To prevent global temperatures from exceeding 1.5°C, global emissions need to halve by 2030 – in just seven years – and then reach net zero emissions by 2050.
This is already a tall order without aggressive promotion to continue pushing for higher-emitting goods and services.
Emissions from many products promoted through Champions League are accelerating.
For example, the carbon emissions of the global SUV fleet, Nearly 1 billion tons by 2022, exceeding the combined national emissions of the United Kingdom and Germany in the same year. If SUVs were a country, they would be the sixth largest polluter.
injustice
The same goes for air travel. Since 2000, approximately 47% of all CO2 emissions from air travel have occurred And, despite the dubious claims of many airlines, there are currently no scalable low-carbon technologies that can even slow the growth of aviation emissions.
A Recent research by the Royal Society found that if British Airways switched to much-hyped biofuels, it would need half of UK farmland to maintain current passenger levels.
The only viable way to reduce aviation emissions is to reduce the need to fly – and stopping airline advertising would be the first step towards that goal.
While the current trajectory is worrying enough, it ignores the injustice of climate change.
The vast majority of the carbon-intensive goods and services produced by the companies emblazoned on the Champions League Hope jersey are consumed in rich industrialized countries.
SUV
These countries need to cut emissions harder and faster than developing countries, which did the least to cause this crisis but are already suffering at its hands.
Buying more SUVs and round-the-world flights is an act of dereliction of duty by those who benefit most from the fossil fuel economy.
The prevalence of high-carbon advertising and sponsorship during the Champions League also runs counter to the organizers’ own environmental goals.
UEFA has been a key member of the United Nations Framework for Climate Action in Sport, an initiative aimed at aligning international sport with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
promise
Signatories must abide by the framework’s five principles, which include systematic efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility, reduce overall climate impact, and promote sustainable and responsible consumption, among others.
UEFA has also pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 and a 50% reduction by 2030, but details on how they will do this or when they will start reducing have yet to be concretized.
But allowing big polluters to use the UEFA Champions League as a billboard to promote their products not only goes against those principles, it makes them impossible to achieve.
Urgent and decisive action to drive out big polluters will put UEFA at the forefront on climate and communicate to a broad audience that now is the time for concerted climate action. UEFA regulates the advertising that can be displayed on shirts and around the pitch, so change is possible.
After invading Ukraine, UEFA ended a decade-long sponsorship deal with Russian fossil fuel giant Gazprom, forgoing tens of millions of dollars in revenue for ethical reasons.
tobacco
There are other precedents in sports. Take tobacco, for example. After years of campaigning, sports organizations have banned tobacco sponsorship and advertising.
This happened because of the overwhelming consensus that tobacco is a clear threat to human health. In the 1970s, Dutch football legend Johan Cruijff was the face of tobacco advertising campaigns. But once Cruyff fell ill, he became an active anti-smoking campaigner.
Once the harm caused by tobacco products is recognized by tournaments, clubs, players and the general public, these advertisements are banned.
The same consensus is now emerging around fossil fuels—though reducing our reliance on them is far more complicated.
Air pollution alone kills 9 million people a year, and the effects of the climate crisis will bring extreme heat, drought and disease to billions of people around the world.
WHO calls climate crisis greatest health threat facing mankind. It affects every aspect of our lives, including football. Drought, torrential rain and extreme heat threaten players, fans and the stadiums we care about.
future
Today, young players wear jerseys with the logos of companies that are perpetuating the climate crisis, from Standard Chartered to Qatar Airways.
How much longer can clubs, tournaments and sponsors expect Haaland, Vinicius Jr., Meade and Katato to put up billboards for companies that will undermine their – and ours – future?
These players are the future of the game and they have many years left on this planet. If UEFA really cares about games, players and fans, it must kick out those high-carbon sponsors who threaten our future.
these authors
Frank Huisingh is fossil free football, a group of football fans launched a campaign to kick fossil fuel sponsors and advertising out of football. Freddie Daley is an activist Bad Adsa campaign to end advertising fueling the climate crisis, and a researcher at the University of Sussex.
