Coming up in 2024
Round-up #22
Welcome to 2024! I hope you managed to catch some great matches over the festive period.
Below is what I know about what is coming up in 2024 on the football and climate change agenda. It’s split into four parts: early in the year, mid-year, later in the year, and sooner or later.
Do you have any plans, big or small, for 2024 that I’ve not included but you want to share? Or do you know of stuff that others are planning that’s not here? If so, please share in the comments section for other readers to be aware of too.
This post is focused on what is happening in football. There is bucketloads more happening more generally on the climate agenda and beyond that will impact the football world, but I’m not going to bite off more than I can chew here.
One more thing to expect in 2024 - plenty more fantastic initiatives, events, reports, and campaigns from fans, players, clubs and organisations … as well as some deserving more critical attention.
You can keep up to date on all that through the round-ups and in-depth pieces in this newsletter. Please subscribe if you haven’t (it’s free), and share and like!
best wishes
Fran
Early in the Year
From next week we have an exciting month of national team matches to watch with the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and AFC Asian Cup. One of the world’s top 20 polluters, TotalEnergies, is sponsoring AFCON. Kick Polluters Out, a movement of African creatives, is among those campaigning against their involvement in the tournament. Attention on Total is likely to ramp up as the tournament gets into full swing.
Green Football Weekend will take place between 2nd and 5th February. Expect to see green actions by fans, players, clubs and partners. And take action too if you can - I joined a cycle ride to a nearby away game the other day! Also, keep a look out during this period for campaigners and commentators drawing attention to the many key issues where more action is needed.
In England, clubs and governing bodies will publish their 2022/2023 accounts in the first few months of the year. Fans of clubs with a turnover of over £36m (Premier League clubs and some in the Championship) will be able to see their ‘streamlined energy and carbon reports’ in their accounts.
The biggest clubs by turnover will, for the first time, also be required to publish more detailed climate-related disclosures in their annual report. This will likely include Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Spurs, and possibly Arsenal.
I’ll be reporting on what these annual reports say on environmental issues here in the newsletter as and when they appear.
The Premier League will soon publish its sustainability strategy according to one newspaper report. In addition, expect a lot of coverage for the latest Sport Positive yearly matrix on the environmental sustainability efforts of Premier League clubs. Other league matrices will follow during the year.
Elsewhere, UEFA has said that it will make available details on its new Carbon Footprint Calculator in in Q1. This will include publishing the methodology behind it for any sports organisation aiming at addressing their carbon footprint.
We should, in theory, soon see four important sustainability reports from FIFA as these were originally due to be published in 2023. This includes two follow-up reports on the men’s World Cup 2022 in Qatar, plus the World Cup 2026 Sustainability Strategy, and also the bi-annual climate progress report. We may also see more information on the widely-trailed potential sponsorship of FIFA by the world’s largest fossil fuel company, Saudi Aramco.
Mid-Year
In May, FIFA will publish evaluation reports of the three bidders to host the Women’s Word Cup 2027. This will include an evaluation of each bid against sustainability factors. A decision on who will host will be taken at the FIFA Congress on 17th May.
There will be three more national team tournaments that I’ll be glued to the screen for. From mid-June to mid-July the US will host Copa América. 16 teams will take part across 14 locations, which will require lots of flying by teams and fans. It will provide an indication of if, and how, extreme weather may affect World Cup 2026.
At the same time, Germany will host EURO 2024. Teams have been encouraged by UEFA to travel by rail rather than fly, and can therefore expect closer scrutiny of their travel choices than at previous tournaments. Also, incentives have been provided to fans to use sustainable public transport. These will be watched closely to see if they have there hoped-for impact.
The final of both the Copa America and EURO 2024 take place on my birthday, so that’s my day sorted already!
Between late July and early August, we will also see men’s and women’s football tournaments at the Olympics in Paris. Will we see the same extreme heat in Europe as we had in 2023? And if, and how, they may impact both EURO 2024 and the Paris Olympics?
The detailed bids to host the Men’s World Cups in 2030 and 2034 will be submitted in July 2024. These will need to include information on environmental actions the bidders will take. FIFA has committed to publishing all bidding documents, but it’s not clear whether they will be published at this time or later in the process.
Later in the year
From the start of the next football season expect to see more teams playing in Europe and more games being played, as the club tournaments expand in size. This will mean more flights, leading to more carbon pollution. December will see UEFA put out its annual ‘Respect’ report, but covering only its organisational emissions and not the scope 3 emissions from these games.
In Germany, Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 will see the minimum sustainability criteria already introduced become mandatory in the licensing process for the 2024–25 season.
For World Cup 2030, a FIFA Congress is expected to make its decision by Q4 2024 officially confirming the host. In slightly more ambiguous language for World Cup 2034 FIFA says in one place that decisions will be taken in Q4 2034, and elsewhere decisions are “starting in Q4” 2034. Given the changes FIFA made to the hosting processes this year, expect the unexpected in 2024. Finally, the new annual FIFA Continental World Cup will take place in December 2024.
Sooner or Later
We should expect to see more club strategies and scope 3 reporting from clubs this year, possibly when their accounts are published, though timings are unclear. In England, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle United are among the clubs who have said they are carrying out work in these areas.
In France, we may see further developments on the LFP licensing system. In Spain, we may see more on the next stages of the RFEF environmental and sustainability strategy. I’m sure there will be more strategies, initiatives, and updates on progress in other countries are also being planned but I need to catch up on what’s going on!
Elsewhere, UEFA has said that in 2024 we will see “UEFA codes of conduct for business relationships aligned with environment commitment”, “UEFA regulations, policies and programmes as applicable embed infrastructure sustainability criteria” and more on its “4R methodology for events”.
UEFA has also said that a review of its sustainability strategy is envisaged for 2025. Keep an eye out to see if work kicks off in 2024. Separately, we may also learn more about Women’s EURO 25 sustainability plans.
Another interesting initiative to watch out for is the next steps on the United Nations “Bigger Than The Game” global survey. Alongside this, there may be further developments on the UN Sports for Climate Action agenda more generally.
Finally, a bill to create an independent regulator for football in England will go through Parliament. The timing for this legislation is unclear, as is whether it will include anything on the environment, but there is speculation things could move quickly on the regulator.
What does all this add up to for climate action in football in 2024? Big progress or a hill of beans? I’ll be keeping an eye to see what is delivered, what it means in practice, whether it is enough, and what more needs to happen in 2024.
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
footballandclimatechange@gmail.com
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