More than 80 of the UK’s top professional football clubs team up against climate change for Green Football Weekend
- Today marks the countdown to Green Football Weekend with clubs encouraging millions of fans to score green goals for their team by taking climate-friendly actions.
- By adopting 3 of the tournament’s simple habits for a year, fans could save up to £728.
- Fans can go to greenfootballweekend.com to choose climate-friendly activities and score green goals.
- Steve McManaman, Robbie Savage, Jamie Carragher, Karen Carney, Ben Mee, Amy Turner, David Wheeler and Katie Rood amongst those involved in the campaign.
- Sky Sports and BT Sport are supporting Green Football Weekend with a host of editorial programming
More than 80 top football clubs are today joining forces against climate change in the world’s biggest football campaign to protect our world, Green Football Weekend.
For the next 20 days, clubs across the top divisions are battling it out for the coveted Green Football Cup. But unlike other tournaments, it’s fan action that will decide who takes the Cup home, with fans scoring green goals for their club by taking climate-friendly actions - from eating a veggie meal to turning the thermostat down one degree or taking a shorter shower. Fans can choose their activities and register their goals at greenfootballweekend.com.
The competition will culminate in Green Football Weekend on 3-5 February, when clubs will join fans in implementing changes by making their fixtures ‘greener games’, and some teams will wear green armbands to show their support for protecting our world.
Amazing prizes are up for grabs for anybody taking part in Green Football Weekend, including a men’s signed England shirt, tickets to Premier League Games, a voucher for a National Trust holiday cottage, tickets to the Football Supporters Association Awards, Football Manager 23 game codes, BT Sport App passes, and yearly subscriptions to children’s newspaper First News. Throughout the tournament, fans can choose which green goals to score and track the progress of their club via the live leaderboard at greenfootballweekend.com.
“In scoring green goals for their club, football fans have incredible power to help protect our world - and save money in the process. If the UK’s 36 million fans adopted three climate-friendly habits across the course of the 20-day tournament - reducing their shower time to four minutes, having two meat-free days per week and turning the thermostat down by 1 degree - fans could save more than 700 million kg CO2e, the equivalent of planting 11.78 million trees”, explained Green Football Weekend spokesperson Sarah Jacobs.
Jacobs added: “And the benefits go beyond helping tackle climate change and protecting nature. In taking part, fans can also make significant savings. By adopting these small changes for one year, they could reduce their household bill by up to £728.”
Ben Mee, Brentford defender, said: “The footballing community has the power to push the conversation forward and make real change that will help protect the world. There are so many ways fans can support during Green Football Weekend - at home, at work, at their local football clubs – and every small action adds up to making a massive difference.”
Amy Turner, Tottenham Hotspur defender, said: "Climate change affects all of us. That’s why it’s so important that football continues to use its unique platform to inspire the millions of people it reaches to make a difference. Green Football Weekend is fan action at its most powerful. It’s fans who can lead their club to victory in the Green Football Cup, and fans showing the world what we can achieve together by making simple changes in our lives. I’m extremely proud to be playing for Tottenham Hotspur – a Club that takes environmental sustainability seriously and is giving its backing to this fantastic initiative.”
Mark Bullingham, FA Chief Executive, said: "The climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and we are pleased to support the Green Football Weekend campaign. At The FA, we have made great strides to become more environmentally friendly, including Wembley Stadium being awarded the highest standard of sustainability by the ISO, and we are dedicated to making even further progress. Football has the power to inspire people and improve lives, and collectively we can make positive and meaningful change"
The campaign, which is set to become an annual event, is backed by more than 30 major supporters, including the FA, the EFL, the WSL, the National Trust, RSPB and the Church of England.
- On 21st January, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Football Team will be taking on an interfaith team for a Green Football Weekend match, supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop for Sport Libby Lane.
- An area of rainforest the size of 1,000 football pitches will be protected by Rainforest Trust UK in the name of the winning club.
- Thousands of schools are taking part, with teachers running special lessons and clubs sending club staff and mascots into classrooms to inspire students.
