Supporting global sports organisations to increase ambition and action on climate change
From being “5-1 down to climate change” to climate talks being in a “rolling maul”, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had sport on his mind during COP26, so it’s fitting that sport featured more heavily at this COP than ever before.
Founder and CEO of Sport Positive, Claire Poole discusses in the pages of Forbes how sport has landed as a key player on the international climate stage.
Throw a global pandemic into the mix, and the challenge becomes a mountain to climb.
That’s why the sport and sustainability movement – and sports industry in general – is lucky to have Claire Poole, who battled against the obstacles 2020 threw in her way to host a successful first edition of the Sport Positive Summit earlier this month.
The summit was created to be a convener for the signatories to the UNFCCC’s Sports for Climate Action Framework, and a learning platform for those sports organisations starting to dip their toes into the world of sustainability.
During the episode, Poole talks about her journey putting the summit together and explains:
By Phil Jenkins, Sport Positive Leagues
For football fans across the globe, putting on their club’s colours is one of the key rites of passage to a pre-match build-up and entering matchday mode. But when it comes to sustainability, who is out in front?
From Manchester United’s 1994/95 Umbro black V-neck collar home shirt that will be forever linked to Eric Cantona’s iconic collar up look, to Arsenal’s 2005/06 redcurrant ‘throwback to 1913’ home shirt that bid farewell to Highbury, Premier League clubs have been responsible for some of the most eye-catching football shirts that live long in the memory.
Now, the gap between the end of the football season in May and the beginning of a new league campaign in August may feel like a lifetime for most football fans. This year, the Euros and Copa America competitions filled the gap for a period of time, but now the attention turns to the incomings and outgoings of club players and the launch of new kits to whet the appetite for a new season.
Below, we have picked some of our favourite 2021/22 Premier League football shirts that have been made with sustainability in mind.
adidas
Club shirts – Arsenal, Leeds United and Manchester United
Can Arsenal make a return to the European places? Are Leeds United able to build on last season’s 9th place finish? Will Manchester United go one better and become Premier League champions once again? Arsenal,Leeds United and Manchester United’s new home shirts are made by adidas’ Primegreen, which uses a series of high-performance recycled materials that are made from recycled ingredients.
Hummel
Club shirts – Everton and Southampton
Hummel’s ECO8 technology is used across Everton’s home and away shirts as well as Southampton’s homeand third shirts. This means each shirt is manufactured from high-performing polyester that is produced from up to eight recycled plastic bottles.
Joma
Club shirt – Norwich City
Joma state that plastics is one of the main agents of biodiversity loss. As a result, the company are processing plastics to become polyester yarn, which in turn is transformed into sustainable fabric. The shell of Norwich City’s home shirt made by Joma, uses 100% recycled polyester.
Nike
Club shirt – Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur
Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur’s home shirts have all been made with 100% recycled polyester. Nike construct the recycled polyester from plastic bottles which are cleaned, shredded into flakes, converted into pellets and then spun into a high-quality yarn. The company reports that recycled polyester lowers carbon emissions by up to 30% and diverts an average of 1 billion plastic bottles annually from landfills and waterways.
Puma
Club shirt – Manchester City
Puma have made it their goal (excuse the pun) to make a positive environmental impact across its product range and ensure that by 2025, nine out of ten PUMA products will be made of more sustainable materials. For Manchester City’s home shirt, the company has used 100% recycled polyester.
So, the next time you’re proudly wearing your team’s colours, the above are a few handy sustainability facts about your matchday attire, which brings you and your club one step closer to helping combat climate change.
Click here to find out how your favourite Premier League team faired in our 2020 Sport Positive Premier League Sustainability Table.
We will also host a panel ‘How Sustainable Is Your Apparel and Equipment?’ at our virtual Sport Positive Summit 2021 on 28-29th September – find out more and join us: www.sportpositivesummit.com
Listen to our latest SportWorks TALK with Claire Poole, Founder and CEO, Sport Positive as she discussed the larger effect of Sport Positive Leagues, and how other sports and their clubs can use these rankings to measure their sustainability efforts
Top-flight German soccer side VfL Wolfsburg have been ranked as the Bundesliga’s most environmentally sustainable club, according to a new report by Sport Positive. Top-flight German soccer side beat FC Köln and Bayern Munich to top spot in Sport Positive table.
Auf Plastik verzichten, den Wasserverbrauch reduzieren und erneuerbare Energie nutzen: Wie nachhaltig handeln eigentlich die Bundesliga-Vereine? Sky präsentiert die Nachhaltigkeits-Tabelle.
