Football clubs have teamed up to shine a light on the issues of climate change for Green Football Weekend – and they need their fans to get involved too.
Between February 3-5, clubs will implement changes and drive awareness of how supporters can make a difference and save money at the same time.
Ahead of the weekend, clubs will be in the Green Football Cup, where fans can score green goals for their football clubs by taking climate-friendly actions, such as having two meat-free days per week, turning down the thermostat by one degree or taking just a four-minute shower.
Those small changes could have a big impact. If the UK’s 36m football fans adopted three climate-friendly habits across the 20-day tournament they could save 700m kg CO2e – the equivalent of planting 11.78m trees.
Clubs will shine a light on the issue of climate change on Green Football Weekend
“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,” said Green Football Weekend spokesperson Sarah Jacobs.
There will also be prizes for fans taking part – they just need to head to www.greenfootballweekend.com to register their ‘goals’. An area of rainforest equivalent to 1,000 pitches will be protected by Rainforest Trust UK in the name of the winning club.
The campaign has the backing of the FA, the EFL and the WSL, Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher and Premier League footballer Ben Mee.
“The footballing community has the power to push the conversation forward and make real change that will help protect the world,” said the Brentford defender. “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.”
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.”
