Resources

On the why, what, how, when, and who of football and climate change.

Nov 03, 2022

Introduction

There are a lot of questions when it comes to football and climate change. For instance, what impact does football have on the climate? How is climate change impacting football fans, players and clubs? What action is needed? By who, and by when?

This page provides an overview of external resources on the football and climate change landscape. It aims to help people find answers to questions that matter to them, build broader understanding, and support more and better action.

For a quick start on the key issues, head to this video or this academic review.

This page has the following sections:

This is a work in progress. Being included here is not an endorsement. All summaries, errors and omissions are my own. The balance of content is geared towards the game in England, as that is where I’m based. But the aim is to be open and global to all content. To receive fortnightly updates on the latest football and climate change stories subscribe below.

This is Version 1.11. Updated on 16/1/25. Please send any comments or suggested corrections or changes to info@footballandclimate.org

International Bodies

The United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework was launched in 2018 and has 180+ signatories. In addition, there is the 2021 UN ‘Race to Zero’ campaign. Organisations signing up to this commit to halving their emissions by 2030 and aim to achieve net zero by 2040. FIFA, UEFA, the Premier League, and some individual clubs are among its 90+ sports signatories.
The FIFA Climate Strategy (2021) commits FIFA to be net-zero by 2040. It sets out several initiatives and commits to publishing a bi-annual progress report.
In the UEFA Sustainability Strategy 2030 (2021) UEFA commits to achieving net zero carbon by 2040 within UEFA, across UEFA events and collaboratively across European football. Their strategy includes year-by-year progress reporting. UEFA’s Sustainable Infrastructure guidelines were published in 2022 and updated Circular Economy guidelines in 2023.

National Football Bodies

The Premier League has signed up to the 2021 UN Race to Zero targets. It committed to publishing an environmental sustainability strategy in 2022, though this is yet to be published. It is expected to set out plans to reduce its own impact and to engage with other stakeholders.
The Football Association England published a five-year sustainability strategy in July 2023. You can read an analysis of it here.
The Scottish Football Association, with Zero Waste Scotland, published ‘Environmental Sustainability in Scottish Football’ best practice guidelines in 2020 and has committed to utilising the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework.
The Football Association of Wales launched its Sustainability Strategy 2030 in November 2022.
The English Football League launched ‘EFL Green Clubs’ in 2021. This aims to help support clubs to improve environmental practices and operations. It includes an accreditation scheme, benchmarking clubs, and providing guidance and advice.
Other national bodies that have signed up to the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework include The German Football Association; La Liga; The Puerto Rico Soccer League; and the K League.
In European countries,
- a licensing system operates with sustainability criteria in Germany and France.
- Spain and Italy have strategies covering all their top leagues.
I have not yet looked into any further actions or plans elsewhere and particularly welcome information from other countries that people can provide.
One notable regional football body is the Birmingham County FA. It has signed up to the UN Race to Zero targets and published a four-year strategy for lower-carbon football in the West Midlands. More about it here in the newsletter too.

Clubs

A list of club environmental commitments from the top four English leagues produced by this newsletter.
The Sports Positive League takes an in-depth look at clubs in the Premier League, the English Football League, the German Bundesliga, and the French Ligue 1.
In England, clubs with a turnover of over £36 million or more than 250 employees publish annual ‘streamlined energy and carbon reporting’ in their annual accounts. Analysis here.
A few clubs publish stand-alone sustainability reports. These include: Brentford, Liverpool, Manchester City and Spurs and Wolves.
European Club Association Sustainability Working Group. This was announced in February 2023 and met in November 2023.

Fans and Supporters Groups

The Football Supporters’ Association (for England and Wales) passed a climate motion in November 2021. It calls for clubs to develop and publish a sustainability policy. These should also include a plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions and participation in benchmarking.
The FSA is also working with football and sustainability organisation, Pledgeball (more below) and has produced a climate crisis toolkit for fans. Please feel free to drop a line with any further information about fan groups activities you are aware of.
Green Gooners, Sustainable Clarets, Sustainabees, and Swindon Town Green Robins are examples of club-focussed fan groups focused specifically on sustainability. Forest Green Devils are a fan group based in Germany supporting the English club and focussed on green issues. If you know of more fan groups for clubs please provide details to include here too.