Gary Hughes, Director of Football at Sky Sports, said: “We’re proud to be involved in Green Football Weekend, a moment for football clubs and their fans to come together to tackle climate change. At Sky Sports, we’re committed to minimising our impact on the environment and to use the power of sport for good. We know sport can really help inspire change amongst fans and we hope working alongside BT Sport and the other key partners in Green Football Weekend it will have a real impact across the beautiful game, to help protect our beautiful planet.”
Fergus Garber, head of broadcast and production operations, BT Sport, said: "Working together with Sky Sports and a range of organisations is, we hope, a key step towards educating fans about the climate emergency. BT Sport is working hard to become one of the greenest broadcasters in the UK and over Green Football Weekend fans can expect us to continue to use our platform to raise awareness of climate change. We’re looking forward to supporting Green Football Weekend"
Green Football Weekend is powered by Sky Sports, BT Sport, the Football Supporters Association, Pledgeball, Planet League, First News and Count Us In.
- Another way people can help the planet during the Green Football Weekend is to save a few football pitches of rainforest. Conservation partners Rainforest Trust UK are asking football fans to pledge to donate a certain amount for every goal scored in the Premier League and the Women's Super League during the weekend. 100% of the money raised will be used to save threatened rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon.For more information on donating to Rainforest Trust, please contact [email protected].
- Green Football Weekend partners include Athletes of the World, BASIS, The Church of England, Common Goal, County Football Associations across the country, Common Goal, Extreme Hangout, Football for Future, Football Manager, Forest Green Rovers, High Impact Athletes, Let’s Go Zero, Minute Media, National Trust, Opta, Possible, The OSCAR Foundation, Rainforest Trust UK, RSPB, Sport Positive, Students Organising for Sustainability, Supporters Direct Scotland, Transform Our World, UN Live and We Play Green.
- Carbon data methodology:
- All tree and car equivalencies calculated via EPA’s carbon calculator.
- Reducing showers to four minutes:
- The average shower length is 8 minutes (Energy Saving Trust). A regular shower uses 40 litres of water over four minutes (Waterwise and Energy Saving Trust). Assuming the water is heated from 10 to 40 degrees in a boiler with a 85% efficiency rate: every shower will save 0.45 kg of carbon. Based on 5 showers / week (Energy Saving Trust), this equates to 116 kg of carbon per person per year, a total of 3.596 billion kg for 31 million football fans. This is the equivalent of 774,826 cars off the road or 59.461 million trees planted.
- Per 20 days (the length of the tournament), this equates to 197,041,095 kg CO2e - 42,456 cars off the road or 3.26 million trees planted.
- Replacing the average shower length in the UK with a 4-minute shower could knock £115 off your annual energy bill, and an extra £100 off your water bill if you're on a meter. That's a total saving of £215 (Energy Saving Trust)
- Eating veggie two days per week.
- If all the meat/fish eaters in the UK switched to a vegetarian diet for a year (57.31million people) they would save around 37.9 billion kgs carbon (USwitch). If they switched for two days per week they would save 10.8 billion kgs.
- Meat and fish eaters account for 86% of the population (USwitch). 86% of UK football fans is 26.66 million, accounting for 5.03 billion carbon, equivalent to 1,083,810 cars off the road or 83.2 million trees planted.
- Per 20 days (the length of the tournament), this equates to 275,616,438 kg CO2e - 59,387 cars off the road or 4.56 million trees planted.
- An Oxford University study has shown that a balanced vegetarian diet can be as much as one third cheaper than a regular meat diet (source The Lancet). This doesn't include take away and eating out. In a typical UK household, one would spend £48 per week per person, that includes £32.75 of household expenditure and £15.25 eating out/take away. Source: gov.uk. For an average 2.4 person household turning vegetarian two days a week, they would save 7.41 per week (£385.40 per year).
- Turning the thermostat down by one degree.
- Turning your thermostat down by 1 degree saves 340 kg of carbon per household (Energy Saving Trust).
- Assuming 2.4 people per household average (source ONS), UK football fans comprises 12.917 million households, saving 4.39 billion kg of carbon per year, equivalent to 946,308 cars off the road or 72.62 million trees planted.
- Per 20 days (the length of the tournament) this equates to 240,547,945 kg CO52,839 cars off the road and 3.98 million trees planted.
- Households could potentially save up to £128 over the year by turning the thermostat down by one degree (USwitch)