Sharing best practice, the legal landscape, West Ham and more
Round-up #23
Hello again,
As Storm Henk took its toll last weekend, my son’s under-13 match was one of a small number that went ahead locally. It was great for him to get a game as the season has been badly affected by the weather.
What does the data tell us about how many games are being affected? What are the costs of postponements, both economic and social? And what investment will be needed to protect pitches for the next generation of players? The answer to all of the above is “we don't know”. This lack of key data needs addressing says this recent report, as does a new report on green sport from the European Commission (see below).
This newsletter is a bit longer than usual, as I’m playing catch-up on news from December time too. I hope you find some New Year nuggets of wisdom in it.
Fran
One to watch …
A great video highlighting the importance of sharing best practice. It also shows how clubs in very different situations still have a lot to learn from each other.
One to read …
Sport’s contribution to the European Green Deal: A sport sector playbook by The European Commission.
The report, published in mid-December, went somewhat under the radar, which is a shame as it made some very important points in its analysis of the current state-of-play. For instance saying:
the sports sector “should be assumed to be significantly off track in delivering Green Deal objectives”.
And that
“Perhaps the greatest challenges for the sector are a widespread lack of understanding of its environmental impacts, a scarceness of data and the frequent absence of any strategy.”
and also
“The sport sector can partly be characterised by top-down and outdated governance structures, which can limit the ability of staff and other stakeholders to drive change.”
Elsewhere in the report, I thought this diagram smartly and simply captured the inter-related stakeholders and sectors.
The report makes a range of recommendations, particularly on governance and methodological challenges, and highlights the opportunities that reform could bring. It also provides a useful structure for thinking about the key issues, even if some are not focussed on as much as they might have been (such as the role of fans, communication, regulation, and sponsorship).
Further reflections from readers on this report would be very welcome.
One to listen to …
In the latest Climate of Sport podcast, Claire Poole of Sport Positive discusses legal and regulatory issues with experts from a law firm. Lots of issues are covered including the growing importance of transparency and accountability in emissions reporting - an issue of regular interest in this newsletter.
Contrasts
Exeter City and Charlton Athletic have both signed the Sustainable Travel Charter. The charter is a collaborative effort between Pledgeball and the Football Supporters Association and provides a framework for clubs to make more sustainable travel decisions.
Elsewhere, Barcelona took a 14-hour 5,000-mile flight in December for one mid-season friendly game in Dallas. On 11th January they also headed to Saudi Arabia for Supercopa de España matches and will play Real Madrid there in the final. The Supercoppa Italiana finalists will also head there for the final game of their tournament soon.
Events
Carbon Literacy for Grassroots Football. An online course from the award-winning Birmingham County FA team on 22nd-23th January.
A Sport for Climate Action and Nature Academic Symposium will take place at Loughborough University on 29th January with some great key speakers.
Clubs
Bohemians is partnering with Technological University Dublin to empower local communities to build local wealth through climate action.
Bristol City Women are offering half-price coach tickets for fans wanting to travel to their away match with Aston Villa which takes place during Green Football Weekend.
Leeds United hosted food writer and cookery teacher, Jenny Chandler for a session with chefs from the club and from West Bromwich Albion on veggie dishes also ahead of Green Football Weekend.
Lewes will be going fully vegan for their women’s game vs. Durham on Sunday 21 January as part of Veganuary.
Newcastle United’s accounts include mentioning that they have “Commenced the measurement of the Clubs carbon footprint, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to develop a clear Net Zero emissions roadmap within an achievable timescale”. I’ll take a more detailed look at the SECR statement in their accounts in the next newsletter.
FC St.Pauli have become the first professional club to publish a Common Good Balance Sheet which includes scoring against criteria including environmental sustainability.
As part of its mobility strategy, Stade Betois 29 is offering cyclists using their parking facilities a 20% reduction in their club store as an incentive.
The Guardian covered '“Locals hitting back at Spurs’ football plans for ‘green and biodiverse’ space”. James Atkins of Planet League looks at the issue in this LinkedIn post.
Welcome to the world - a new fan group of Swindon Town fans, STFC Green Robins.
Wolves and their Foundation have extended their sustainability partnership with Reconomy.
Wycombe Wanderers are encouraging fans to leave their cars behind and travel away by coach to their game at Cheltenham on the 3rd February. Again this is during Green Football Weekend. Expect to hear about more activities over the next few weeks.
