Partners, plans, perspectives and more
Round-up #39
Hello again all,
Looking at a draft of this post, a theme that came through was the variety of ways that engagement is happening to understand people’s views. This includes a fan assembly, focus groups, an advisory group, surveys, and engaging with young people. If anyone has any insights to share on that front, please do, and I realise I’m engaging about engagement! In the meantime, let’s tuck into the news and developments from the last fortnight.
Fran
FIFA x Aramco
Over 125 professional female players from 25 countries have come together to call for an end to FIFA's sponsorship deal with Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. The open letter urges “FIFA to reconsider this partnership and replace Saudi Aramco with alternative sponsors whose values align with gender equality, human rights and the safe future of our planet”. It’s an unprecedented action, and received extensive global coverage, see for instance: CNN, BBC, Sydney Morning Herald and Globo. Action FC and partners have created a petition you can sign in support too.
UEFA
UEFA has published its Women's EURO 2025 ESG Strategy. On environmental issues it follows the approach in the men’s EURO2024 ESG Strategy very closely. On the environment, it has the same three key topics: climate action, sustainable infrastructure, and circular economy. For each of these there is familiar supporting targets, actions, and a simplified set of KPI’s.
The actions are largely the same as those at EURO 2024, at least at the headline level presented here. It will be useful to see more on detail in due course. One omission is any mention of an Interrail discount that was available for EURO2024. The approach to transport within the host country has been tweaked. On matchday, EURO 2025 offers free round-trips between any Swiss locality and the match venue, rather than discounted trips between cities for EURO2024. Elsewhere, the EURO2024 climate fund for amateur clubs is replaced with plans to “Establish [a] climate responsibility mechanism”. It’s not clear if that is a change of focus or just a renaming of the fund.
Perhaps we’ll learn more about these changes when the ESG Report for EURO 2024 is published. That’s due out on 1st November. It will be an interesting read, not only for the insights about how UEFA’s EURO 2024 plans performed, but also what it tells us about actions for future club and nation tournaments.
Separately, UEFA will host a meeting on Environmental Sustainability & Social Responsibility with representatives of 55 federations on 28-30 October in Tirana. It will reportedly discuss “the projects planned to be implemented and the projects of the future will be in the center of attention”. It’s encouraging to see work on this agenda moving forward. At the same time no further details on this meeting are available, on issues and plans that would likely benefit from a big-tent approach.
Join the game to save the game
“This is bigger than any rivalry … Football is our passion .. we can do this together”. A new video by Earth FC. See their website for more about joining in.
“We can be huge role models in it because we have this recognition and range that people follow us”.
England’s new manager, Thomas Tuchel, speaking in 2022, and calling for football chiefs to be climate change role models
Club focus:
Ajax’s annual report includes a section on environmental sustainability with its commitments, progress and more. The club reports 5,180 tCO2e of emissions for 2022/23 with merchandise as a major contributor. The club expects measured emissions to go up in future as it gains better insight into what to measure.
Barcelona report that they will maximise sustainability in the building work at Spotify Camp Nou. Separately, their Ordinary General Assembly will be carbon neutral with any emissions “compensated for”, though how is unclear.
Bohemians. The Bohemian Climate Cooperative visited the European Parliament to talk about their plans to build a cooperative that empowers the club, its members, and the wider community to benefit from the climate transition.
Brentford appointed an advisory group to help support delivery of their sustainability strategy and give strategic advice (full disclosure: I’m on it!). Elsewhere, the team travelled by train to Manchester, and fans can get 20% off train travel away to Everton.
Exeter City are hosting three focus groups for fans on the topic of climate in November, following up their Climate Captains survey (See also Sligo Rovers below).
Forest Green Rovers have partnered with a sustainable travel wear company backed by Harry Kane.
Leicester City flew to and from their game with Southampton.
Lewes are asking supporters to recycle their old tech saying they will repurpose as many items as they can for the club, and recycle or safely dispose of anything they cannot use.
Liverpool promoted their recent sustainability awards.
Manchester United, working with their logistics partner, have launched a competition and survey of fans on sustainability.
Newcastle City United and Newcastle City Council have worked together to support Recycle Week with fans encouraged to bring old cables to a collection point at the stadium.
Orlando City SC and Orlando Pride promoted hurricane relief efforts led by $450,000 foundation contribution. Among other donations were majority owners of Manchester United, the Glazer family, and also Loudoun United FC.
FC St. Pauli fans criticised the decision for the team to travel by plane for their game with Dortmund.
Sligo Rovers released results of their survey of over 600 fans on climate change. The work was supported by European Football for Development Network and the Football Association of Ireland. There’s lots of interesting insights in the report.
Stoke City fed back on their recent Fan Assembly on environmental sustainability.
Tampa Bay Rowdies will finish the football season unable to play at their home ground due to the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Tampa Bay Sun manager, Denise Schilte-Brown, speaking about the hurricanes in the region said: “The sun will shine as we join hands with the community to continue to grow and prosper in the face of adversity”.
