The facts about football's footprint

As a sports fan, I have thought about what sporting bodies and organisations might be doing for the environment. Do they use recycled materials in their equipment? Are uniforms responsibly sourced? Is transport pollution offset in some way?

And with football the most popular sport in the UK, it's important that Premier League clubs are making efforts to reduce their environmental impact. To measure this the English Premier League 2020 Sustainability Table reveals which clubs are making a concerted effort to work alongside the planet.

Tottenham Hotspur’s newly built stadium, which hosted its first game in back in April 2019, came top of the table receiving all 21 points. But it's not just about the stadium. The training grounds, fan commutes and waste disposal all contribute to the criteria. And that means Arsenal, Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester United were only one point behind Spurs, followed by Manchester City in third place.

The EPL 2020 Sustainabiility Table is in collaboration with the annual Sport Positive Summit, who also work with Global Climate Action and the International Olympic Committee to promotive positive action in sports around the world.

Nine of the 20 Premier League teams divert all of their waste from landfill. Image courtesy of Wix

What made Tottenham come out on top is the consideration of every environmental impact the club has. The table's criteria offers three bonus points, and promoting their stadium as a ‘public transport destination’ by encouraging fans to walk, take trains, tubes, buses or bikes, as well as their commitments to sustainability, are what gave the North London club the edge.

Manchester United advertises Old Trafford in the same way as Tottenham, but lost points under clean energy. Tottenham and all second place clubs aside from Man Utd power their stadiums with renewable energy, have installed solar panels at their training grounds, are carbon neutral or offset their carbon emissions.

Other areas assessed include water usage, where clubs who recycle rainwater, install waterless urinals or use irrigation or low flow systems are ranked high. Finding alternatives to single-use plastics is another key factor, with most clubs swapping plastic packaging and cutlery for recyclable materials, reducing the use of plastic bottles at training grounds, or have schemes in place to reuse beer cups in stadium bars.

When it comes to waste disposal, most clubs have achieved no waste ending up in landfill, and many others are only a few percent short. Instead they use processes to turn waste into compost or energy, or send food waste to local food banks. And where that food comes from contributes to the table too, with plant-based and locally sourced meals and ingredients rated high in the EPL Sustainability Table.

Outside the Premier League 4th tier club Forest Green is known as the greenest club in the world

Learning how much effort Premier League clubs are putting into reducing their environmental impact is great news for fans of the sport. They are committed to making sure football doesn’t contribute to climate change, and consider every aspect of the game, from daily training to major league matches.

But for the greenest football club in the world, you have to look outside the Premier League. Forest Green, a League Two team from Nailsworth, Gloucesteshire, has made it their mission to become the most eco-friendly club in the world, and succeeded in 2017 when they were granted the title by FIFA.

From an organic pitch and rainwater irrigation systems to a solar powered robot lawn mower, Forest Green also serves an entirely vegan menu, and has most recently produced shirts for the players made from recycled plastic bottles and coffee beans.

Their efforts have been recognised by the United Nations, and to top it off they were the first club to become carbon neutral, with permission to build Eco Park, which will include 500 trees and a stadium made almost entirely of wood.

These are incredible achievements by Forest Green, and alongside the efforts of Premier League teams, they are proving that the sport is doing its best to tackle climate change, and take care of the planet that lets them play the beautiful game.

Featured image courtesy of Unsplash