LA, transport, soft power and more
Round-up #43
Hello again all,
It’s only mid-January, and there’s already a lot to be going on with. This round-up brings together stories from a busy couple of weeks of news and developments. I hope you find things here that pique your interests and lead to further ideas and action.
Fran
Quick links: LA wildfires; Club focus; Transport; In other news; Sport Industry Report; Soft power; International football bodies; Cold London; and Some wider developments.
LA wildfires
“Our hearts ache for our city, and all those in Southern California affected by wildfires. We are grateful to the first responders and the many people working to protect our communities” LA Galaxy club statement
This newsletter goes out with the Los Angeles wildfires continuing. At least 27 people have died, over 12,000 structures have been destroyed, and thousands evacuated. There is an initial estimate of more than $250bn in damages and economic losses. The BBC has looked at the role of climate change in the fires.
LA has several major sporting events coming up.
In football, it is due to host six FIFA Club World Cup games this Summer, as well as some of the national team games for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The MLS season for LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC is due to begin in late February, and the NWSL begins for Angel City FC in early March.
The city is also scheduled to host: 8 games in the FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2026; the Super Bowl in 2027; and the Olympics in 2028.
None of the major sports venues in LA are reported as having been damaged by the wildfires, though the implications for upcoming sports events in the city is still an open question. The LA Times gets differing responses when it asks: Can fire-torn L.A. handle the World Cup, Super Bowl and Summer Olympics?
Elsewhere, AFP reports California Governor Gavin Newsom saying that planning for the 2028 Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in 2026 is on track, and sees these sports events as a reason to move quickly in response to the fires. Separately, speaking to ABC News a local LA politician says it is highly likely major construction efforts would still be underway throughout the city by the time the Olympics begin. NBC News says “It’s unlikely the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles will be moved … But the fires have nonetheless cast a shadow over the next instalment of the Games.”
While the focus in these articles is largely on the Olympics in 2028, it leaves open questions about the implications for those tournaments happening sooner. Most immediately, this includes football club and national team matches planned for this year.
Looking more broadly, the BBC reports that the LA fires should be 'wake up' for sport - experts. The article asks whether large scale sports events organisers take climate change seriously, and includes an expert view that “while sustainability might have one voice in that room, until it is captured across the entire leadership at the top of these organisations, it's going to continue to be an uphill battle." Elsewhere,
The US Women’s National Team has had to move a scheduled training camp to Florida due to the fires.
The LA Times has an extended piece on New Zealand Women’s football captain and Angel City player Ali Riley, who lost her childhood home to the wildfires.
Former Arsenal and Mexico player, Carlos Vela also saw his home destroyed.
LA Galaxy, Los Angeles FC and Angel City FC, are among local professional sports organisations donating more than $8million to relief efforts. They have also promoted wildfire relief information, encouraged donations from the public, and launched merchandise to support the fire relief campaign. Club stadiums have also acted as supply and resource drop-off locations.
The LA Galaxy Youth Academy players were among those helping the relief donation drive
Club focus
Anstey Nomads have the latest entry into the ‘postponed-due-the-extreme-weather’ genre of videos.
Exeter City’s Brazil take-over day marked the club being the first team to ever play the national Brazil side, and included a range of sustainability initiatives.
FC Internationale Berlin has €10,000 of climate project funds and is seeking fans to work with them on deciding what it is spent on. “Climate protection … requires an open exchange and democratic decision-making process so that transformation is supported by many members.”
Liverpool’s The Red Way has been named Sports Sustainability winner at International Sports Awards.
Manchester United travelling by train to their FA Cup tie with Arsenal had a lot of social media coverage.
Newark & Sherwood United have been spotlighted by the Nottinghamshire FA for their sustainability efforts .
Plymouth Argyle published their 2023/24 Carbon Report and included an environmental responsibility organisational chart for the club.
Redditch United Chairman, David Faulkner, sets out the club’s work on sustainability, including support from Birmingham County FA.
Tadcaster Albion manager Mick O'Connell has talked about the impacts of flooding on the players, club and community, including saying “Hopefully the Environmental Agency can get that information off of the council and they can put in the flood defence, that is not just needed by Tadcaster football club, but it’s needed for Tadcaster as a community”.
Community Sports Trusts in action included: Brentford, and Charlton here and here
Transport
In the UK, the Department for Transport has issued a call for ideas for its Integrated National Transport Strategy. The strategy “will set the high-level direction for how transport should be designed, built and operated in England over the next 10 years”. Any individual or organisation can submit ideas, and you have until 20th February to do so. Key questions include how could the transport network be better ‘joined-up’? With transport playing such a significant role in contributing to emissions within football, it's an opportunity for to get thinking caps on.
