Football and Climate Change Newsletter #2
The World Cup dominates though there are important developments elsewhere too.
Welcome again!
This goes out with the men’s World Cup 2022 well underway and COP 27 climate talks concluded. Unsurprisingly, it means a flood of reports on football and climate change and a slightly longer edition of this newsletter.
Many reports focus on the carbon-neutrality claims for the World Cup. Others use the World Cup as a lens to explore a wide range of other issues where change and action is needed. Away from the World Cup, there has also been important policy, action and analysis too.
In no particular order, here are my top three picks. Two are podcasts, so put the game on the TV, put the headphones on, get your supplies out, and tuck in!
First-half listen: Katie Rood of Hearts FC and writer David Goldblatt joined this podcast for 90min about the World Cup. David Goldblatt points out "we've got to transform the whole of the football industry because actually, the World Cup is just a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of carbon being emitted by the global football industry every year". (and confusingly the podcast is 40 not 90mins long!)
During half-time, put 3-6 February 2023 in your diary for Green Football Weekend in the UK. Fans and clubs will take part in competitive activities to help protect our planet. An impressive range of partners have pledged support.
Second-half listen. Graham Potter, Chelsea FC Manager, recently said "How we fly to Premier League games is something to consider. We fly domestically - that's also a challenge. We should be able to find a solution". Travel is one of the issues discussed in this 45 mins podcast on The Influence of The Premier League. It goes in-depth with senior figures at Brighton & Hove Albion FC and Southampton FC and provides glimpses and ideas on what could happen next.
Other key reports and developments on the World Cup in the last two weeks include:
A 3mins BBC Sport segment aired at half-time during France vs Australia on Tuesday and gained wide coverage. It looked at World Cup carbon-neutrality claims and included academics Tim Berners-Lee and Kevin Anderson, and footballer, Morten Thorsby.
In this video, Le Monde journalists interview Sepp Blatter, and others in FIFA, to understand the role sustainability played in their decision to award the World Cup. Sepp Blatter’s opening remark is one to watch out for!
This insightful extended read in The Athletic notes that “Qatar’s bid for carbon neutrality is a difficult issue. It is attempting to redress emissions, albeit imperfectly. How should efforts to implement it be perceived?”
Several reports address player performance
FIFPRO warns “overlapping competitions, consecutive back-to-back matches, extreme weather conditions, a condensed preparation period and insufficient recovery time together pose an ominous danger to player health and performance”.
In this piece, an ESPN reporter was put through some of the stresses that players will have to endure in Qatar.
“World Cup Warming Up” provides excellent insights into the effects on players and also those watching and working on sports events.
Looking to the future of the World Cup:
With climate change, will there still be a soccer World Cup in 2100? asks an article in The Conversation.
How climate change could affect the future of the FIFA World Cup provides four expert views and gives four examples of impacts on other sports.
A Scientific American opinion piece concludes that “sports mega-events, as they are currently organized, are unsustainable”. The New York Times suggests that it “may be rich countries that can afford luxuries like outdoor air-conditioning that snap up more of these mega-events” while Bloomberg says that mega-events will need to “adapt and begin ratcheting back the size of their spectacles.”
In other World Cup reporting, architecture magazine Dezeen looks at the sustainability of stadiums. Wired looks at the science of the cooling systems in them. The Times looks at the pitch technology and the energy it uses. This thread from Fossil Free Football takes a look at the sponsors of the World Cup, the sectors they represent, and their emissions.
Other developments away from the World Cup
New UEFA Sustainable Infrastructure guidelines were published last week. This seems to be a very important document as clubs and governing bodies will draw on this for their plans. At 182 pages I can safely say I’ve not had a chance to dive into it yet! Helpfully, The Sustainability Report have focussed on it and provided this useful analysis.
Northampton FC won the Planet League Cup thanks to their fan’s climate actions during a five-week tournament, with Alan Carr announcing the winner!
Bristol City FC won the first Climate Action Award from the Football Supporters’ Association, more about their work here. It recognises their actions to measure and minimise their impact on the environment. The award was presented by Pledgeball founder, Katie Cross, who also appeared on this excellent wide-ranging podcast. Hosted by Felicity Hannah and Deborah Meaden, it also includes Aston Villa FC talking frankly about their work.
Sean McCabe, Climate Justice Officer at Dublin’s Bohemian FC, talks on this podcast by the Green Sports Blog about the work being carried out to make Bohemian FC an anchor organisation for the community. This linked local action with big picture in a way that no others I’ve come across do.
"Football and climate change: ensuring an evidence-based response", is a guest post here in this newsletter, by climate scientist and football fan Dr Leslie Mabon, providing a very clear analysis of what the latest research tells us, and what’s needed next.
Katie Cross of PledgeBall and David Powell of Climate Outreach discuss how sport can sport drive behaviour change.
At COP27, a panel session from We Play Green included this 4mins video with Morten Thorsby and Marcelo Vieira. The session itself focussed on involving players and collaboration.
New academic journal publications
Football and climate change: what do we know, and what is needed for an evidence-informed response? Leslie Mabon, in Climate Policy Journal. This is the full journal article version of the shorter post featured here.
The impacts of sport emissions on climate: Measurement, mitigation, and making a difference. Wilby et al, in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Football Ecologie France has a national citizen consultation open on the “Football and Ecological Transition”.
The Sustainability Report looks at sports turning to tech to address sustainability challenges.
Upcoming Events:
Sustainability in the Football Industry – Panel talk, London, 7th December including David Garrido, Presenter, Sky Sports and Elliot Arthur-Worsop of Football for Future
Roundtable to discuss sponsorship in sport, 29th November, The Sports Environment Alliance (Australia) including the British Association for Sustainable Sport as a participant.
This is the second newsletter, and, wow! there was a lot out there to look at for this one. Perhaps, with the World Cup, this is peak-football-and-climate-reporting for a while? Let’s see!
Suggestions for reports and issues to focus on are welcome and proposals for guest posts are particularly welcome. Any other feedback is welcome too and enjoy the next two weeks of football!
Please send any comments or suggested corrections or changes to this newsletter, or suggestions for future content, to: footballandclimatechange@gmail.com
All summaries, views, errors and omissions are my own. Links provided to articles in this newsletter are not endorsements of the views in them.
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
@fbandclimate
footballandclimatechange@gmail.com