Fan Surveys

Two thirds of UK fans believe soccer should be more sustainable, part of a Carbon Responsible 2024 survey reported in SportsPro.
The FSA 2023 Survey shows that only a quarter agreed their club was doing enough to cut down on the climate change impact of their activities.
70% of fans agree that sports teams ‘should be taking action on sustainability and
social issues’, and 70% of fans also believe the same of sports leagues, according to a 2025 Sports Industry Group.
87% of the respondents to a January 2025 survey believe it is either very important or somewhat important for women’s football to be environmentally sustainable. Part of a She’s A Baller survey reported by Earth.org.
A Capgemini survey says 67% of fans feel disappointed that the teams they follow are insufficiently prioritising environmental sustainability.
63% of all those polled by YouGov agreed that the new independent football regulator should have a duty to consider the impact of climate change on football.
The Football and Climate Justice Community and Fan Survey Report by the European Football for Development Network.

Football and Climate Change Initiatives and Organisations

Missed any? Drop us a line.

ActionFC is a community of women's football fans dedicated to fighting against climate change.
Football4Climate is a programme from Sport and Sustainability International, based in Switzerland. It seeks to leverage football to drive climate awareness and action amongst the wider football industry. It’s not been active in a while.
Football Ecologie France is a is a non-profit general interest association which supports and advances football players in the ecological and solidarity transition.
Football for Climate Justice is an EU Erasmus+ project led by the European Football Network for Development and Think-tank for Action on Social Change working with seven European Clubs.
Football for Forests hosts the global Forest Restoration League in which fans compete for their clubs to restore the most forest
Football For Future aims to build a more sustainable culture in football. It raises awareness of the relationship between football and climate change. FFF also supports the football industry to become more sustainable.
Fossil Free Football focuses on removing high-carbon sponsors from football. It was one of the organisations that submitted a complaint to advertising authorities leading to FIFA being found guilty of misleading consumers by declaring that the World Cup in Qatar was “carbon neutral”.
The FREE KICKS project is an EU-funded partnership between clubs and organisations addressing the topics of circular economy and environmental sustainability in football organisations.
Game Earth is based in France. It calculates and prices the carbon footprint of participant players, teams, leagues, and federations. It then uses an endowment fund to invest in organisations addressing climate change.
Green Football Weekend. Was a two-week campaign with a weekend of activities in February 2023. Fans, clubs, schools and other organisations took part. It will be back in 2024.
Life Tackle was an international project co-funded by the European Union. It aimed to improve the environmental management of football matches and increase awareness of environmental issues. Its outputs included surveys of fans, and guidelines and best practices for stadiums.
Pedal To The Pitch campaigns to: improve cycle infrastructure around grounds; encourage clubs to make their stadiums more accessible to bicycles; and supports fans to find safe routes to games.

Planet League allows fans to choose from over 50 green activities to compete for their team in a league. It includes 77 clubs among its partners.

Pledgeball rallies fans into teams. They compete to bring about changes by making lifestyle pledges. Its partners include The Football Supporters’ Association.
SDG Striker. Funded by ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union. Its goal is to increase the organisational capacity of grassroots sports organisations and has produced a small number of magazines with in-depth coverage of issues.
Sustainable Football, works with clubs providing specialist sustainability advisory, strategy and delivery, as well as guidance and tools including a scorecard for clubs to score themselves against a range of criteria.
We Play Green is a Norwegian organization founded by footballer and environmentalist, Morten Thorsby. It aims to create sustainable attitudes and actions within the global football family.

Videos

A range of videos, interviews and topics are covered in this in-depth look at Climate and Sustainability as part of the Sky Future of Football series (2023)
How are football clubs tackling the climate emergency? : Football’s Toughest Opponent Sky Sports. (October 2022). This explores the impact of climate change on football and how football contributes to climate change. It also looks at what governing bodies, clubs, managers and players are doing in response.
Will Your Football Club Be Underwater In 2050? Tifo Football / The Athletic (August 2020).
How can football tackle the climate crisis? | MOTDx. BBC Sport (April 2021). 5 mins video.
Sports for Climate Action: On the Race to Zero (November 2021). Presentations and discussions from the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow, various participants from the football world and wider sports too.
Inside Club Football - The Fight Against Climate Change. Johan Cruyff Institute (May 2022). Webinar recording of a panel discussion with Ramón Alarcón (Real Betis) and Thom Rawson (Football For Future).

