Dreams, innovations, commitments and more
Round-up #26
Hello all,
In addition to the usual round-up of developments from the last fortnight, there is a long read here on the new Premier League Environmental Commitment. How does an occasional long-read section like this work for you? Drop me a line with any views. In the meantime, upwards and onwards!
Fran
Around the world
The J.League has also launched a new web page on its climate action work under the theme “Protecting children's dreams of becoming soccer players”.
Elsewhere
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football has penned a multi-year deal with Aramco. The company recently came top in a report on the ‘dirtiest dozen’ companies in the world. In Forbes: Despite Climate Crisis Concacaf Signs Partnership With Saudi Aramco.
As the AFCON 2023 final kicked-off, climatic records were being broken across Africa.
The German Bundesliga has cut its sustainability requirements by half from 2022 to 2023. From a session at Play the Game 2024.
The Bangladesh Football Federation has moved forward with an environmental impact assessment on the FIFA-backed Cox's Bazar project. Organisations continue to campaign for its cancellation (see also Round-up #17).
Oil and gas company, ENI, has been announced as a title sponsor of Serie A. Read Badvertising on it here.
What do British football fans think the sport could do to slash its carbon emissions? Video below from Context. Full story here
Non-League and Grassroots
After Altrincham’s game with Dorking was postponed four times, a club statement said “It seems clear that extreme weather conditions will continue to impact football over the coming seasons”.
“It’s something now that’s becoming more and more apparent every year – the pitch can’t cope with the weather. The fixtures that are cancelled come back round, but Tuesday nights are nowhere near as well attended as Saturday kick-offs are, so it is a loss over time.” Whitby Town sound 'slow death' warning as non-league clubs combat climate change in The Yorkshire Post.
The FA has partnered with E.ON on a new decarbonisation programme. It will provide advice, educational resources and investment to grassroots clubs. Details are to follow on the size and scope of the initiative so it’s hard to assess yet what impact it might have.
Leicester Nirvana has a new section on their website: Nirvana Net Zero Reducing Carbon by Reducing Inequalities
Lewes, with Football For Future, is foregrounding environmental sustainability.
The Cheshire FA are hosting an online ‘Introduction to Environmental Sustainability for Grassroots Football’ event on 12th March.
70% of people think that teams should consider how they travel when it comes to the climate says a poll for Possible
Clubs
Inverness Caledonian Thistle is set to build an energy storage scheme on their land and gain income from it.
Nottingham Forest has added a sustainability page to its website. It includes mention that fans travelling to a home “first team competitive fixture will receive 10% off in store on display of a valid ticket for a method of public transport”.
Oxford United sign up to UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework and also unveil an ambition to build first all-electric stadium in UK (and now for a similar minimum standard for all clubs redevelopments?)
Real Betis and Dinamo Zagreb joined forces ahead of their UEFA Europa Conference League to promote environmental sustainability
Players
"We are losing a little bit of the essence of what football truly is and who are the people that actually make football, which is the people who follow us and watch us every weekend."
Real Betis defender Hector Bellerin speaking to the BBC, on sustainability, including dealing with the issue of being called a hypocrite.
FC Union Berlin midfielder Morten Thorsby is spotlighted by Action FC for his climate action.
In other news
Fair Game and partners have released an Environmental Sustainability in Football position paper. It proposes the environment must be part of the remit of the new Independent Football Regulator.
Upcoming Event on 1st March with a great line-up on: Fan Engagement on Climate and Sustainability: The Research
The impact of TV kick-off times on fan travel was raised in the UK Parliament. The Leader of the House of Commons responded saying “I find it amazing that it has been allowed to endure for some time. It is probably very unfair on not just the players but the travelling public.”
The Football Supporters’ Association has partnered with the Rail Delivery Group to seek fans’ views on match-day rail travel.
New journal article: An Assessment on the Carbon Footprint of a Football Club—an Action Research from Theory to Practice. It reminds me that I have a growing backlog of emissions reporting by clubs to look at!
Four good pieces on sport more broadly:
Sports sustainability experts take on several tricky questions, in SportsPro
Sporting events cutting carbon by climate scientist, Professor Katherine Hayhoe
How can sport create a circular economy? looks at the issue of apparel and equipment, in Global Sustainable Sport
A plenary session from the Play The Game 2024 Conference: Who leads the way? Insights on climate responsibility in sports.
EURO 2024
The Chairman of UEFA’s medical committee has said “ We saw heatwaves in southern Europe this summer. We're working on having regulations in place to safeguard players and fans”.
Deutsche Bahn have already sold 25,000 discounted tickets for the tournament.
