Climate Change and Football

 

I must admit that the crowds were always one of the attractions for me at football matches (current TV versions are just not the same). Supporters have naturally been 'missing in action' in the Covid-19 pandemic but this emphasises the pressures that such events exert on the climate change emergency. An opinion piece by David Goldblatt looks at football's impact on climate change and speculates what the resultant 'warming' would mean to the sport (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/21/climate-crisis-football-global-game-carbon-neutral). Goldblatt points out that the World Land Trust estimated that the Champion's League final alone, in 2019, released over 10,000 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. The 2020 equivalent (with no crowds and a single location), produced less than 3,000 tonnes (a pretty big saving but one that is unlikely to be repeated). This clearly confirms that moving between locations and importing supporters from across the globe have major impacts on the release of 'greenhouse gases'. Goldblatt notes that, bizarrely, many sporting events are sponsored by companies and countries such as Gazprom and Saudi Arabia, generating their wealth from petrochemicals. The carbon release across the whole of football (all leagues and all competitions) will be varied but must be immense. Goldblatt points out that any resulting climate change will have powerful effects on people's ability to do the sports in some locations (Quatar?). Heat is known to make intense activity dangerous and some grounds might well disappear as the sea level rises. Of course, all these considerations apply to any sport with a major (especially an international) following, especially if events move from country to country. Things have got to change, if we are to limit global warming to 'safe' values.  I expect, however, that there will be intense resistance from supporters and the sports administrators themselves.