; and "Manifesto dello sport", the programme document dedicated to sport, athletes and the social impact of the movement.

How should social and environmental responsibility become part of sport at every level?
The sports industry is highly complex and articulated, and rests on a very complex supply chain. Yet the bar of professionalism is being pushed ever further down towards the base of the pyramid: there are very young talents who become ambassadors for companies on an individual basis through their own social channels, or by lending their image to team sponsors, often with a release form signed by their parents. To all intents and purposes, engaging with sport-business is a professional activity, one that involves many different realities and where communicating does not simply mean building consensus but generating engagement — the recipients of communications campaigns are fans in the truest sense of the word, and sport, precisely because of its communication dynamics, helps its protagonists to build communities. With EM314, roughly a year after the project was launched, we have over 22,000 fans on social media (without using paid services) and more than 250 press articles. However, beyond the numbers, there are major responsibilities that must be taken into account: by definition an athlete is a role model, and in a sphere like sport, values create the bond that stakeholders need in order to support a technical and entrepreneurial project. Some sponsorships actually arise from joint CSR projects between several companies, with the athlete as the central figure; many businesses have by now understood the reputational value of social responsibility in sport, to the point — amid this abundance of proposals — that one must be careful not to become involved in greenwashing activities.

What are the next objectives?
Aside from our sporting debut and performances, we will work very hard on communications to broaden our fan base and share our values with them. When health conditions arising from the Covid-19 emergency allow it, many initiatives will move from the digital world to the real one. We will continue to give visibility to the campaigns we support, perhaps by taking part in communications and outreach projects when proposals arise. Beyond that, we will carry on drafting and publishing the mission report, and implementing good sustainability practices. We have a great deal to do, and we will do it. After all, if there is one thing we know how to do well, it is run — on a bike as in life.