Sport Positive sammelt systematisch wichtige Informationen für die ökologische Nachhaltigkeit. In enger Zusammenarbeit mit den Klubs werden Aspekte beleuchtet, die im Rahmen eines Spiels oder des gesamten Vereins Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt haben.
A report from British firm, Sport Positive published by the BBC has 1. FC Köln as the second-most sustainable Bundesliga club. Only VfL Wolfsburg earned more points in the ranking.
Wolfsburg are the greenest club in the German Bundesliga, coming top of a table measuring the sustainability of all 20 top-flight sides.
A new report from Sport Positive comes after the organisation named Tottenham as the Premier League’s greenest club in January.
Press Release: VfL Wolfsburg tops Sport Positive Bundesliga Sustainability Table 2021
7th April 2021, London: Following the success of the Sport Positive Premier League sustainability table in 2019 and 2020, today Sport Positive released their first Bundesliga sustainability table, with VfL Wolfsburg taking top spot.
VfL Wolfsburg have shown exemplary commitment to the environment, showing holistic efforts across all clubs operations; from all sites using 100% green energy, and ensuring zero waste to landfill, but also by understanding mobility behaviour of spectators and offering incentives for fans, staff and volunteers to travel via active or public transport. They are signatories to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2025.
On taking the top spot, VfL Wolfsburg’s Managing Director, Michael Meeske commented: “Sustainability is one of the biggest challenges in society. Which means, for football – with its power to change – it is not only an obligation, it is a responsibility. That is why we feel really delighted to lead the German ranks and this is also motivation to go ahead and take our next steps.”
In putting this matrix of information together, Sport Positive researched all publicly available information and then presented this to Bundesliga clubs, who were asked to verify data found and provide further information on efforts in eight categories. 21 points are available within the table, and they are awarded for:
Clean energy (2 points)
Energy efficiency (2 points )
Sustainable transport (2 points)
Single-use plastic reduction or removal (2 points)
Waste management (2 points)
Water efficiency (2 points)
Plant-based or low-carbon food options (3 points)
Communications & engagement (3 points)
One bonus point was available for each of the following:
If club actively engage fans towards positive behavioural change that reduces environmental impact in their own lives
If club are signatory to UN Sports for Climate Action Framework
If club track and report on percentage of fans taking various modes of transportation to games
The matrix notably shows that every single Bundesliga club powers a part of their organisation with renewable energy, showing commitment across the entire league to environmental sustainability efforts.
The league’s creator, Claire Poole of Sport Positive, said: “The aim of our tables is to encourage engagement and activity among clubs to increase their commitments to sustainability and ambition on climate action. Although we allocate points and rank clubs based on this, this is really done for ease of presentation and communication. We are certainly not pitting clubs against each other, and see this work as a group effort that we must come together on. No single organisation can win the fight on climate change alone.”
She went on, “We give big congratulations to VfL Wolfsburg and others at the top of our table for their leadership, but highlight that every Bundesliga club has great initiatives in place, and many have plans to do much more. These league-wide efforts are the real win for climate action.”
Sport Positive has launched sustainability tables for Premier League clubs in 2019 and 2020, and now Bundesliga in 2021. Tables are updated in real time when clubs communicate new initiatives and progress is more widely publicised once a year. Work is in progress on Ligue 1, La Liga, Serie A and Champions League tables, which will all launch in 2021.
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About
Sport Positive is a UK-based organisation that focuses on supporting global sports organisations to increase ambition and action on climate change. We work tirelessly to connect industry stakeholders globally, host an annual Summit in collaboration with UNFCCC and we research and share environmental sustainability data via our Sport Positive Leagues. If the conversation is about sport x sustainability globally, we’re usually not far away! For more information visit: www.sportpositiveleagues.com
Media Contact
Claire Poole, Founder, Sport Positive
[email protected]
Launched with Sport Positive Premier League Sustainability Table in 2019, we have since updated this in 2020 and are launching Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A and Champions League in 2021. We are also working on leagues for women’s football, and other sports too. We systematically collate key environmental sustainability information for every football club into a league table matrix. The categories reflect the environmental impacts of putting on a sports match, and initiatives that are under way at clubs, put together in an easy and digestible format.
Our research process is intense, but uniquely we always work in congress with the clubs themselves to verify information we have found and provide missing information for our rankings. So you know that we are not missing key information about your club.
When clubs launch new initiatives or progress their efforts, we update the leagues in real time. To make sure you’re always up to date on rankings, new club initiatives and new league launches, click on our ‘Keep Updated’ button and enter your details.
