Plans, storms, 500 days and more
Round up #44
Welcome back. February is already upon us. Time flies!
If you’ve not yet read Freddie Daley’s guest post last week on the disruptions facing football then please do check it out here. And if you might have a guest post in you, or want to suggest one from someone you’d be keen to hear from, then get in contact. All ideas and perspectives are welcome! So, let’s get on with the round-up of recent news and developments.
Fran
Quick links: A National Plan for Sports Adaptation; Club focus; Men’s World Cup 2026 - 500 days; Storm Éowyn; In Europe; In Other News; LA Fires and sport; Presidents; Money League 23/24; and Some other wider developments.
A National Plan for Sports Adaptation
The French Ministry of Sports has published the First National Plan for Sports Adaptation to Climate Change 2024-2030. It’s aim is to prepare and enable an adaptation of sports practices in line with the trajectory of climate change. The plan also contributes to the development of ‘PNACC 3’, France’s overall Third National Plan for Climate Adaptation.
The report covers amateur and professional sports and identifies a range of impacts for sport. In doing so it identifies six main measures: further studies on the vulnerability of sport; awareness and training; establishing criteria for supporting sport; establishing adapted sports practices; support for vulnerable professions; and monitoring of implementation.
These plans could help ensure that many more people can enjoy sport than otherwise would have been the case. It also gives French sport an advantage over sports in other countries that are not as advanced in their planning. It should also raise questions about the progress being made by other countries on the adaptation of sport. Alongside this it will be important to understand how well integrated sport is in overall country adaptation plans elsewhere.
Finally, this should also shine a spotlight on the progress being made by sport governing bodies on their adaptation plans. This includes in football, where there seems to be a big gap at the moment. More about the plans is in Ecolosport, and a machine-translated to English version of the plan is here.
Club focus
Brentford have produced a video on their work with Football For Future to educate their staff on sustainability.
Forest Green Rovers have partnered with a sustainable toilet roll company and been awarded a Greener Arena Outstanding Certification 2024.
Fulham, with their electric vehicle partner, are running a competition for two fans to be able to travel to an away game in an electric car. The competition is in support of Green Football Weekend.
Manchester City’s matchday bus network has won an Innovative Sustainable Travel Project of the Year Award.
Newark & Sherwood United have a video of business leaders that the club hosted for their Veganuary Special with them talking about their climate-friendly businesses.
Swansea’s manager has said the club must 'sort out allotment-like' pitch according to the BBC. Exceptionally wet weather and a challenging climate are cited as contributing to the situation.
Vermont Green have released their 2024 Environmental Justice Mission Report. It sets out their progress in the last year against five mission goals: Net Zero; Fighting Systemic Racism in Soccer; Purpose Driven Merchandise; Giving; and Education and Awareness
West Ham United have joined the ‘I Came By Train’ initiative which offers fans discounted rail travel with the aim of promoting sustainability and the reduction of emissions. West Ham will include discounted travel to both men’s and women’s games.
Wolves published their 2024/25 Environmental Sustainability Report. It covers 4 areas: carbon, waste, nature and culture. Emissions reported this year are 9,439 tCO2e (location-based), with reporting expected to develop further in the year ahead. The report covers much more, including transparency on club flights (10 return flights in the year). A series of announcements also accompanied the publication: Wolves Women player, Merrick Will, was appointed as a sustainability ambassador; the club joined a new air quality league; and matchday initiatives included discounted plant-based food.
Carbon Boot awards went to Nottingham Forest, Spurs and Manchester City for their short flights, while Manchester United’s choice of train is positively recognised.
Community Sports Trusts in action included: Aberdeen and Sheffield United
Men’s World Cup 2026 - 500 days
This week, FIFA marked 500 days until the tournament. The Athletic says: “Like it or not, World Cup chatter is going to be [a] constant part of the soccer conversation for the next 17 months.” USA Today says “Expect President Donald Trump … to be among those playing major roles in driving attention to the sport and the tournament during the next 500 days.”
