In the current century, global warming and climate change have been highlighted as one of the primary concerns for sustainable development and one of the most significant challenges that humanity must face. Most countries in the world have already committed to act, by keeping global temperatures in this century below 2 degree Celsius according to the Paris Agreement since COP21 (2015). To achieve this goal, it will require action, from every organisation in all sectors of industry.

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According to the Scottish climate change policy, they are aiming for all organisations to have emission-reduction strategies. The magnitude and type of action taken will differ depending on the industry, but it is up to each organisation to ensure that it is contributing to decreasing emissions in a way that benefits society. In accordance with Scotland's aim to become net-zero by 2045, they must define targets and milestones, devise a plan of action, and track your progress. Make specific strategies for each organisation and communicate all progress reports to staff members and associated sectors.

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Due to the aims of this project, small-scale organisations are focused, especially on small football clubs.

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Since ‘Sports for Climate Action’ was released by the UN in 2017, it states that climate change contribution from football is outlined as: energy required to power football stadiums, facilities, and   equipment on-site, purchased goods, mobility of teams and supporters, waste created on match days and construction projects for new stadiums and other facilities. Moreover, the linkage between football clubs and other industries, through sponsorship, broadcasting, and club ownership also affects carbon emissions. A handful of clubs including Juventus, VfL Wolfsburg and Hibernian have since made the same commitment, and in November 2020, Arsenal became the first English Premier League club to sign up also. Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Southampton have all now added their own signatures to the UN. The framework illustrates 5 main principles:

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Promote environmental responsibility

Reduce overall climate impact

Educate for climate action

Promote sustainable consumption

Advocate for climate action

 

In 2014, Brazilian club Fluminense quantified and published their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, giving an insight into the carbon footprint of an individual football club. The results shows that total GHG emissions were 2,580.80 tCO2e annually, over 90% of emissions came from indirect sources coming under the scope 3 definition, including mobility, water consumption, supporters transport, waste management, and more [1].

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Forest Green Rovers (FGR) released their 2021 climate study after they were described as ‘the greenest football club in the world’ by FIFA since 2017 and the first club to be certified as carbon neutral by the UN. For their stadium, energy for the entire club is powered by 100% green energy from solar rooftop system and solar tracker at the ground entrance. Rainwater capture system was installed for irrigation of the organic pitch rather than using mains water. They also provided more sustainable travel by installing EV charge points at their stadium. From all above-mentioned strategies, their emission was decreased over 30% from 2018 by 2019 [1]. 

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Arsenal became the first football club in the UK to install a large-scale battery energy storage system since 2018, it can power Emirates Stadium for a whole match, or 2,700 houses for a couple of hours. By installation of water recycling systems at their training centre, over 4.5 million litres of water can be saved then reused for irrigating the pitch each year. In 2019, they were the first Premier League team to try the reusable cup initiative in collaboration with Camden Town Brewery. This system saves around 20,000 single-use plastic cups every game when Emirates Stadium is full. They also reduced electricity demand by installing automated LED lighting at all club sites [3].

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For Shoreham football club, a well-known club in the community and on the non-pro league stage, released a statement about their climate change action in 2021. They decided to remove all plastic bottles in favour of ‘Eco-Friendly Bisphenol A (BPA) -Free Plant-Based Bottles’, replaced all pint and half-pint plastic glasses with biodegradable PP Flexy Plastic beer tumblers, and introduce bio-recyclable catering products and optional vegan food. For fan-traveling, they promoted their off-setting carbon footprint program. When a fan takes public transportation and can show their ticket at the turnstiles, or if they take a bicycle or an electric vehicle and can show proof of their mode of transport, climate organisations will be donated a percentage of their match-day ticket price. The next step to be focused on, is energy and electricity consumption. To reduce that, they planned to upgrade floodlights to the latest LED technology, while also removing old tube lights in their building replacing them with more efficient lights. They also searched for a green electricity provider eventually migrating to Octopus Energy as their own green energy provider [4].

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The Scottish Football Association has highlighted several areas in which Scottish football could be improved – they did this through the development of a comprehensive guide. Detailing a wide range of sustainable practices, available resources and exemplars. Their suggestions split into three major motivators financial, social and environmental. Social covers the benefits to local communities and general health. While financial explains the benefits related to the running of clubs as zero waste policies and cutting down on unneeded products can amount in cost saving of operations of a club. Lastly the benefits to the environment itself, which in caring for and maintaining our planet environment only benefits us. The guide talks about the importance of integrating a circular economy within football clubs for all their purchases, following the three R’s rule: Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle. The guide then goes on explaining the need for sustainability within Scottish football, going onto the main suggestions under the clubs' general running (finances, energy and water use), the operation of the actual the football grounds (pitch maintenance and type, lighting, catering and packaging), and their activities that can affect the overall community (travel, waste/recycling and engagement with community). Within these sections the guide details several major improvements that clubs can adopt this includes specifics on travel, recycling, kit washing, stadium operations, catering, electricity and biomass generation. The last few pages provide examples of what clubs in the UK and Europe are doing to achieve sustainability, then finally given information on additional sources which can aid an organisation in their aims of achieving net-zero. [5] 

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From researching and using several clubs as examples our methodology was developed and traitoring it for small football clubs to easily integrate and utilise.

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References

[1] Fluminense, (2014) ‘GHG Emissions Inventory FLUMINENSE Football Club GHG INVENTORY REPORT’. (2014). [online] Available at: http://www.fluminense.com.br/site/futebol/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Report_Fluminense-FC_version4-1.pdf  

[2] Forest Green Rovers (2021) ‘Another way’. [online] Available at: https://www.fgr.co.uk/another-way  

[3] Arsenal, (2020) ’Arsenal joins with UN to tackle climate change’ [online] Available at: https://www.arsenal.com/news/arsenal-joins-un-tackle-climate-change  

[4] Slaney, S. (2021). Club Statement to Climate Change. [online] Shoreham Football Club. [online] Available at: https://shorehamfc.co.uk/news/club-statement-to-climate-change/  

[5] Scottish FA (2021). ‘ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN SCOTTISH FOOTBALL. [online] Available at: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scottish-football-outlines-sustainability-commitment-as-cop26-climate-summit-takes-place-in-glasgow/