England look set to fly internally to two group games. Media has focussed on the team being ‘forced’ to use a coach for one game, and facing a ‘gruelling’ and ‘arduous’ 6-hour coach trip (3 hours each way) - “such a long coach journey is unusual for elite players”. Not mentioned is that UEFA gave all federations several base camp options within driving distance of games. One report also notes the “nearest airport to England’s base is 30 miles away”. All teams need to submit travel plans by 24th February. Let’s see how many flights are planned by teams in total.
Which tournament is the UEFA President referring to as a white elephant when he says “EURO2024 will be a sustainable, green tournament. Not a white elephant. Not overambitious. Not excessive and wasteful"?
UEFA
Three start-ups have been selected to help find innovative solutions to sustainability challenges linked to the Champions League Final. Congratulations to My Emissions, Pavegen, and Pledgeball.
Why UEFA should drop airline sponsors. Fossil Free Football and a number of other organisations have come together to make the case in a new report. The Mirror was among those covering it.
UEFA Strategy 2024-30 “United for Success” was approved. It contains a section on sustainability but no mention of UEFA’s commitment to cut emissions by 50% by 2030. Let’s hope to hear that re-confirmed soon.
Long Read: The Premier League Environmental Sustainability Commitment
The Premier League has just published an ‘Environmental Sustainability Commitment’. It introduces “a minimum standard of action on environmental issues across the clubs and the League”. Four operational measures are set out in support of it.
This is the Premier League's first statement on environmental issues since joining the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework in 2021. This means that it is important to look at the specifics of it. This note looks through each of the four operational measures in turn, sets it alongside work by other governing bodies, and points to possible next steps.
One important note before doing so. The four operational measures are high-level statements without any more context or details at this stage. So this is an initial reaction and let's keep an eye out for more developments. In the meantime, it would be great to hear any additional or alternative perspectives or insights you have!
Measure 1. Each club is to “Develop a robust environmental sustainability policy, by the end of the 2024/25 season”
Nearly all Premier League clubs already have an environmental statement, policy or strategy in place. However, these vary significantly in ambition, approach, detail, and clarity on progress. The recognition that all must have a policy, and that these need to be ‘robust’, is therefore to be welcomed. Yet, there are important unanswered questions too.
Among these is, what should be in a robust policy? And who will decide if a policy is robust enough, and how? Will it be the Premier League or clubs? Also, what controls would be in place if a club’s approach was considered to not be robust?
Just as important, if not more so, nothing is said here about the need for plans to deliver on the policies. While policy sets out what needs to be done, a plan sets out how it will be delivered. Wolves have pledged to “Develop a clear plan for delivering net zero” but aside from that there is radio silence from clubs. The need for robust ‘climate transition plans’ is a key part of the response to climate change. A starting point for these plans could, for instance, be the approach set out in the TPT Disclosure Framework adapted and made proportionate for football.
Measure 2. Each club is to “designate a senior employee to lead the club’s environmental sustainability activities”.
In May 2023 a Premier League representative said 10 clubs have a Head of Sustainability. 9 months on, there may still be gaps at some clubs, so ensuring all clubs have a senior employee is therefore also to be welcomed. This should be achievable in the near term, and ensuring they have the right mix of skills and experience is needed too.
In addition, it is essential to move beyond a focus on an individual role and ensure leadership and governance is in place. The governance of football clubs more generally has been identified as a key issue in the Football White Paper. Governance is also a core pillar of important guidance on climate disclosures. That guidance says organisations should set out details in areas such as board oversight, governance processes, and controls and procedures. This is clearly lacking from clubs at present and there is a strong case that more clarity on environmental governance in football is needed too.
Measure 3. Each club is to “develop a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions dataset (scope 1, 2 and 3) by the end of the 2025/26 season and work towards a standardised football-wide approach to measuring emissions”.
This measure has two parts. Firstly, a focus on an emissions dataset. It’s not quite clear if the intention is to bring existing data together in one place or develop something more comprehensive of all emissions, but it would make sense for it to mean the latter. Could the 2025/2026 deadline be brought forward a season with a greater investment of time and energy?
The second half of the measure says clubs will “work towards a standardised football-wide approach to measuring emissions”. A standardised approach is to be welcomed. Yet, saying they will “work towards” is a long way from a firm commitment. Also, it’s not clear who would be included in a “football-wide” approach. Is this maybe a reference to domestically, work by UEFA, or both?
