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Sky published a case study revealing that Game Zero, our Premier League match against Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September, achieved net zero carbon emissions.

The Club and Sky, working alongside independent carbon specialists RSK and Natural Capital Partners, set the target of hosting the world’s first net zero carbon football game at an elite level, while also aiming to inspire fans to reduce their own carbon footprint.

Net zero was achieved by first measuring the baseline emissions of a match held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium then lowering those emissions as much as possible and offsetting any that could not be reduced with the support of Natural Capital Partners, through a community reforestation project in East Africa, which removes carbon emissions from the atmosphere.

How emissions from Game Zero were reduced:

• Players arrived at the stadium on coaches powered by green biodiesel which helped lower squad travel emissions by over 80 per cent.
• Fans walked 36,000 miles and drove 225,000 miles in electric or hybrid cars to and from the game.
• Everything at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (including heating and cooking) is powered by 100 per cent renewable energy – electricity and green gas.
• All food served inside the stadium is locally and sustainably sourced with 94 per cent more vegetarian and plant-based meals sold at this match, compared to the baseline game.
• Sky achieved a 70 per cent reduction in emissions from the Sky Sports production crew covering the match.

Daniel Levy, Chairman, Tottenham Hotspur, said: “We are extremely proud to have been involved with Game Zero, working alongside Sky to utilise our collective platforms and show leadership on a key issue that is affecting us all. We thank our fans for their support of the initiative and taking such positive actions around the matchday. It is important to note that none of the measures that were implemented around Game Zero were a one-off – we continue to assess all of our operations and identify ways to reduce our carbon footprint as a Club moving forward.”

Jonathan Licht, Managing Director at Sky Sports, said: “We hope that Game Zero is the first of many major net zero carbon sporting events and will inspire long-term change. At Sky Sports, we’re committed to minimise our impact on the environment and use the power of sport for good.

By sharing our findings, we want to inspire football clubs, sports organisations, athletes and fans across the world to reduce their own carbon impact.”

Ahead of Game Zero, Sky worked with carbon accounting specialists RSK to measure the carbon emissions created by a Premier League match held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, helping to determine reduction opportunities, highlight the more difficult emission sources and track progress.

Creating a baseline enabled the Club and Sky to assess easy wins and tougher challenges of achieving net zero. This universal formula can now be used again and again to consistently measure and reduce carbon emissions at major events.

Sky worked with long-term partner Natural Capital Partners, the leading experts on carbon neutrality and climate finance to offset Game Zero’s remaining emissions through a VCS and CCBA verified community reforestation project in East Africa.

The project supports smallholder farmers to source, grow, plant and nurture native and productive trees on their land, which remove carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, and provide alternative sources of nutrition and livelihoods to the farmers.

Last week, Davinson Sanchez joined children from Rowland Hill Nursery School to help plant trees donated by the Club and Sky on a green space nearby Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A mixture of American Sweetgum, False Acacia and Silver Birch are now in place at a site identified by Friends of the Earth and Haringey Council on White Hart Lane.

Passionate About Our Planet

Tottenham Hotspur was named the Premier League’s greenest club following a study carried out by the UN-backed Sport Positive Summit, with a range of sustainable measures implemented across our operations, including:

• 100 per cent renewable energy and Zero Scope 2 emissions at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with LED lighting (including floodlights) and high efficiency building services systems in place to reduce energy use.
• A ‘zero to landfill’ waste management programme, with clear recycling instructions for fans on its bins, as well as a reusable beer cup scheme.
• Single-use plastic reduction measures in place across the Club – players drink water from cartons, food is served in recyclable packaging with wooden cutlery, and even beer keg caps are recycled at the stadium.
• All food served inside the stadium is locally and sustainably sourced, with plant-based options available across all outlets and in Premium areas.
• Significant investment into our local transport infrastructure with the stadium served by four train stations and a free matchday shuttle bus. There is also provision for 180 bikes to be parked nearby the stadium, with our security policy allowing for equipment such as helmets, puncture kits and removable seats to be taken into the stadium.
• Water consumption minimised with waterless urinals and low flow fittings and fixtures.
• An ecological habitat established at our Training Centre, including an organic Kitchen Garden; hundreds of new and semi-mature trees and tens of thousands of new plants and hedgerows; bug hotels and bat houses; wildlife ponds; green roofs to capture and re-harvest rainwater; solar panels and air source heat pumps.
• The Nike shirts that players wear on the pitch and the replica jerseys for fans to buy are constructed with 100 per cent recycled polyester fabric, which is made from recycled plastic bottles.