Elsewhere, new research on Extreme heat risk and the potential implications for the scheduling of football matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup has had wide coverage, including from the BBC. Forbes also use it as a jumping off point for a wider look at what climate change and extreme heat will mean for sport events.
The research finds that “A climatically sound argument is therefore presented to reschedule kick-off times outside the hottest afternoon hours for the host locations with highest heat risk at which no indoor air conditioned environment exists – primarily Miami and Monterrey, but also Philadelphia, Kansas City, Boston and New York.”
We will need to wait a while to find out the details of kick-off times at the different World Cup locations. These are not expected to be confirmed until after the final draw for the tournament, which is expected to take place towards the end of 2025.
In addition, as the research notes, further consideration is also needed of heat impacts on fans. This should, for instance, include better understanding on heat risks at fan zones and on fan travel to games.
Storm Éowyn
Storm Éowyn, a record-breaking cyclone, hit Ireland and the UK last week. In Ireland extensive damage was reported and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses lost power. Wales and Scotland also saw extensive power cuts and damage, with impacts also felt across regions of England.
The Football Association of Ireland said the storm is unprecedented and that football has not been spared. In response the FAI has said it will support any club impacted by Storm Éowyn or Storm Herminia.
In Glasgow, both Celtic and Rangers saw the storm causing damage to their stadiums. Celtic postponed their Saturday match, and the Rangers manager reported the storm had impacted team training. Elsewhere in Scotland, Championship team Greenock Morton and League One team Arbroath reported significant damage to their stadiums. Separately, several matches were also postponed in Northern Ireland and Wales.
In Europe
UEFA reports that the final round of EURO 2024 climate fund takes overall investment to €7.925 million for 225 amateur clubs across Germany, an increase on the initial climate fund amount of €7m. The €7.925 million figure is based on a UEFA commitment that for each tonne of CO2e emissions produced, €25 would be donated to the climate fund (and uses UEFA’s emissions figures rather than those in a report for the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community).
The Royal Spanish Football Federation has published its 2024 Sustainability Report. It’s useful list of practical activities in the last 12 months, though does not update on progress on key strategic actions set out in its 2023 Environmental and Social Strategy. These included, for instance, plans for implementation of the SBTi model and TCFD methodology as well as climate risk impact analysis.
Lega Serie A, in collaboration with UEFA and others, have produced a report for their “Road to Zero” project, looking at the Coppa Italia 2023/2024 Final. It collects data and sustainability indicators monitored during the event. Emissions are reported as 171 tCO2e. This does not include fan travel, merchandising and some other categories. Scope 2 emissions appear to use a market-based method, rather than location-based.
The PlanetGoals project, co-funded by the EU and partners, aims to to help organisations become more sustainable using an AI-powered tool, and also includes a series of downloadable modules. If you’ve given the AI tool a go, I’d be interested to hear you feedback.
A further EU-backed partnership project, involving SportPositive and others, GARFIELD has been launched to address greenwashing and sustainability reporting in football. It envisions the sports sector as a leading industry in environmental reporting and communication.
In other news
In Soccer Tackles Its Carbon Problem, The Wall Street Journal takes an in-depth look at football and climate change, taking in a range of people and perspectives.
BASIS (the British Association for Sustainable Sport) have a free webinar coming up on 12th February on ‘Sustainable Travel & Transport In Sport’.
Berkshire & Buckinghamshire FA held a webinar to launch their (not yet publicly available) environmental strategy. It’s also interesting to note the text saying “Each year, an estimated 62,500 matches are lost across England due to waterlogged and frozen pitches or extreme heat.” This figure is very different to the oft stated figures of 120,000 - 150,000 games called off each season (for instance the Football Foundation 2023/24 accounts say “150,000 games a season played on grass pitches get called off due to bad weather”). Is this figure of 62,500 matches a new, more accurate figure? Or referring to something else? All insights welcome!