Reports

This needs a little further updating. In the meantime …

The Annual Survey of Football Finance Directors 2022. Football Finance 2.0. BDO. (2022). Includes a section on ‘Environmental, Social & Governance’.
The beautiful game in a changing climate. (2023). The Met Office
Deloitte Football Money League 2023. (2023) It includes a section on Sustainability
The environmental awareness and behaviour of professional football supporters: an empirical survey LifeTackle EU (2021)
Football and Climate Change: Ensuring An Evidence-Based Response. Dr Leslie Mabon (2022). Published here in the newsletter.
Football stadiums put at risk by climate change. Zurich (2023)
Football Sustainability Index. (2023). Brand Finance.
Game Changer: How Climate Change Threatens The Sports We Love. The Priestley International Centre for Climate, The University of Leeds and The Climate Coalition (2018)
Game Changer II: The impact of climate change on sports in the UK. BASIS (British Association for Sustainable Sport). (2023)
Global Sports 2022: Uncovering the Socially Responsible Sports Fan. Sports White Paper. YouGov Sports. Includes survey responses on climate change.
Global Sports Survey 7th Edition. (2023). PWC. Includes section on Sustainability in Sports
Green Sports Alliance (USA) has several reports covering fan engagement, food, waste, venues and more.
Mapping the Sport and Climate Space. Report by David Goldblatt for Play The Game (2023)
Playing Against the Clock: Global Sport, the Climate Emergency and the Case For Rapid Change. Report by David Goldblatt for Rapid Transition Alliance (2020)
Pledgeball: Toolkit for Fans. Pledgeball in partnership with the FSA. (2021)
Scope F: Maximising sport’s positive impact on carbon emissions. White Paper. Planet League (2022).
A sporting chance: The role of sport in mitigating climate change. Deloitte Sports Business Group (2021).
The sports playbook: Everything you need to know about sports and its fans. GWI. (2021). Includes a section on young sports fans views on the environment.
Supporters Survey 2022. EFL. Included questions and survey responses on environmental sustainability.
Sweat Not Oil: Why sports should drop advertising and sponsorship from high-carbon polluters. New Weather Institute, Possible and the Rapid Transition Alliance for the Badvertising campaign (2021).
Why offsets won’t solve sports’ climate problem. Badvertising (2022)

Podcasts

The Climate of Sport with Claire Poole of Sport Positive, discusses a range of topical issues for sport
The Emergency on Planet Sport podcast series includes many dedicated to football.
Football's Climate Conversation. Part of 90min podcast series.
Playing for the Planet. Sky Sports' David Garrido talks to sportspeople about the environment plays and its role in their professional lives. (NB: these are listed within the ‘Essential Football’ podcast. Scroll to 8 Sept 2021 for the first episode).
The Sustainability Report Podcast. A collection of over 80 podcasts on sport and sustainability from the series which has been running since 2019.
Sustaining Sport Podcast. A series of podcasts from Ben Mole on how societal challenges impact sport and how sport can be a powerful tool to help.

Select Academic Articles

1:0 for the environment: Engaging football fans on tackling climate change. Jennifer Amann. University of Gothenburg School of Global Studies (2022)
Assessment of local air quality and air pollutant emissions from football travel associated with Birmingham County Football Association. Muller et al. University of Birmingham (2021)
Fans' perceptions of pro-environmental sustainability initiatives in sport and triple bottom line benefits. Cayolla et al. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship (2023)
Football and climate change: what do we know, and what is needed for an evidence-informed response? Dr Leslie Mabon. Climate Policy (2022)
Greenhouse gas emissions as a result of spectators travelling to football in England. Adekunle Dosumu, Ian Colbeck & Rachel Bragg. Nature Scientific Reports (2017).
High Levels of PM10 Reduce the Physical Activity of Professional Soccer Players. Zacharko et al. International Journal of Environmental Research (2022)
‘I Hadn’t Realised That Change Is Not a Difficult Thing’: Mobilising Football Fans on Climate Change. Jennifer Amann and Mark Doidge. Sociology (2023)
The impacts of sport emissions on climate: Measurement, mitigation, and making a difference. Wilby et al. The Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
(Re)scheduling as a climate mitigation and adaptation strategy. Madeleine Orr, Jessica Murfee & Laura Stargel. Managing Sport and Leisure (2022)

Select Media Articles

The bi-weekly newsletter will provide curated selections of new and recent statements, articles and commentary in the media. You can subscribe to it below.