UEFA
UEFA published its annual ‘Respect’ progress report in December. I’ve taken a look at their reporting of emissions in it, and the problems with that, in this LinkedIn post, Also read Fossil Free Football on the report too.
Elsewhere, UEFA launched an interesting EURO 2024 climate fund for amateur clubs in Germany. For every tonne of CO2 emissions produced in connection with the tournament, €25 will be donated to the climate fund. The total amount of the fund is expected to be around €7 million. Any views on this initiative from readers? And any experts out there who can comment on the amount being €25 for each tonne of CO2?
Also on EURO 2024, to encourage fans to travel sustainably during the tournament there will be discounted Interrail tickets to and from Germany and point-to-point tickets within Germany for matches. These will go on sale from 17th January. Check out Travel by rail during EURO 2024.
In other news
AFCON “Awash with fossil fuel money, African football is sowing the seeds of its own destruction” writes David Goldblatt in The Guardian. Also, watch the Kick Total Out Of AFCON campaign video.
FIFA recently published its strategic objectives for 2023-2027. Goal 6 is a “Focus on social responsibilities, in particular human rights and climate-related aspects”, and includes a section titled “Protect World Football From the Effects of Climate Change”.
In a new survey “three-quarters of [sports] organisations said they are taking or about to take climate action, yet only 10% are measuring scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and have set a net-zero target”. This is mentioned in Sustainability and sports: a call for real leadership and action by Susie Thomson of thinkBeyond.
The risk that climate poses to football is covered in this thread from Football For Future. And also check out the newly added videos on their YouTube page
Two articles from the International Olympic website that have read across to football
In the first, “Sustainability in sport will take sacrifices”, Oluseyi “Seyi” Smith says “Any change needs to be governance-led with different tiers of strategy pushed down to the national, regional and local levels so that everyone knows what their targets are and how to implement them.”
In the second, The heat is on - We learn about how the IOC is looking at radically different ways for future Winter Olympics to be delivered. How long until a rethinking of the football calendar takes place?
More perspectives
What is football’s carbon footprint? from the Thomson Reuters Foundation
In the wake of INEOS owner, Jim Ratcliffe taking over Manchester United, Professor Simon Chadwick questions whether there is a sufficiently robust owners & directors test, as it has no mention of environmental responsibilities in it.
In the wake of the EU Court of Justice verdict on UEFA, FIFA and a Super League, Dave Lockwood of the BBC looks at the potential environmental impacts.
2023 Stocktakes. In Forbes, FIFA’s 2023: A Red Card To Good Governance, Human Rights And Climate Change. From the GreenSportsBlog, Two Steps Forward, One BIG Step Back on Climate Progress on Soccer in 2023. Sustainability And Sport 2023: A Year In Review – A review in 2 parts, looking at impacts and progress, again in Forbes.
West Ham United
West Ham United’s 2022/23 annual accounts have just been published and are here. It includes a section on sustainability as part of SECR reporting requirements.
Annual carbon emissions are reported as 647.09 tCO2e. It’s important to note that this figure will be a lot smaller than the overall carbon footprint of the club for two reasons.
Firstly, the figures only include the legal minimum reporting of ‘scope 3’ emissions required, and leave out several other important scope 3 categories. A small, though growing, number of clubs are choosing to voluntarily report these. Secondly, West Ham do not own their ground and so do not include emissions from gas and electricity use at it. The emissions reported here likely only cover energy use from training ground facilities, club-owned transport and the like, though, unhelpfully no details are provided.
The accompanying SECR narrative statement is almost word-for-word what was stated in the previous annual report, thus giving no sense of any activity that has taken place in this reporting period. In addition, the environmental statement on the club’s website does not appear to have been updated since July 2022, and the club has made no net zero commitment (six Premier League clubs have so far).
Taken together, these factors suggest minimal environmental action has been taken in the reporting year, and there is minimal information on future plans. I’ve come across a couple of activities from 2023 here and here (from the club Foundation) but that’s it. I’d be grateful if anyone could point me to actions that have happened or are planned if I’ve missed them, or as and when they appear in the future. The more the better!
That’s it for now. From here on I hope to shift the newsletter back to a rhythm of posting round-ups at the start of the week, rather than the end. In the meantime, all comments, corrections, insights and suggestions are welcome as ever!
Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate Change Newsletter
footballandclimatechange@gmail.com
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