SV Werder Bremen are planning to launch an annual environmental match day in early 2025 as part of the Football for Climate Justice project.
York City sent an open letter to the National League about short-notice fixture changes. It included mentioning that these changes removed public transport options.
Community Sports Trusts in action included: Blackburn Rovers, Carlisle United, Fleetwood Town, Everton and Liverpool, Wolves
Stadiums
Sports venue owners in the Czech Republic reported more than 800 million crowns (£26.5m) in damages following extensive floods in Central Europe in mid-September. I’ve not seen any figures for other countries yet.
A new report projects up to $11Billion in cumulative losses for NFL Stadiums by 2050 due to climate risks. So says a Climate X press release which focusses on three stadiums that also host major football matches. If you have access to the full report and can share, please do!
Engineering Better Sports Venues: Designing for Athletes, Spectators, and the Environment. A new report from the respected Institution of Mechanical Engineers includes six key recommendations for improving sports venues.
The London Stadium, home to West Ham United, will see the installation of 6,500 square metres of solar membrane panels. The project is receiving funding from the Mayor of London’s Green Finance Fund.
Weather Impacts
The above picture is from Westfields Football Club. Volunteer groundsman Joe Mecke-Davis tells the BBC "It is completely heart breaking for me as I put a lot of voluntary hours in every week to try and make the pitch the best it can be, it’s very much my baby”.
As Tropical Storm Trami hit the Philippines, leaving at least 26 dead. The AFC League Two match (equivalent of Europa League) between Kaya FC-Iloilo of the Philippines and Eastern Sports Club of Hong Kong was postponed.
Bologna vs Milan, due to be played on Saturday, has been postponed by order of the Mayor of Bologna following extensive flooding in the region in recent days and a further weather alert in place.
In other news
A big welcome into the world for Green Gooners: Arsenal fans for the environment - looking forward to hearing more in the future!
The FA launched its 2024-28 Strategy. There’s a mention that the FA will “Support inclusivity, accessibility and environmental sustainability of facilities” and elsewhere that it will “Enhance environment”, but no context on what these statements mean or what will be done. There’s also no mention of the FA’s sustainability strategy. And it stands in contrast to UEFA’s Strategic Vision for 2024-2030 which includes ‘Acting sustainably’ as a strategic pillar and gives a high-level outline of their approach. Overall, this should further a concern that The FA is not given environmental sustainability the strategic focus it needs to.
Sport England is looking for new board members. The desirable criteria include a commitment in responding to climate change or sustainability goals.
David Lockwood, Editorial Sustainability Lead at BBC Sport, on the expanded Club World Cup in 2025.
Barney Weston of Football for Future with key takeaways from on the "Beyond The Field" report which looks at the influence of sport on sustainability and social change.
Revised legislation for a Football Regulator for elite men’s football in England has been published. There’s no mention of environmental issues in it.
A La Liga match may be played in the US. FIFA's working group looking at the impact of competitive domestic matches being played abroad does not include environmental impacts in its remit.
The Irish FA brought young volunteers together to consider impact of sport on climate change.
A University of Lausanne meeting in Switzerland on the ‘Sustainability of Major Sporting Events’ will see the launch of work on ‘Sports for the Planet?’
Badvertising on the expanding football calendar - its toll on players and the planet too. Separately, Badvertising have opened nominations for Bad Sport Awards.
The FA of Wales hosted a “Football and a Sustainable Future” event with senior Welsh Government and UEFA involvement. There’s a read-out here.
A club by club look at the environmental managers at Premier League clubs
New Perspectives
Survival of the Fittest: From ESG to Competitive Sustainability from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge. The report is not sector-focussed but provides a relevant and challenging analysis. Any views on it are welcome! It’s very quotable to boot, for instance …
“The uncomfortable truth for the corporate sustainability world is that there is a very real risk that – with the exception of a few companies – the majority of businesses, and the ecosystem of advisors and advocates that support them, are actually contributing to the problem, by creating the impression that we are making good progress, and thereby delaying required radical changes to markets and the policies that frame them. Hero projects, long term pledges and disclosures are all part of the solution but are not going to move the dial while it remains profitable to damage nature and society”.
Elsewhere, and not unrelated: ‘Seeing it as a whole’: A research agenda for the sociology of sport and climate change by Chris McMillan in The International Review for the Sociology of Sport. A very interesting read and I’d be keen to hear views on this too, including from any academic readers of this newsletter.
COP16, the major international biodiversity talks, are ongoing. We are also heading towards COP29, the big international climate talks, from 11 November. This means we’ll see a lot of big picture analysis of the current state-of-play, and proposals on what to do next. Two organisations that have released new annual reports that will inform these discussions: the United Nations Environment Programme, saying stronger ambition and action is needed and the International Energy Agency highlighting critical choices facing governments and consumers
Time’s up! Comments, corrections, and new content suggestions are welcome at all times, and farewell for now.
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
footballandclimatechange@gmail.com
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