UEFA has announced a significant milestone in its commitment to environmental sustainability with the launch of a carbon footprint calculator tailor-made to football organisations.
The new tool is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which sets standards to measure and manage emissions, and uses a methodology validated by a third party.
Calculator enables soccer stakeholders to assess and understand their carbon emissions, including a focus on soccer-specific areas such as mobility, purchased goods and services, facilities and logistics.
“Our goal is to get [the calculator] used not only [by] the top division clubs but also we need to escalate [it at] grassroot levels,” said Michele Uva, Uefa’s director of social and environmental sustainability, who was speaking at the launch of the carbon footprint calculator. “This bit is of course a medium long-term objective, but we need to disseminate the tool, the idea, the concept to the grassroots level. This will be the key to success.
“We activate this approach top down but we also need the bottom up. When the two sleeves succeed in the interaction, we will achieve what we set ourselves since the beginning of our work. [Using] the platform of football to disseminate the message that it is our responsibility to protect the environment.”
The rollout of the carbon footprint calculator follows two years of work that saw Uefa engage with two dozen soccer organisations and external advisors.
It also marks the latest effort from Uefa to tackle climate change, having integrated climate advocacy in its Football Sustainability Strategy 2030, which aims to provide a roadmap to a more sustainable future for European soccer.
