People travel all over the world to watch their favourite teams play, creating huge carbon footprints. But what are their beloved clubs doing about it? So, while 22 men kick a ball around, how are clubs up and down the footballing pyramid offsetting this huge environmental impact?

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Forest Green Rovers 9/10

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Forest Green Rovers are the most environmentally conscious and sustainable football Club in the footballing pyramid. It is the only vegan football club, the players eat vegan, even when travelling to away games they bring vegan foods for themselves and the only food available for fans in the stadium on match days is vegan. 

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When it comes to football there is a lot of travelling that emits tonnes of carbon into the world. To tackle this and leading by example, The Green Devils use an electric powered coach when travelling (where possible) and the academy use an electric powered mini bus when travelling to their training facilities to cut back on diesel emissions. The clubs' focus is not just on their players and academy but also their fans. They organise group transport for their fans on away games. Forest Green Rovers provide cycling parking or a line of EV charging points which provides for a green journey to the stadium. 

It's not just food and travelling Forest Green want to be green in, they have also partnered up with Sea Shepherd to help reduce single plastics ending up in the ocean. To help with this, the League Two has stopped single-use condiment packets and replaced them with refillable pumps and also provide reusable cups and chip holders.

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Liverpool 6/10

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Although Liverpool are a big club, sustainability and being environmentally friendly is not below them. They proudly proclaim to be the only major European football club to hold the ISO20121 Certificate which holds the club accountable to reaching their goals they set for themselves. The red's catering packaging is all biodegradable. The club doesn't only just be environmentally conscious in their stadium, they planted 653 trees and 1.5km of hedging at their AXA training centre too. The Liverpool based club have offset an impressive 435 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

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Tottenham Hotspur 4/10

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Surprisingly, Tottenham doesn't only think about performing in the Premier League. They were in tune with being environmentally friendly before it was cool. In 2010 they were a founding member of the 10:10 initiative, where with other members their aim is to cut 10% emissions in 2010. It's not 2023, so how are they doing? They could be doing more, but at the very least they do have a reusable beer cup scheme in place, alongside a ban on plastic straws and cutlery. 

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Arsenal 7.5/10

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The first thought that comes into most football fans minds when thinking about Arsenal is Europa League. However, with the actions the London based club has made to improve their sustainability - that first thought should change. The Gunners are big on saving the planet, in their training facilities all lighting is automated LED’s but alongside this they have replaced all water bottles with water dispensers. This small change has led to a massive impact, as an estimated 150,000 single use bottles are saved every year.  Arsenal have taken even more steps to keep our home world green as they have planted a whopping 29,000 trees which forms the Colony Wood. The club doesn't only restrict their planet saving habits to their training ground. The Emirates have stopped the use of plastic single use cups for beers and replaced them with reusable cups.

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Brighton and Hove Albion 7/10

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The seaside club have taken big steps in creating a sustainable club. Firstly, by being a football team that solely relies on green electricity, which powers the fully LED facilities and electric powered mowers which helps maintain the training pitches and the pitch. The Seagulls’ groundsmen are sustainably conscious as they sparingly use grow lights, as during the winter grass does not have access to as much light as it is to optimise growth. Brighton's goal of being green is not solely focused on itself as a club, as they work with local schools to plant trees and have planted 1,200 trees so far. 

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When looking at these clubs, they all have many similarities and aims of trying to be sustainable businesses, while playing the beautiful game. Unfortunately there are too many clubs not as advanced or committed to keeping our planet green. So hopefully all the European giants, in time, can be as big as our winners, Forest Green Rovers on the sustainability and environment front. Get in touch with your local clubs and put pressure on them to improve and continue to raise standards!

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