Kicking Off a Conscious Tournament? Let's Explore Euros 2024 and Sustainability

30.95 million people watched the 2020 Euros final. That’s a lot of people.

As the second biggest football tournament in the world kicks off this weekend all eyes turn to Germany for a month-long festival of football. The Euros promises to be one of the most ambitious sporting events ever when it comes to sustainability initiatives.?

Historic Initiatives Coming Into Play

UEFA, working with tournament hosts Germany, have set out to make this edition of the Euros the new benchmark for sustainable events. ‘Euro 2024 is a big opportunity for us to show how sustainability can be a driving force for the event’s success,’ says Michele Uva, UEFA’s director of social and environmental sustainability. ‘The legacy is not only for Germany, but all of European football and other sports if we can inspire them.’

The Green Initiatives at Euro 2024 three pillars connecting to 11 areas of action, which in turn are backed by 28 topics, 48 targets and 83 key performance indicators, ranging from carbon management, energy, water, and accountability. To reduce emissions from travel, which is estimated to account for almost 80% of the emissions at the tournament, UEFA will be subsidising a 25% discount on Interrail for ticket holders. Whatsmore, within the host cities, fans will be allowed 36 hours of free public transport!?

Harnessing Efficiency in the City

Perhaps what will be the solution that other major sporting events take note of and implement is the organisation of the Match Schedule to create geographical clusters that reduce both team and fan travel. This has the potential to set a trend of more conscious event planning and scheduling at these events as opposed to the current system of scheduling based solely on bids and TV slots. Another big emissions saver is the fact that there was no need to undertake any new energy-intensive construction of purpose-built stadiums for the tournament like we have seen in past editions of the FIFA World Cup.?

Decarbonising on the Pitch?

One of the most innovative strategies being used to drive sustainability at the event is the ‘United by Football – Together for Nature’ Fund. UEFA has acknowledged that despite their best efforts the tournament will not be a Zero Carbon affair, staying away from terms like ‘net zero’ or ‘carbon neutral’. Instead of using traditional offsets (a controversial industry) they have decided to instead donate €25 for every tonne of CO2 generated at the tournament. The estimate is that this fund will eventually reach a total of €7 million. Driving this initiative across the whole pyramid of German football, amateur clubs within the country will be able to apply to this fund to gain funding for climate protection projects at the local level. Already, over 100 German football clubs and regional associations have received funding for climate projects through this!?

Taking Transparency off the Bench

The FIFA World Cup 2022 claimed to be “carbon-neutral” but was proven not to be by the Swiss Fair Trade Commission. It seems like UEFA has noted the backlash that FIFA received over these claims and sport has now learned to be more realistic in its climate promises. When it comes to sustainability communications it is important to not over promise and to actually ground your communications in documented initiatives with quantifiable gains. If nothing else, this tournament has marked an apparent shift towards more honest, ethical and transparent sustainability communications in sport.

Stamping it Out

Beyond climate initiatives, the social side of sustainability has not been ignored by UEFA. In the last edition of the Euros, the UK’s Football Policing Unit received over 600 complaints of racist abuse in the Final alone. A study by FIFA found that over half of all the players who played in the semi-finals and finals of the Euros 2020 and AFCON 2022 were abused online. At this year’s tournament a new rapid response system will be implemented to identify and clamp down on instances of racism within the stadiums.?

Sport has the opportunity to reach out to its massive fanbase and set an example. The influence of the modern athlete has only grown in recent years and shows no signs of slowing down. But by setting a good example, it has the power to create behavioural change at a systemic level.?

How Does it Really Score Up?

There are, however, valid questions that are still to be answered. Notably, the supporters’ group Fossil Free Football has published a Sustainability Briefing for the tournament. Questioning the highlighting of high-profile drivers of carbon emissions such as Visit Qatar, Coca-Cola and Chase Bank as sponsors at a tournament that claims to be promoting sustainability. The briefing goes on to further question UEFA’s commitment to the cause, pointing to the hypocrisy of expanding European Club competition to include more games and more travel while trying to reduce impact at this one tournament.

Waiting on the Final Whistle

So, will this edition of the Euros be able to deliver on the sustainability promises it has set out? Time will tell and as with any sporting event, the true carbon cost will only be known at the end and the successful implementation of all these policies depends on stakeholder buy-in.?

But we certainly believe that this Euros can mark a turning point in sport, finally embracing decarbonisation strategies, mobilising the passion of the global fanbase and influencing change for good!