With the summer season approaching, many people are gearing up for outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, backpacking, and trail running.   

Of these, trail running in particular has become hugely popular in the Asia-Pacific region – but, as hundreds of thousands of people leave their footprints in the dirt, an increasing swathe of vulnerable ecosystems are under threat. Now the sport is looking for ways to restore and protect biodiversity and natural landscapes.

Trail running has grown exponentially over the past 15 years¹, moving from niche activity to mainstream, commercial sport, with a proliferation of races in many Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan, Thailand, China, and Australia.

According to the International Trail Running Association (ITRA), the number of trail race events registered with the organisation in Asia-Pacific jumped from 117 in 2014 to at least 558 in 2024². Each event typically involves several races at different distances.  
 

Environmental concerns

There are ongoing concerns that this increase in popularity is having a detrimental impact on the environment. The materials used to make trails safer, the plastics and equipment brought into race zones³, and the sheer numbers of people, are all putting pressure on fragile local ecosystems, and impacting soil quality, natural drainage systems, and ultimately the health of mountains, forests and other natural landscapes.

In the face of criticism, trail race organisers are increasingly playing up their green credentials.
 

Trail race organisations target sustainability

ITRA has developed a ‘Green Charter’, which ties trail running values to respect for the environment⁴. The Charter encourages ‘stakeholders’ – including organisers, sponsors, suppliers and participants – to join together to reduce the environmental impact of the sport. Similarly, UTMB, one of the world’s biggest trail race organisers, has committed to improving its focus on sustainability.

Meanwhile, well-known trail-runner Kilian Jornet aims, through his foundation, to hold races and organisers accountable for their carbon footprint⁵. The goal is to target the pollution and greenhouse gases generated by outdoor sports, to improve management of natural resources, preserve land and biodiversity, and advocate for a more sustainable society. Other organisations are now providing ‘green’ certification for races, a move which may become important going forward as race organisers look to secure sponsorship and funding.

In Asia specifically, trail race organisers are focussing on producing environmentally low impact races. Groups such as The GreenRace, Action Asia, and Xterra embrace the mantra ‘Leave No Trace’ when putting on races. This is achieved by using almost 100% recycled course marking materials, separating bags of waste for recycling, and making medals from wood or recycled materials. Responsible water consumption is also encouraged. Meanwhile, more broadly, Asia Trails, which organises trail walking excursions, teams up with local companies to adopt a ‘tread carefully’ approach, putting the environment at the forefront of its events⁶.

Read more about Japan’s EV market
 

Innovation needed

Governments typically bear the brunt of the spending and works needed to maintain and repair public walking and running routes, often in hard to access locations. Sometimes supported by volunteers, the work has its own implications for the environment.  For example, laying concrete might improve the experience for users but it damages topsoil and vegetation, while concrete itself has a high carbon footprint. Concerns have been raised over excessive use of concrete in the repair of trails in Hong Kong⁷.

Governments and race organisers therefore need help to keep up with the increasing popularity of trail running. Through continued innovation and awareness, the environmental footprint of races – and hiking generally – can be lessened.
 

Opportunities for improvement

Such innovation requires investment. In the case of trails, this can come through sponsorship of events and by funding grassroots initiatives and technology start-ups to help local authorities and organisers better protect local ecosystems. This will likely lead to greener construction and repair of trails, promotion of sustainable local initiatives, and a more accurate measurement of the carbon footprint of events.

Trail runners themselves agree. According to a survey carried out by ITRA in May, 45% of runners from 130 countries think trail running organisations are not doing enough to promote or uphold principles of environmental and social sustainability8. Meanwhile, 53% would be willing to pay more to take part in an event if the money was going toward sustainability initiatives.    

How to build climate resilience in the Philippines
 

Regenerative value chains

The challenges facing trail running are a microcosm of the wider challenges we must tackle in the face of widespread landscape degradation and biodiversity loss. For instance, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, over a third of the world’s soils are moderately to highly degraded due to problems such as erosion⁹, which, together with issues such as climate change and agricultural expansion, is putting nature and biodiversity under threat.

In response, businesses are facing increasing policy, consumer and competitor pressure to reduce their adverse impacts on nature. They must also prepare for still greater regulatory demands, with the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures aiming to emulate the success of its climate-focussed predecessor. This will require the adoption and evolution of nature-positive business models rather than the extractive ones that dominate corporate activity today.

At Lombard Odier, we believe that nature is currently the world’s most underpriced asset class, but that corporate demand for ‘regenerative commodities’ – those produced in harmony with nature, rather than at nature’s expense – will drive the biggest revaluation of this century. We are convinced that those companies on the pathway to creating a net-zero and nature-positive economy will thrive, while those who are left behind will be at risk of becoming stranded.  

We are convinced that those companies on the pathway to creating a net-zero and nature-positive economy will thrive, while those who are left behind will be at risk of becoming stranded

In trail running as in life, wherever there are large groups of people, there will be an impact on the environment. But there will also be opportunity. By unifying and coming together with a common purpose, events that put an extra demand on ecosystems can also be leveraged to raise awareness and attract investment that can target returns while helping to restore our vital natural ecosystems to health.

The increasing importance of climate tech. Find out more.

¹The State of Trail Running 2022 (runrepeat.com)
² The data has been obtained directly from International Trail Running Association (ITRA), not all races in 2024 have been registered at the time of publication.
³ Trail Running’s Microplastics Problem (trailrunnermag.com)
⁴ The Green Charter of ITRA (ita.run)
⁵ Outdoor Friendly Pledge (outdoorfriendly.org)
⁶ Sustainable Trails (asiantrails.travel)
⁷ Concrete City (earth.org)
⁸ Sustainability in Trail Running Research Report (ita.run)
⁹ Status of the World's Soil Resources: Introduction (openknowledge.fao.org)​​​​​​​