It’s time football clubs kicked their flying habit
Domestic flights are simply bad news for the planet, especially when the same journey could be undertaken by train or coach. So when we learnt that Premier League football clubs were flying to eight out of ten domestic matches, we thought it was time to act.
Last year, a BBC study found that during a two-month period, Premier League clubs took 81 individual short-haul domestic flights to and from 100 matches. The average journey time was 42 minutes, with the shortest flight just 27 minutes!
We think that’s unacceptable.
To tackle these unnecessary flights, we’ve launched a new football trophy no club will want to get their hands on!
Throughout the football season, in partnership with Fossil Free Football and creative agency Leith, we’ll be awarding the ‘Carbon Boot’ trophy for outstanding contributions to football’s carbon footprint. We’ll be calling out the worst offenders on social media with ‘Player of the Season’, ‘Man of the Match’, and ‘Team of the Month’ awards up for grabs.
To help us identify our Carbon Boot winners, we need your help! If you’re on X, follow @Carbon_Boot and every time you spot a player or club posting about flying to a match please repost tagging us and @Carbon_Boot.
Changing the way we travel is one of the most effective things we can do the reduce carbon emissions. Domestic flights emit seven times more emissions than the equivalent rail journey and ten times more than the equivalent coach journey.
We think football clubs should be leading the way in reducing their emissions from transport and playing a bigger role in our fight against climate change.
Find out more about the Carbon Boot campaign on the website.
