UEFA Against Climate Change: An Environmentally-friendly Euro

Photo: uefa.com

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin recently announced in Ljubljana that the association is investing heavily in tackling climate change during its European Championship.

In addition, UEFA, in partnership with an organisation called South Pole, is embarking on a gold-standard renewable energy project to offset around 405,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from fans and teams.

At the announcement of the plan, Ceferin stated UEFA's European Championship in 2020 would be a football festival which will embrace the whole continent. There are many benefits to the operation of this tournament, including a reduced need for new stadia and the establishment of more new traffic routes, as well as the chance to get to know different communities.

"However, this comes with a price", UEFA's president added. "Fans need to travel more to enjoy their team's match live. UEFA assumes this responsibility and wants to offset the resulting carbon dioxide emissions.  Collaboration with South Pole is helping to create a gold standard for renewable energy projects which provide permanent value to the planet".

Ceferin also underlined that it seems a sensible step to combine the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the European Championships with a focus on the environment. As a result, around 600,000 trees will be planted by UEFA - 50,000 in each of the twelve cities.

"I think this will help countries to enjoy the benefits of the European Championship they are hosting", Ceferin opined.

UEFA had earlier signed up to the Climate Action Initiative, which involves sportpeople adding their weight to the battle to combat climate change.