The Carbon Trust is urging British football clubs to improve their performance and compete for the top spot in the sustainability league. A letter is being sent out this week to all teams in the Premier League, Football League and Scottish Premier League asking them to kick out carbon emissions and secure a victory for the environment and their finances.
 

Four football clubs have already attained the Carbon Trust Standard: Bradford City, Bolton Wanderers, Manchester United, and Newcastle United. The Football Association (FA), including the new Wembley Stadium has also been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard. The successful clubs along with the FA have managed to achieve the Standard by taking action to reduce their own carbon footprints, and making a commitment to achieve carbon reductions year-on-year.

The combined club carbon savings certified to the Carbon Trust Standard total nearly 8,000 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to approximately £1.2million in energy savings. Football clubs can act as an inspiration and as role models to their fans and local communities by demonstrating a commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency within their own operations.

Founder of Sustainability in Sport and Sky Sports pundit, Gary Neville, said:

"Football clubs and indeed the wider sporting community are in a very privileged position to influence and inspire generations of fans to live more sustainably. Reducing our impact on the environment is an important area for everyone to act on and we must learn new ways of doing things. Of course this cannot be a solely virtuous effort and we must recognise that football clubs are also businesses so need to see commercial benefits in taking action on climate change. However, encouragingly, we see from clubs like those achieving the Carbon Trust Standard that by taking action on carbon they can not only improve their environmental standing but also be more efficient and save money."

Darran Messem, Managing Director of Certification at the Carbon Trust, said:

"Football clubs have relatively small carbon footprints compared to other industries, however they exert a huge level of influence. By demonstrating their own action on sustainability they can show leadership and encourage others, whether businesses or fans, to see the benefits of taking action."

Eddie Rutherford, Newcastle United facilities manager, added:

"It's vitally important that we reduce our energy usage and our costs and make the club as sustainable as possible. We have successfully reduced our carbon footprint and saved £200,000 in energy bills over 3 years. By achieving the Carbon Trust Standard, we have gained valuable independent recognition of our achievement and commitment to the environment.

"Even though we have noticed huge savings over the last few years, there is still a lot of work to do and I would urge all football clubs to work with the Carbon Trust to look at how much they are using and ways they can cut down."

ENDS

For further information please contact the Carbon Trust press office on 020 7170 7050 or email press@carbontrust.com.

About the Carbon Trust

The Carbon Trust is an independent company with a mission to accelerate the move to a sustainable, low-carbon economy. The Carbon Trust:

• advises businesses, governments and the public sector on opportunities in a sustainable, low-carbon world;
• measures and certifies the environmental footprint of organisations, products and services;
• helps develop and deploy low-carbon technologies and solutions, from energy efficiency to renewable power

About the Carbon Trust Standard

The Carbon Trust Standard verifies the carbon footprint and emission reduction of organisations. The Carbon Trust Standard was developed in consultation with the private and public sectors and is informed by the Carbon Trust's wealth of experience working with UK businesses to implement carbon management strategies and international standards, such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

• Over 650 organisations have achieved the Carbon Trust Standard since it was launched in June 2008.
• Collectively Carbon Trust Standard holders have cut their emissions by over 4.3 million tonnes of CO2 and equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gases, as well as cutting their gas, electricity and fuel costs by over £645 million.
• To date, the total carbon footprint certified by the Carbon Trust Standard is over 165 million tonnes of CO2e.

All businesses and organisations, both in the UK and internationally, are eligible to apply for the Carbon Trust Standard including FTSEs, mid-caps, SMEs and public sector organisations. Organisations that are awarded the Carbon Trust Standard hold it for a two year period and to maintain the certification they must reapply and demonstrate that they have continued to make year-on-year reductions in their carbon emissions.

For further information or interviews on the Carbon Trust Standard, please contact the Carbon Trust press office on 020 7170 7050 or press@carbontrust.com.