We are a proud signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, which calls on sporting organisations to acknowledge the contribution of the sports industry on climate change and a collective responsibility to strive towards climate neutrality for a safer planet.

Alongside Sky, the Club is also a founding partner of Count Us In – an unprecedented global movement aiming to mobilise one billion people to act on climate change – a member of the British Association for Sustainable Sports (BASIS) and the first sports team to become a member of Products of Change – a global educational hub aimed at driving sustainable change across consumer product markets and beyond.

Our Official Battery Technology Partner, VivoPower International PLC, has completed feasibility studies to assess initial opportunities for sustainable energy solutions at both Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the Club’s Hotspur Way Training Centre in Enfield. The Club and VivoPower are now exploring the potential of moving forward with the implementation of one or more SES projects.

For further information, please visit the dedicated Passionate About Our Planet page.

The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has introduced a practical guidebook which provides guidance and support to FIA stakeholders and members to increase their sustainability performance in delivering events.
The “FIA Introductory Guide for Sustainable Events” has been designed to provide event organisers with the technical support and guidance to identify simple and clear actions for improving their sustainability performance. The focus is on small actions that can lead to significant changes allowing for a practical approach that can be applied to events of all sizes.
The guidelines are also in close alignment with the requirements of the FIA’s Environmental Accreditation Programme.
The application of the guidelines is meant to lead the user to achieve a two-star level, the second of a three-tiered accreditation system.The guidelines are structured around six key impact areas:

• Energy use. Including identifying the sources, measuring use and targeting.
• Air Quality & Transport. Commonly considered the main source of emissions, the attention is centered on reductions and efficiency.
• Waste Management. Focusing on reducing, reusing and recycle in order to build a successful waste management plan.
• Water & Biodiversity. Providing access to fresh drinking water to participants and preventing any potential harm or disruption to natural habitats while protecting and educating on its importance.
• Supply Chain. By recognising the power over the supply chain, organisers can align with suppliers and sponsors that follow the sustainable vision of the event.
• Social Responsibility. Driving social and economic benefit to local and regional communities, involving its people, businesses and authorities.

BENEFITS

• The creation of guidelines for sustainable events can serve both externally and internally, guiding the organisation of all types of events in a more sustainable way.
• Having a guide for sustainable events can serve as an entry point for more advanced programs, such as the FIA Accreditation programme, driving both awareness and practical action points.
• FIA can share the environmental awareness in a user-friendly way which helps the FIA to fulfil its required goals and environmental targets.

Click here to download the case study

GOALS is a project funded by EU Commission through the ERASMUS+ Sport Programme, that aims at improving the environmental governance in football organizations.

The project is aimed primarily at women and youth football teams with the aim of improving the environmental impact of clubs and football matches. GOALS aims to increase their environmental awareness and promote the adoption of more environmentally friendly behaviors. The project also intends to strengthen cooperation between institutions and sport organizations boosting the adoption and the implementation of environmental governance actions.

To these ends, GOALS will develop organizational tools for the three National Football Associations involved - Romanian, Portuguese and Kosovar - to improve their environmental governance. The project also focuses on operational governance through the involvement of at least 9 grassroots football clubs, 3 for each of the countries involved. In addition to the calculation of the environmental footprint of the clubs participating in the project, GOALS will provide an intuitive online tool to support football organizations in the calculation of their Environmental Footprint applying the European methodology on footprint (Recommendation 2013/179 / EU).