Separately, in the context of a much wider interview with three football chiefs in The Times on the football governance bill, there are a couple of short interesting comments on transport and environment. These are in response to the question: What would you like the government to do regarding football?
West Ham Vice-Chair, Baroness Brady says “Fan travel is another — how do we get fans cheaper, greener and more convenient services?” (Elsewhere, Baroness Brady has strongly opposed a role for the football regulator on environmental sustainability). Brighton CEO, Paul Barber, says “As the government takes a bit more control of the railways, it would be great for them to step in and say: if you’re a football fan and you buy a rail ticket and the match date gets changed the rail company will honour your ticket.”
Further attention by senior football figures on transport and the environment is needed and to be welcomed. Will these comments mark the start of more sustained and visible advocating and action by senior figures on environmentally-friendly fan travel? Or are they one-off comments in the context of football regulator discussions? Let’s hope for the former, and keep a look out to see.
Separately, for a useful catch-up on the Football Governance Bill and its next steps, see this overview from Pinsent Masons.
In other news
The EFL has re-launched a new and improved Green Clubs scheme. As the season progresses there is expected to be further updates with assessments of the 38 participating clubs with results of "Participant", "Bronze", "Silver" or "Gold".
How can football fans talk to their clubs about tackling climate change by Kits For The World, sets out 8 approaches to doing so, as well as barriers and how they can be overcome.
Earth.org reports on How Women’s Football Is Promoting Climate Advocacy. It includes findings from a She’s A Baller survey that 87% of respondents believe it is either very important or somewhat important for women’s football to be environmentally sustainable.
Forbes looks at how The Green Action League Shows The Power Of Collective Fan Action and also separately at Sports And Sustainability: Putting People And Planet Back Into Football with four suggestions for clubs to step up their sustainability efforts.
BASIS, the British Association for Sustainable Sport, identifies 5 trends in Sustainability, Climate & Sport for 2025: increasing impacts, data dominance; athletes’ advocacy; sustainability strategies; and political pressure.
Team Grassroots asks What Does 2025 Have in Store for Grassroots Football? They suggest we are likely to see more clubs and leagues adopting environmentally friendly practices.
Carbon Boot has a table of the estimated miles flown up by all clubs in the Premier League up to Game Week 20.
Pledgeball looks at Offsetting and Offside: What Football Fans Need to Know
A post about Rethinking African Football for the Football Foundation for Africa proposes moving the AFCON tournament to a 4-year cycle and aligning the tournament with weather patterns to avoid disruptions like extreme heat or rainfall.
The Italian Super Cup and Spanish Supercopa finals have just taken place in Saudi Arabia, with some concerns from Spanish players about travelling long distances. “If it was China or the United States, I’d say the same,” Mallorca’s Pablo Maffeo told The Athletic, “I’d like to play the Spanish Supercopa in Spain.”
For, The Asterisk*, Wayne Menezes writes on the scope 1 and 2 emissions reporting of Premier League clubs, and, separately, has an expert interview on preparing the next generation of sustainability leaders in sport.
The Long Game takes an interesting look at how stadium design is adapting to climate change in a roof over our heads: Can stadium tech save outdoor sport from climate change?
Sport Industry Report
The Sport Industry Report 2025 is from the Sport Industry Group (SiG) with Nielsen. It includes findings from a survey of fans and industry professionals, and a section on ‘Redefining sustainability as a commercial opportunity’. The report includes a focus on a finding about fans, particularly younger ones, being willing to pay higher ticket prices if it was put toward a positive environmental benefit. However, there are a lot of other survey answers in there worth checking out too.
For instance, 33% of fans and 50% of professionals responded that they ‘don’t know’ which sports event is leading the way with environmental sustainability in the UK. Is this a case of needing to tell the story of successes better? Or a need to have more objective and comparative measures of success? Or a bit of both? Or something else? Elsewhere, 56% of fans and just 21% of professionals believe sport’s environmental impact is positive, an interesting and hard to unpick finding.
Picking below the headline on the willingness to pay higher ticket prices is important too. Some initial thoughts: Circumstances will be different in different countries and sports. In English football it needs to be seen against the backdrop of the Football Supporters’ Association “Stop Exploiting Loyalty” campaign about top-flight ticket prices, and also a backdrop of Premier League revenue growing by 11% to surpass £6bn, and, more generally, an approach by the UK Government to make the transition affordable and fair.
