2023 Forward Look
Events, Trends and Predictions For Football and Climate Change in 2023
Welcome to 2023, hope it’s going well for you so far!
This first post of the year looks ahead to what is coming up in 2023 and lobs some of my own predictions into the mix. As ever, I’d be interested to get your views on where I’ve got it spot-on with these or scored an own goal.
One further prediction for 2024 - I’ll look back at these 2023 predictions to see how they fared!
Anyway, without further ado …
Football matches will be disrupted due to climate change.
Global temperatures in 2023 are set to be among the hottest on record, heavy rainfall is expected to increase and extreme weather events are becoming more likely.
This will lead to football matches being postponed due to climate change across the football pyramid and across countries, due to, for instance, heavy rainfall. For those games that do go ahead in extreme heat, adaptations will need to be made. Clubs without the necessary infrastructure, or able to invest in it going forwards, will be hit the hardest.
Awareness of the negative impacts on players of climate change and air pollution is likely to increase. Adaptations to help protect them, such as water breaks, may be needed in more games. Other potential adaptations could also be given more consideration, for instance, rescheduling of fixtures. Adaptations for fans attending games during these extremes will also hopefully become more organised too, learning the lessons from last year.
Practical action by fans, and collaborations between organisations, gain further momentum.
A first-of-its-kind Green Football Weekend in the UK will take place in February. Fans, clubs and schools will all undertake actions to raise awareness about, and help tackle, climate change.
The campaign includes a diverse range of partners, from large media organisations to governing bodies to fan-focused organisations. This should help build momentum for other further practical actions and collaborations in the year ahead, potentially also inspiring similar campaigns in other countries too. As Extinction Rebellion recently put it …
“building collective power, strengthening in number and thriving through bridge-building is a radical act”.
From strategy to delivery.
The Economist’s top 5 sustainability and climate trends to watch in 2023 note that net-zero commitments by businesses are continuing to increase. Within the football world, it’s highly likely that we will also see lots of new strategies, plans and progress reports emerge from clubs and governing bodies. This will likely include new strategies from the Premier League and the English FA early in the year.
In addition, all football clubs and governing bodies that have already signed up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Race to Zero campaign should be publicly disclosing their annual climate footprint and emissions reduction progress.
“We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing,” UN Secretary-General
“Stakeholders are looking for less talk and more action … Sustainability strategies must be impactful—and realistic” IBM. 5 trends for 2023.
Concerns about greenwashing are widespread. In 2023 the UN and others are increasingly focusing on people and organisations being held to account for delivery.
In the year ahead we can hope to hear more about successful implementation by clubs and governing bodies, and aim to build on these successes, Alongside this, there could be more attention given to those who are not making enough progress or are not delivering on the commitments they have made.
Football mega-events and their climate impact remain in focus.
Off the field, FIFA has committed to publishing a final FIFA World Cup 2022 Sustainability Report this year, and we will likely have the outcome of complaints lodged with advertising bodies in Europe about carbon neutrality claims for World Cup 2022.
On the field, 2023 will bring the FIFA Women's World Cup in July and August. Before that, there is the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023 in May and June in Indonesia, and the Asian Cup in June in Qatar. Confusingly, the FIFA Club World Cup 2022, will take place in February 2023, in Morocco with 7 teams participating.
Elsewhere, the 2028 Euros hosting decision is due this year. The hosting decision on FIFA World Cup 2030 is not due until 2024, but we will perhaps see some further sustainability information on both World Cup 2026 and 2030, as well as on the new FIFA Club World Cup proposals, which will see the tournament expand to include 32 teams.
An Independent Regulator for Football Governance.
A Government White Paper consultation document on an Independent Regulator for English football is due “imminently”. This will likely set the scene for draft legislation to be published later in the year. A campaign to include environmental sustainability in these proposals was started in 2022. It will be interesting to see if this gains further traction during the year.
An increased focus on biodiversity and nature.
“A new global biodiversity framework will set the stage for rising global scrutiny and collaboration on nature” notes The Economist. The Sustainability Report has taken an in-depth look at what this means for sport in 2023: The year sport strengthens its relationship with nature
New insights, new learnings and innovation.
There are a lot of initiatives on football and climate change happening globally that I’ve not done justice to here, but are likely to take significant steps forward in 2023, and deserve further and deeper attention. Similarly, there is also a lot happening at the grassroots football level that will keep moving forward and produce innovative action in 2023 too. Alongside this academics have identified a number of areas where further research on football and climate change is needed in the future.
It's likely in 2023 we will see greater sharing of information on all these football and climate campaigns happening globally and locally, learning from each other and from new research findings. Potentially this will lead to the forming of new collaborations, innovative approaches, and best practices to address the challenges ahead.
Developments outside of the football world impact on it
I feel I’d be biting off more than I can chew in this short piece to try and consider all the more general climate policies and initiatives that will impact on football world in 2023. But it is highly likely many will.
Take for instance the ban on internal flights between cities in France where there is a train journey of fewer than 2.5 hours. This will impact clubs, and fans, who may otherwise fly to some games. Also, new legislation in France will require all large car parks to be covered by solar panels. This has already led Olympique Lyonnais to get on with doing so now, and others will need to do so too. These are just two examples from one country, with plenty more also happening elsewhere.
Finally, a range of other developments outside the world of football will also have important impacts on the football and climate change agenda in 2023. These could include the cost-of-living crisis, new technologies, and financial market developments. But it would be boiling the ocean (if it’s OK to use that phrase!) to try and cover these here.
End Note
Marking the turning of the year, this has been a bit of an experimental departure from the usual newsletter format so any comments or suggested corrections or changes to this particular edition are really welcome, either below or by email to: footballandclimatechange@gmail.com
And as ever, if you have any suggestions for reports and issues to focus on or want to propose writing a guest post please drop a line too.
All summaries, views, errors and omissions are my own. Links provided to articles in this newsletter are not endorsements of the views in them.
Thanks for tuning in.
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
@fbandclimate
footballandclimatechange@gmail.com