LA Fires and sport
World Weather Attribution, based at Imperial College London, says that climate change increased the likelihood of wildfire disaster in the Los Angeles area. The focus on the implications for sport in LA are understandably focussed on the 2028 Olympics, though many of the considerations will also be relevant in the shorter-term for domestic and international football games the city plans to host.
Newsweek reaches out to several experts and asks them Is LA Able to Host the 2028 Olympics? Answers show that views are mixed. Yahoo Sports looks at How the Los Angeles fires will (and won’t) impact the 2028 Olympics and includes a statement from FIFA saying they are actively monitoring the situation. Elsewhere, a Bloomberg opinion piece says that Sports Fans — Not Leagues — Feel the Cost of CLimate Disruptions Most.
Presidents
The presence of FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the inauguration of the US President Trump (and the run-up to it) has been widely covered. The Athletic looks in-depth at their longer-term relationship and key issues noting that “even for a sports leader reliant on political diplomacy, Infantino’s bond with Trump appears unusually close.” The Times reports Gianni Infantino’s “fawning over Trump raises eyebrows at FIFA”. Further perspectives come from Professor Simon Chadwick and from Fairsquare.
A number of these articles note that it will be important to closely follow FIFA’s relationship with the new administration, and to understand if and how this may affect FIFA’s approach to key issues. Given President Trump’s ‘wiping out’ of climate initiatives (as the FT puts it) it will be important to look out for any affects on FIFAs approach to climate issues. Alongside this, its also important consider any further implications for the football and climate agenda more generally and how best to make progress in light of new circumstances.
Money League 23/24
Deloitte has published its 28th annual Football Money League. The report looks at the clubs in world football generating the highest revenue. It shows that the top 20 clubs made a record €11.2bn in the 2023/24 season, an increase of 6% on year. Clubs revenue, on average, is split 44% commercial revenue, 38% broadcast revenue, and 18% matchday revenue (the fastest growing revenue stream). There’s a lot more useful insights in the report that make it well worth a read.
While there is no mention of environmental sustainability in the report, these are a number of developments which could have important emissions impacts. These include, for instance, news that there are over 300 sport stadium projects underway globally in 2025; there is a 20% rise in commercial revenue with merchandise as one of the key drivers; and the “next material uplift [in revenue] could come from an increase in the number of matches”. Elsewhere in the report the authors recognise that “there is a need to balance revenue optimisation with player welfare”, a point that could also be extended to planet welfare too. A separate survey from Deloitte a fortnight ago says “climate change remains top-of-mind for people worldwide, motivating action in all aspects of their lives as citizens, employees, and consumers”.
Some other wider developments
In climate:
The CEO of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership says “The choice for business is clear: transform markets or defend a future already lost”. Elsewhere, the New Climate Institute says “The most meaningful contribution companies can make to the collective goal of net-zero emissions is to drive the necessary transitions of their sectors”. I’d welcome any thoughts on how these perspectives would practically feed in to new and different approaches to climate action within football.
In sport:
The New Orleans Advocate has a guest column: Move [American] football to the spring? The climate may force our hand.
The Environmental Defenders Office in Australia has produced a simple four step guide to help sports clubs get on the front foot on environmental issues.
A Sport England post looks at the organisations’ sustainability work over the last four years and going forward: “The focus must now be on delivery and ensuring we talk about it and share good work practices.”
In football:
The European club tournaments have reached the end of the league stages in their new formats. They include more games, and (highly-likely) more emissions with no plans of how to address them. What are the views on the new formats? Footbiz reports “TNT Sports’ ratings for Champions League games are down this year, despite the new format supposedly giving fans more of what they wanted”. On the other hand, football writer Henry Winter believes “the new format has delivered” though at the same time he recognises an increased costs for fans and more carbon emissions. More takes on the new formats are here in The Guardian and here in The Athletic. If you’ve seen, or have, further insights on the new tournament formats please do share.
Last but not least, the usual important plea … comments, corrections and suggestions are all welcome.
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
info@footballandclimate.org
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