Critical Assessment of The Carbon Emissions Impact of a Professional Men’s Football League - Abstract
Objectives: This paper aims to estimate the travel-related emissions of a typical professional men’s football season. We will outline the first attempt at quantifying carbon emissions amidst the climate crisis.
Methods: We used a group of traveling participants and a validated carbon emissions calculator. The fixture draw was published on the competition website, and we utilized travel distances from the major cities closest to those with available flights.
Results: The total carbon emissions related to travel was 1249 metric tonnes (mT), with an average of 5mT per participant. We found the range of emissions per week from 32mT to 62 mT, which was inversely related to the number of games played between teams from the same city.
Conclusions: Travel-related carbon emissions from a typical professional men’s football season are significant. Better understanding through more accurate monitoring will help to drive policy to limit sport’s contribution to climate change.