Recycling, renewables, meat-free menus: this is how the Premier League fights climate change
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According to the think tank on climate change Rapid Transition Alliance (Rat) and the University of Waterloo, as many as 23 out of 92 stadiums in England’s major leagues are at risk of flooding or even being submerged by 2050. No, these aren’t small-town teams. Included in the endangered list are big team structures, such as Lo Stamford Bridge of Chelsea in London, the nearby Craven Cottage of Fulham cousins, the London Stadium of another team from the capital, the West Ham. But also the St Mary’s stadium of Southampton, oa Grimbsy, Scunthorpe are threatened by global warming. In short, climate change is a real threat to all of English football, and beyond.
A few months ago, then, an investigation by the BBC on the excessive air travel of many teams in recent years, even for trips of 40 km. A need that has sometimes increased in recent years also for the long intercontinental tours of the summer pre-season. The worst in this sense, according to the British public television survey, was theAston Villa, with 22,419 air miles flown in the weeks of athletic training, 2,921 kg of emissions per passenger (on average 30 between players and staff) and 87.6 tons of emissions released. Immediately behind the Leeds and the Manchester United. Last the Leicesterwith “only” 564 miles, 134 kilos of emissions per passenger (on average 30 between players and staff) and 4 tons of emissions.
History
In Freiburg, the green stadium produces renewable energy
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A trend to improve, of course. But this demonstrates the focus on the climate in these parts, more than anywhere else. Because England, not only in football, is at the forefront in the fight against global warming (the former premier Boris Johnson has often mentioned that he wants to transform his country into “Saudi Arabia of the wind”) and there is a lot of good news. There Premier League and the other minor British championships have in fact started a process to limit emissions as much as possible, with some promising results that will set an example for many. A few weeks ago, the head of British sport, Sally Mundayoutlined the goals: zero emissions for all sports organizations by 2030 (or a few more years if necessary) and even a positive impact on the environment by 2040.
The appeal
“In the field with the climate belt”. The football match for the Earth
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Cutting back on air travel won’t be easy: the match schedule for the major teams is increasingly dense and global, and players need to rest as soon as possible to be physically ready for the next match. But on the rest, a lot can be done, a lot, as the English teams demonstrate. The best example is the Forest Greena third division club from Gloucestershire, which went entirely vegan in 2015 and the world’s first carbon-neutral sports club as early as 2017. Its chairman Dale Vince he is a convinced environmentalist and is winning his challenge: “The first thing to do is cut meat because it is responsible for a large part of the emissions in the world”, he tells Sky. But the club has done much more: solar panels, columns for electric cars, electric buses for fans. But now the real jewel will arrive: a new, futuristic one all-wood stadium, 100% sustainable. It is not yet clear when it will be ready (it will take a few years), but certainly the project is already approved and there will be “five thousand seats and thousands more jobs in the area”, is Vince’s pride, ” giving up concrete is an extraordinary victory”.
Even the big teams are doing their best, not giving up particular or personal initiatives, beyond institutional commitments. Thanks to a decidedly “local” stadium and fans (the Anfield district), the Liverpool is the most virtuous team in wanting to mitigate climate change, together with the Tottenham. They follow at a short distance Manchester City And Southampton. The parameters of government research are clean energy, sustainable transport. energy efficiency, meatless food, etc. Tottenham have been at the top of this particular ranking for three years, thanks to their futuristic new stadium in north London powered by green energy, but also for a large plastic recycling system and little waste of water. This is also why the Spurs, in September 2021, made history with the first match in the history of zero-emission football, which was also possible through the renunciation of any polluting means of locomotion. An extraordinary pilot project.
The interview
“Udinese has thus become the fourth greenest football club in the world”
by Emanuela Perinetti
In Scotland, theHibernian it is the most virtuous club. The Chelsea instead, as mentioned threatened by floods given the proximity to the Thames of the Stamford Bridge, he was one of the first to use LED lights at the stadium, he encourages his employees to always arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport, the training ground it uses water from a nearby lake, which is thus always recycled. But there are also personal initiatives, such as the Italian ex goalkeeper of the Blues Charles Cudicini, who with his wife has launched a program to recycle footballers’ shirts and resell them in small auctions. And the former Arsenal defender, the Spaniard Hector Bellerin, for three years already he had promised to plant 3 thousand trees for each victory of his team. In the end, also thanks to the donations of the fans, this visionary footballer planted 58,617.
Even the Brentford, the sixth team from London in the Premier League, has decided to use last year’s shirt this season, not updating it, thus giving up substantial revenue. But the decision was made to avoid waste and pollution related to clothing, which is very often decided by the technical sponsors of the teams who design different shirts every year for marketing reasons. At the same time, local initiatives are multiplying in England to recycle boots used by the youth teams to donate them to the poorest teenagers who often cannot afford them. Because football belongs to everyone, and so does its sustainability.
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