Sports Initiatives and Organisations

The British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) provides expert help to clubs, venues, and governing bodies. It counts many football clubs among its members.
The Cool Down Sport for Climate Action Network provides lots of useful news, reports and resources from its many members and beyond. It has more links to organisations than you will find here!
Ecolosport. A media outlet for sustainable sports based in France. It includes a section dedicated to football.
The Game Changer Sponsorship Pledge aims to mobilise fans, athletes and clubs to bring an end to high-carbon, gambling and alcohol sponsorship in sport.

Sport and Recreation Alliance is the voice of the sector with the UK Government, policymakers and the media.
The Sport Ecology Group. A non-profit community of academics based globally. It liaises between industry & academia. The website includes a reading list of academic articles here.
The Sport Environment and Climate Coalition was created in March 2022. It includes BASIS and the Sport and Recreation Alliance as members. It will aim to establish a UK-wide, cross-sector approach to climate change.
Sport Positive is global summit event. It brings together sports stakeholders to support the acceleration of positive climate action.

The Sustainability Report. Weekly insights for sports professionals. Also includes a podcast and newsletter.

World Cups

2022

Leading up to the tournament

FIFA publications for World Cup Qatar 2022 include:
Note: this list is not comprehensive. Further information and documents can be found on the main FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Sustainability page
José Retana, Sustainability Senior Manager at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 interviewed in July 2022 on the Climate of Sport podcast. (Apple / Spotify)
Poor tackling: Yellow card for 2022 FIFA World Cup’s carbon neutrality claim Carbon Market Watch. Published May May 2022, Updated 31st October 2022 with policy recommendations

After the tournament

FIFA Final Sustainability Report
- Ex post Greenhouse Gas Accounting Report
Swiss Commission for Fairness decision upholding complaints against FIFA in response to its 2022 World Cup carbon neutrality claims. 2023.

2023

Pre-tournament: FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Sustainability Strategy
Post-tournament: FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Sustainability Report

2026

Canada, Mexico, and the United States United Bid to Host the 2026 FIFA World Cup
United 2026 Environmental Impact Assessment Executive Summary Bid document. (2018)
FIFA Bid Evaluation Document for 2026 World Cup for Morocco and United bids. Contains sections evaluating sustainability in both bids

2027

Bid books submitted by: Belgium/Netherlands/Germany; Brazil; and Mexico/USA.
FIFA Bid Evaluation Report for Belgium/Netherlands/Germany and for Brazil.

2030 and 2034

Further media articles on the World Cup have been included in the bi-weekly Football and Climate Change Newsletter.

Extreme Heat

From FIFPRO, the World Players’ Union.

Governing bodies

Research

Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise: Special Issue: Heat Adaptation in Athletes (august 2024).
Efficacy of the FIFA cooling break heat policy during an intermittent treadmill football simulation in hot conditions in trained males, Harry A Brown et al (July 2024) in British Journal of Sports Medicine
Coping with the heat while playing football: challenges and potential solutions, George Nassis (June 2024) in Football Medicine And Performance Association. Page 1 freely available here
The effect of heat stress on the running performance of professional soccer players during the Brazilian elite championship, Diêgo Augusto and Fabricio Vasconcellos (May 2024)
In-match strategies to mitigate the effect of heat on football (soccer) players’ health and performance, George Nassis et al (March 2024) in British Journal of Sports Medicine
Do environmental temperatures and altitudes affect physical outputs of elite football athletes in match conditions? A systematic review of the ‘real world’ studies, Garrison Draper et al (January 2022) in Science and Medicine in Football
Football facing a future with global warming: perspectives for players health and performance, Lars Nybo et al (July 2020) in British Journal of Sports Medicine
The association of environmental heat stress with performance: Analysis of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, George Nassis et al (February 2015) in British Journal of Sports Medicine
Effect of hot environmental conditions on physical activity patterns and temperature response of football players, Kerem Ozgunen et al (October 2010) in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
Training and playing in hot and/or humid environments, Franck Brocherie (January 2018). Book Chapter.
The existential threat to the Olympics. Video by scientist and online educator, Simon Clark (August 2024) takes a look at a variety of impacts of heat on sports athletes.

Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
@fbandclimate
footballandclimatechange@gmail.com

Football and Climate Change Newsletter