Of utmost importance is what this data will then be used for. It is common practice for environmental guidance to refer to metrics and targets. Yet there is no reference to targets in this requirement. While a small number of clubs do have a net-zero target, a number haven’t said anything about one. Shouldn’t it be a minimum for all clubs in the league to set a net-zero target and regularly show their progress towards it?
Measure 4. Clubs are to “Support the development of a common framework for action via the Premier League Sustainability Working Group (PLSWG)”
Having a common framework could provide a very useful, consistent and comparable approach between clubs. What this measure might mean in practice needs clarifying. The words “support the development of ..” leave a lot open to interpretation, and any timescale is missing.
For instance, will the common framework just cover the three other measures in the statement, or other measures too, or something else? And what remit will the PLSWG have? This relates back to the point on governance - the need for clear oversight, processes, controls and procedures to ensure clubs are held to account.
This also leads to another key question: is this a reference to a common framework for Premier League clubs or across all of football? There are arguments for more alignment across all of football.
A common approach?
This statement from the Premier League is a commitment on each club, and not presented as a strategy. A sustainability strategy was originally planned for 2022. In the last month, a spokesperson is quoted as saying the league is “in the process of finalising an environmental sustainability strategy”. Do these new commitments replace plans for a strategy or is that coming soon too? There are further issues to be considered that fit with the need for one.
For instance, what about football's social influence and how that could be harnessed for good? What risks do clubs face from climate impacts, and what actions and resources are needed in response? What codes of conduct are needed for relationships with high-polluting businesses (and how will they align with UEFA plans for codes of conduct)? Other issues in the media include scheduling and club travel.
Many of these are also questions for the whole of football, and it's important to look at what other bodies are doing too.
The FA published a high-level sustainability strategy in July 2023. At the time its lack of detail and clarity was noted. There has been just one further sustainability-related announcement since - on grassroots football in the last week, with details on that to follow “in due course”. The EFL does not have a strategy. Their ‘Green Code’, has had one update on one club since it was launched in 2021.
Looking at the work of these bodies alongside each other it is hard to discern common approaches or alignment. In addition, across all three bodies, there are long gaps in communications and little detail to go on. Consultation with stakeholders is often mentioned but the who, when and what of this is not clear. Communication between these bodies may be happening but if so there is no mention of any in the public domain, and no joint statements. Transparency and accountability are lacking. Alongside the independent actions of different governing bodies, a more collaborative and system-wide approach is surely needed to ensure the sum is greater than the parts.
In summary …
The new Premier League commitment has welcome incremental measures that are necessary but not sufficient. More clarity and specifics are needed on the current measures. Further measures should cover targets, governance, plans and other areas that need to be looked at in-depth, and placed within an overall strategy.
There are also strong parallels with what we have seen so far from other governing bodies. It points to an important need for these bodies to come together on an aligned approach. This could include looking at opportunities to work jointly where there are common issues best addressed in partnership, and also a step up in communication. Will all this happen?
On financial sustainability in football, the Government says “Industry self-regulation will not deliver the reform required”. From what we have seen so far on environmental sustainability, it’s hard to assume things will be different. This is in line with a call from a coalition of organisations for the proposed regulator to have a role on environmental sustainability.
What actions could be taken? A simple first step could be for all bodies to come together and make a joint statement saying they will work together on big environmental challenges facing the game, and also set a timescale for updates from themselves and jointly. Looking at further next steps, there are several ways work could be taken forward. None of these should get in the way of individual clubs and bodies getting on with action in the meantime, and all of these should be proportionate to clubs’ positions.
For instance, a task-and-finish working group of all key organisations could be set up to work through the key issues and make recommendations for the way forward - a big-tent approach for the biggest challenge for football. Alternatively (or in addition) the new regulator could include an assessment of what is required as part of the 'State of Football' Study it plans to undertake and which will look at how the industry operates.
With an accelerated response being urged in response to climate change, a greater focus on environmental sustainability in football is essential, and the delivery of change is urgent. Steps and being taken but more is needed. Ideas and options exist to move work further forward. Will football deliver?
More on the Premier League statement
Premier League Clubs Agree To Minimum Standard Of Environmental Action in Forbes
Premier League sustainability plan lacks ambition, charity claims in Global Sustainable Sport
That’s it! And yes, I’ve still not provided feedback on the recent reader question on a green future for football 10 years from now! Hopefully, that will follow next time. There’s just been too much happening. In the meantime, all comments, corrections and feedback are welcome!
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
footballandclimatechange@gmail.com
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Great read! I always like how much information and material you bring, and I don't mind the longer read. I honestly went straight for the summary, but I think it's great to have the longer content for later reference, for example. Great job, cheers!