Premier League clubs praised for climate progress

Earlier this year The Premier League in the UK issued a ‘sustainability commitment’, external to be a minimum standard for clubs, after “extensive consultation” between clubs and the league’s sustainability working group.

It puts the emphasis on clubs to develop “robust” policies and a greenhouse gas dataset, and help with a “common framework for action”.

But The Premier League as an organisation has been criticised for not publishing a sustainability strategy in two and a half years, hosting a 2023 pre-season Summer Series in the United States involving six teams, and not addressing the use of domestic flights by clubs.

Sport Positive Leagues Founder Claire Poole said that, five years since it began ranking clubs on areas like the matchday experience and green stadium facilities, “things had changed”.

Poole said: “Clubs are now much more frequently engaging on this topic - 16 Premier League clubs now have a sustainability page on their website; six clubs have net zero carbon targets; and first-team players more regularly appear in club videos recycling, driving electric vehicles and eating plant-based food.

“The new report enables clubs, fans, journalists and anyone in the sports ecosystem to easily find information relating to top-flight English football clubs and, while there is much work still to do, the progress from clubs over the past five years since Sport Positive Leagues started collating this information in 2019 has markedly improved.”

Well done Claire, such a great initiative!