The project is coordinated by Sant’ Anna School of Advanced Studies, that has extensive experience in environmental management activities and environmental footprint assessment.

The project Consortium includes, in addition to the three participating Federations, Real Betis Balompié - the professional team of the Spanish Lega - and the international association ESSMA (European Stadium & Safety Management Association). This network comprises over 350 members that will contribute through communication, networking and replication activities, dissemination of project outputs and stakeholders’ engagement from the European world of football. Moreover, GOALS is supported by UEFA and by the Football Association of Ireland.

Project partners: Portugal Football Federation (FPF)Real Betis Balompié Foundation, Romanian Football Federation (FRF), Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK), European Stadium & Safety Management Association (ESSMA)

Project duration: 01.01.2021 to 30.06.2023

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has introduced the IBU’s Sustainability Strategy with a bold plan to balance the social, economic and environmental impact of the sport of biathlon. The Strategy follows a profound process which began following the approval of the new IBU Constitution and strategic plan called “Target 26” in October 2019.
The new strategy triggered a process for future proofing and progressing the sport recognising sustainability as a key priority in Target 26 and climate change as direct and urgent threat to the sport of Biathlon.
In the interest of maximising stakeholder buy-in through the process, IBU involved all key stakeholders in this strategic process including the National Federations (NFs), staff, athletes, organising committees, commercial partners, media, and fans. This is also in line with ISO 20121 standard’s core requirements for sustainable management, which the IBU aspires to follow.
The IBU’s Sustainability Strategy was designed around five focus areas:

• Climate. IBU has committed to reduce its footprint 45% and become climate neutral by 2030 and climate positive by 2034, covering both IBU as an organisation and its own events. The main areas considered are travel and transport, energy consumption, food & beverage and snow management.
• Venue & Event. Biathlon venues and events are to have a long-term positive impact on their communities considering all activities and including the ban of single-use plastics and ensuring that all waste is re-used, recycled or composted.
• Sport. Ensure the sport has a minimal impact on the environment in particular to air, water and soil. This comprises, among others, a ban on chemical substances (such as the recent ban on fluorinated wax), minimising the use of resources on snow management, efficient uses of energy and keeping up with latest developments in salting and equipment.
• People. Leading by example on the forefront of better governance standards including gender equality and diversity. By focusing on structural strategies, IBU aims at making biathlon a youth and mass participation sport, mass participation, sport that includes and supports athletes at every level from grassroots to those who wish to combine the sport with a career.
• Communication and Awareness.
  Amplifying the message by advocating for climate action and supporting sustainable development both within the sport and all other winter sports.
  The IBU is determined to take a strong stance on making Biathlon an increasingly balanced and conscious sport on their impact on climate change, communities in which it operates its games, and its people.

BENEFITS

• By having a clear and thorough sustainability strategy, a federation can define the vision and align all stakeholders across its spheres of influence.
• The definition of what sustainability means to an organisation cannot be taken for granted. By establishing at an organisational level what is encompassed within that concept allows for a clear path for better planning and execution.
• The inclusion of all stakeholders in the making of the strategy aligns the goals and can lead to a stronger long-term buy-in.

Click here to download the case study

Created by the 11th Hour Racing Team, for the benefit of the wider community, a series of eight How to Guides and Case Studies are part of the TOOLBOX which is designed to make sustainability accessible for any organisation.

The eight Case studies relate respectively to :

• How to start your program
• How to create a policy
• How to engage stakeholders
• How to identify issues
• How to set targets
• How to plan and implement
• How to assess progress
• How to report and communicate

Click here to access the case studies list

LIFE TACKLE is a project co-financed by the European Union aiming at improving the environmental management of football matches and the overall level of awareness and attention towards environmental issues in the football sector, engaging its most relevant stakeholders – National Football Associations (NFAs), Football Clubs, Stadiums managers and Supporters.

Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies leads this project, and is assisted by a consortium of entities including ACR+ (Belgium), AMU Genova S.p.A (Italy), EURACTIV.COM LTD (UK), the Italian National Football Association (Italy), the Romanian National Football Association (Romania), LIPOR (Portugal) and the Swedish National Football Association (Sweden)

Project description
Title: Sector project Sport for Development
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Countries: Colombia, Indonesia, Morocco, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia)
Overall term: 2019 to 2022

Context
Sport integrates and educates people and gets them moving. More than almost any other area, sport with its professional and voluntary structures reaches all social spheres, promotes participation and creates a feeling of togetherness across ethnic and social boundaries.

The 2030 Agenda confirms that sport makes a significant contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project contributes to several SDGs, including good health and well-being (SDG 3), inclusive and equitable quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16), and partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17).

The project uses sport to achieve development policy goals. Sport includes all physical activities that promote physical and mental well-being and social interaction, from popular and recreational sports, games and exercise to traditional forms of culture and expression, such as dance.

Sport can have a particularly positive effect on the development of children and young people. They learn about fair and tolerant behaviour, strengthen their self-esteem and develop the willingness to take responsibility. Sport also teaches life skills – abilities that help individuals to master difficult life situations and develop perspectives for their own future.

The German Government has recognised this potential and is focusing on Sport for Development as a cross-cutting theme of German development cooperation (DC) in order to achieve other development policy goals. These include education, employment, the private sector and health along with goals in the context of displacement and migration.

Objective
The project uses sport in development cooperation to secure long-term improvement in the lives of disadvantaged children and young people.

Approach
In a wide-ranging network with partners and local and international organisations, civil society institutions, sports associations, companies and academia, the project implements a range of projects with the partner countries. The German Olympic Sport Confederation (DOSB), the German Football Association (DFB) and the German Sport University Cologne (DSHS) are among the over-arching partners.

The project trains trainers, invests in sports infrastructure with long-term use, such as sports grounds and sports centres, and campaigns for fairly and sustainably produced sportswear. It also creates areas of learning for children and young people and improves their prospects through initial and continuing training.

A central component is the development of training manuals. These describe the methodology and support local trainers and teachers in applying it. The project works with local partners to adapt the approach to the conditions in each country. The manuals contain numerous examples of training units in different sports that are adapted to different age groups and cover different sports and social education topics.

Other focal points include policy advice on content and strategy, the further development of the German contribution with long-term national and international positioning, academic support, and monitoring and evaluation to review experiences and measure effectiveness.

Results
By September 2019, the project had reached over one million children and young people in 37 countries through more than 50 projects, trained around 7,000 trainers and built and modernised 133 sports grounds in Africa alone.

From October 2019, the following partner countries will be among the focal points:

Colombia: The peaceful resolution of conflict, prevention of violence and the reintegration of internally displaced persons are the focus of the project in Colombia. A specially developed manual supports social reconciliation through sport. To date, 1,500 trainers and social workers have been trained in this area. They have reached around 90,000 children and young people.

Indonesia: In Indonesia, football is used to help schoolchildren learn positive values and life skills. Trained coaches and teachers run football training sessions for both girls and boys and also address topics such as health and prevention of violence.

Morocco: The first trainers have already been trained in Morocco. They have specialised in basketball, football and martial arts and come from communities with a particularly high proportion of migrants. Together with local partners, the project promotes access to integration services for migrants, refugees and returning Moroccans in these communities.

Tunisia: In Tunisia, the sports approach promotes the transfer of skills and career guidance for young adults in various areas. Activities promoted in the area of Sport for Development teaches them important personal and job-related skills.

Uganda: In Uganda, the focus is on athletics. The project there supports disadvantaged children and young people in disciplines such as running, jumping and throwing and in traditional sports. The trainers focus on life skills, health and social cohesion. There is a particular focus on children and young people with disabilities.

Western Balkans: In the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia), sport is used as a social learning environment to promote neighbourly understanding. To this end, the project is working with teachers, trainers and other multipliers to develop the relevant skills among young people and reflect on social issues with them.

