Be a Climate Leader
Consistently promote awareness about climate change by mobilising resources to support action through:
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Broadcasting channels
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Social media
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Athletes as role models and climate ambassadors
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Showcasing sustainable actions at events, at club grounds and at iconic venues
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Association/federation networks
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Sport clubs memberships and team fans
Tackling the Problem
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Football can display climate leadership and enhance its reputation by striving to become carbon neutral through fan engagement, education in the community, and improving the sustainability of all club operations.
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Football must take responsibility for its carbon footprint and recognise the significant negative impact that its operations currently have on the environment, but also realise the substantially positive role it could play in the fight against the climate crisis.
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Football’s contribution to climate change - through associated travel, energy use, construction, catering, and so on - is considerable. However, Football’s global interest, and the media coverage it generates, provides a strong platform for it to play a pivotal role in tackling the climate crisis, and inspire and engage large audiences to do the same.
How does Climate Change impact Football?
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Damage to playing surfaces due to extreme temperatures, extended periods of drought, flooding, and/or pest species extending their natural range
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Damage to buildings and other infrastructure due to violent storms
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Coastal erosion and sea level rise directly affecting pitches in seaside areas
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Unseasonal rainfall forcing cancellation or abandonment of sport matches
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Heat waves forcing changes to timing of matches and stoppages for drinks breaks
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Increased injuries to players from heat exhaustion and impact injuries from harder playing surfaces
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Climate adaption measures being required in the design of new or refurbished sport venues.
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All these impacts have potentially significant financial repercussions in addition to their physical and logistical impacts. These are not projections; they are all real impacts that have happened and continue to happen across sports and throughout the world.
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Governing bodies, federations, leagues and clubs, are encouraged to join the journey to jointly develop climate action agenda in football, by leading and supporting specific working groups and by bringing their expertise, tools and best practices, into this framework.
How can football clubs take action?
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Measure and Understand
Measure the overall carbon footprint of your club or organisation, and target the activities which contribute the most to that total. This will help you to select the most cost-effective actions with the highest reduction potential.
Take Action
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Avoid – actions designed to eliminate emissions in the first place.
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Reduce – actions designed to lower the climate impact of your current activities. This may entail using resources in a more efficient way and thereby reducing the overall need, and associated costs, for such resources.
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Substitute/replace – actions designed to improve efficiency. This may be achieved by switching to more efficient and “cleaner” equipment, fuels, materials or processes.
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Compensate – offset some or all of your remaining, unavoidable impacts, typically by investing in emission reductions in other projects, such as tree planting or renewable energy infrastructure.
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Report – provide a credible account of your climate footprint and the climate actions you have undertaken in order to share knowledge and lessons learned with fans.
Be a Climate Leader
Consistently promote awareness about climate change by mobilising resources to support action through:
-
Broadcasting channels
-
Social media
-
Athletes as role models and Climate Ambassadors
-
Showcasing sustainable actions at events and club grounds
-
Partnerships with Associations and Federations
-
Sport clubs memberships and team fans