Also, other more targeted approaches can be worth considering, though in all of this understanding first what funding is needed for, what resources are already available, and what further resources (if any) are needed. Elsewhere, UEFA part-financed its EURO 2024 climate fund for amateur clubs through a €5 voluntary donation requested on all stadium car parking for matches.
Separately, the SiG research also points out that 57% of sports industry professionals travel internationally for work, with 52% of those making between two and five trips a year. Following a polluter-pays approach it would be interesting to consider the merits of a sports industry frequent flyer levy towards green sports projects. In addition, or alternatively, there may be opportunities for sports to cut both costs and emissions from staff travel - Deloitte has recently ‘slashed’ staff travel to cut costs. Separately, UEFA has a carbon reduction plan under validation by its top management, prioritising initiatives addressing its own extensive business travel.
Those are a few initial thoughts, and I’d be keen to hear additional and alternative views.
Soft Power
Today has seen the launch by the UK Government of the UK Soft Power Council. Among the 26 members are the Chair of the FA and leaders from UK Sport and Sport Wales. The Premier League is also mentioned in the announcement. The Council will “provide independent expertise and advice on HM Government’s soft power work”.
A University of Edinburgh paper from December on Sport and Britain's UK Soft Power Council proposed that sport can help support UK foreign policy priorities including on climate action. Its recommendations include creating a ‘Sport Innovation and Sustainability Fund’ to position the UK as a global leader. It’s another subject it would be good to hear any views on from readers. Alternatively, or in addition, there is a new Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry you can submit your views to.
International football bodies
Sustainability Magazine asks How is UEFA Making European Football Sustainable?. The article looks at UEFA’s annual Respect Report for 2023/24 (also covered in this newsletter here) and also has a section from UEFA’s Head of Environmental Sustainability on five ways to advance football sustainability.
UEFA’s 9th UEFA Medical Symposium will include a session on environmental conditions. One of the key aspects of environmental conditions is heat. In February of last year UEFA said it was “working on having regulations in place to safeguard players and fans”. Let’s see if we hear more on that soon.
In a well researched report, Play The Game says Saudi Arabia's grandiose stadium plans mock FIFA’s climate claims.
Cold London
“It’s a winter’s day late this century and London is engulfed in a December blizzard, its third of the season … In the following months, many English football pitches will lie idle, the groundsmen having given up trying to protect the surfaces from the elements.” Henry Mance in the FT on The utterly plausible case that climate change makes London much colder. While football does not get a look in beyond the above reference, its an interesting and well-written piece that’s worth a read.
Some wider developments
In sport and sustainability:
‘Deep, minging, unpleasant’: cricket’s flooding problem is getting worse in The Guardian.
The Cool Down Network reports on Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon rejecting fossil fuel sports sponsorship. You can sign up for more from the Cool Down Network here.
Water is the ‘missing link’ in Sustainability for Sports says a post for WWF Freshwater.
Anthropocene Magazine takes a look at longer-term look at sport in What might sports look like in a warming world?
Video: Are Australian sports doing enough to adapt to climate change? A 7min video from ABC News
More generally in football:
All Premier League clubs have been deemed financially compliant by the Premier League for 2023/24. This should mean we start to see club annual accounts, including environmental reporting, at some point soon.
In a discussion about ticket prices on The Overlap, football finance expert Kieran Maguire highlights the squeezing out of domestic fans to attract more higher-revenue generating international fans.
More generally, in climate:
A belated prediction for 2025: climate adaptation moves up the agenda. In the last couple of weeks we have already seen,
The Global Risks Report 2025 from the World Economic Forum which shows that business has ranked extreme weather events as the second-highest risk in the 2-year outlook and the top risk in the 10-year outlook.
A survey in the UK said more than three-quarters of the public (78%) think the UK is 'not prepared' to deal with climate impacts and extreme weather driven by climate change.
A UN Race to Resilience / Boston Consulting Group Report on Harnessing the Private Sector for a Climate-Resilient World
A section added to The Climate Drive Net Zero Guidebook on adapting a business to climate change.
Elsewhere, the CDP and Oliver Wyman 2025 Corporate Health Check shows that: too few companies are showing ambition; corporate transparency leads to action; bringing the planet into the boardroom is critical; and protecting the planet while pursuing profit is possible.
That’s time! Comments, corrections, content suggestions and offers to write guest posts will be snapped up at any time.
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
info@footballandclimate.org
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