To mainstream Sport for Development even more in the partner countries of German development cooperation, the project also, on request, advises interested DC projects and sports partners beyond the above-mentioned focus countries.

Rising water levels, air pollution and the destruction of biodiversity on land might be at the top of our minds when it comes to climate change, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. Under our oceans, the destruction of the world’s coral reef is something worthy of urgent attention.
Beyond providing natural beauty, coral reefs are of extreme importance to on-land and underwater life. They offer our coastlines a natural protection from damaging wave action and tropical storms, and assist in carbon and nitrogen fixing, a fundamental piece in the fight against climate action.
Moreover, as much as 25% of our marine life depend on them as they provide habitat, shelter and nutrients. An estimated 4,000 fish species rely on them at some point in their existence.
World Sailing's 2020 Hempel World Cup Series Miami was identified by World Sailing as the perfect opportunity to bring education and action together in alignment with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and the WS Sustainability Agenda 2030.
In partnership with their title sponsor, Hempel A/S, and the Rescue a Reef programme at the University of Miami (UM), the event managed to collect 250kg of marine litter, and create awareness among hundreds of athletes and volunteers.

BENEFITS
• 250kg of marine litter was removed from a local mangrove ecosystem and 150 corals were out planted.
• Close to 150 athletes and local sailors were engaged in education and action against the impact of climate change.
• The project received positive feedback from the sailors, created a positive impact in the local community and provided sponsors with a new powerful platform to engage with the sailing community.

Click here to download the Case Study

In January 2020, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Sustainability Strategy was published, with five commitments, 22 strategic objectives and over 70 initiatives. The strategy was developed jointly by FIFA, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC and the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy. This unique tripartite collaboration means that the strategy considers all of the tournament organisers' activities, including those of the host country, and builds on the experience and standards of previous FIFA World Cups.

The strategy was developed in three steps: (1) A thorough analysis of the current context and existing strategies and requirements, then (2) the identification of strategic priorities through a materiality assessment and a human rights salience analysis, with both results eventually combined through an innovative process, and finally (3) the definition of concrete objectives and actions. Throughout this process, FIFA and the organisers engaged with internal and external stakeholders to shape an ambitious, meaningful and robust strategy.

Click here to download the case study

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has been actively committed in the pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an integral part of its sustainability strategy. Aware of the imminent threats of climate change, IIHF has joined the IOC as a participant of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and pledged to stop plastic waste as part of the Clean Seas campaign.
In 2020, and five years after the publication of the “IIHF Manual for Sustainable Events”, the federation published a new document portraying the “IIHF Sustainability Vision”, a reflection of the IIHF’s aspirations in regards to sustainability within its organisation, its events and the broader ice hockey family.
The IIHF Vision for Sustainability spans across its different spheres of influence:

• As an organisation the federation follows the premise of “keeping your own house clean”. With the goal of staying as sustainable as possible, IIHF seeks to lead by example including the use of green energy, having a recycling system in place, eliminating the use of single-use plastic bottles and the promotion of water filters, generally taking a continuous improvement approach at the organisational level.
• Member National Associations (MNAs) and stakeholders are encouraged to have their own sustainability strategies responding to their resources and local contexts. The federation recognises best sustainability practices amongst its members since 2019 through its IIHF Sustainability Award.
• IIHF Events are asked to follow the IIHF Manual for Sustainable Events designed to make sustainability an integral, and easy to apply, component of event planning.
  However, the manual is not meant as a one-size-fits-all document, but rather a guide that can allow any organiser to be flexible.

BENEFITS

• By creating opportunities to communicate actions by its members and stakeholders, an IF can serve to multiply the effect of positive initiatives by promoting ideas and collaboration.
• The publication of a vision can serve internally as a reference of direction but it can also have external effects. It can create awareness on what is relevant to the organisation and foster relationships with current and potential stakeholders, such as new possible sponsors, which can align and support that vision.

Click here to download the case study