Sports teams are increasingly concerned with sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across their value chain, as they begin to follow the lead of companies in other sectors to achieve net-zero carbon status.
But in an industry that is traditionally slow to adopt trends from other sectors, is enough being done to show a genuine concern for environmental issues surrounding the planet?
Motorsport is leading the way
The sports industry generally lags behind other sectors when it comes to action on sustainability initiatives such as achieving net-zero carbon emissions. The most ambitious decarbonisation targets of all companies in the wider sports industry come from those within motorsport, who have been the most proactive in tackling the issue and working towards net zero.
Formula 1 launched a sustainability initiative in 2019, in which it set a target of reaching net zero by 2030. All F1 cars will be required to run on 100% sustainable fuels (e-fuels) from 2026, and both F1 and some of its teams have targets for sustainable fuel use in their logistics. F1 and the Mercedes team have already been transporting freight between races using biofuel-powered trucks.
The Premier League’s environmental sustainability commitment
In February 2024, all 20 Premier League clubs agreed to develop a robust environmental sustainability policy by the end of the 2024/25 season. Clubs will also be required to designate a senior employee to lead all environmental sustainability strategies and activities, as well as develop a GHG emissions dataset for scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by the end of the 2025/26 season. Despite the majority of Premier League clubs already having an environmental policy or strategy in place, this development marks the first time in English football that all member clubs have agreed to establish a framework binding them to a minimum standard of action on environmental issues. All clubs are now required to set net-zero targets: at the time of writing, eight clubs currently have a net-zero target in place, while the remaining 12 are in the process of producing one.
Is enough being done across the sector?
The fact that it has taken until 2024 for the Premier League to act on sustainability and require its clubs to set net-zero targets demonstrates just how far behind other sectors sport is in terms of environmental action. That over 50% of Premier League clubs still do not have a target in place emphasizes this even more.
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By GlobalDataOn November 14, 2024, Arsenal FC had its net-zero target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), meaning that it has a clearly defined emission reduction pathway, an outlined baseline amount and year, and a target goal date. This makes it the only football club in the world to have an SBTi-approved net-zero target.
Motorsport has been under more environmental scrutiny than other sports for obvious reasons, and as a result, it has acted earlier on sustainability than football, for example. But Formula 1’s commitment to having its cars race on 100% sustainable fuels is misguided, as only 0.7% of carbon emissions produced during an F1 season come from the racing itself. By far the biggest contributor to emissions is logistics, through air, sea, and road travel, followed by the production of the cars at team factories and facilities, which is a carbon-intensive process.
Biofuel-powered trucks are a start, but with races on almost every continent, achieving net zero despite all the equipment that needs to be transported from Australia to Bahrain, and then to the US, for example, seems ambitious.
It is certainly a positive that sports companies are appearing to begin to take more action on sustainability, but whether the actions will speak louder than words is yet to be known.
