LONDON – This is a cross-border investigation by five journalists into how the world’s most popular sport is creating a huge carbon footprint and relying on the fossil fuel industry in a never-ending search for more money and more fans.
The project investigates how football clubs travel the world in pre-season to play pointless friendly matches, while players and officials rely on private jets instead of scheduled flights at the cost of the environment.
Burning Up The planet: Football’s Carbon Footprint exposes the sham of some carbon credit schemes and the promises made in the quest for a Net Zero world that will not be fulfilled.
The project also exposes how football is increasingly reliant on major fossil fuel producers for both sponsorship and to host major tournaments, which increase in their number and scope to send players and fans further afield than ever before while failing to properly acknowledge or explain the carbon footprint that these events are creating.
Illustration by Andy Brown
PUBLICATIONS
- Plane wrong, Josimar, 30/05/2024
- Flying high: How European football clubs are exploiting fans and the environment, Play The Game, 07/08/2024
- White elephants and green lies, Josimar, 12/08/2024
- Fly another day, Josimar, 12/09/2024
- Coupe du monde 2022 au Qatar : mensonges verts et éléphants blancs, Les Cahiers de Football, 24/09/2024
-
Smoke and Mirrors: Just how carbon neutral was the supposedly green 2022 World Cup? The Blizzard, Issue Fifty Four, pp.59-66
COUNTRIES
- The EU
- The UK
- USA
- Switzerland
- Saudi Arabia
- Qatar
- Australia
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