Football must protect itself by taking serious climate action.
It must end the promotion of heavily polluting sponsors like oil companies and airlines.
It must implement a smarter calendar with fewer polluting flights.
1.
A ban on the promotion of big polluters
Football is severely exposed to extreme weather, but it continues to advertise the polluting industries making it worse. It’s time to kick oil companies, airlines and other big polluters out of our game!
Companies whose business model relies on polluting fossil fuels are under severe pressure. They know that demand for climate action is widespread and backlash to those that profit from pollution is building. They also realise that they can continue to normalise what they do, and keep their profits flowing, by wrapping their brands around the most popular thing on earth, football.
We demand that clubs end the promotion of big polluters. We call on leagues and governing bodies to implement tobacco style bans on advertising them, just like so many cities around the world and inspired by the bans on tobacco advertising that have existed for decades.
2.
A revised football calendar
Professional football has a huge climate impact. The number of matches played has expanded dramatically in recent years, from the World Cup and the Club World Cup to European club football, despite the objections of players and fans.
Revising the football calendar, with a lighter and more regionalised schedule, would allow for more sustainable team and fan travel.
It would ease the burden on players, make football more accessible for fans and reduce the game’s pollution impact.