EDITOR NOTE: This article is a translation of the original article written in French by Hilary Christelle Tolo Kpadonou for Pan-Africa Football.
Sport is one of the most influential sectors in the world, capable of transcending borders, uniting people and triggering unique emotions. However, behind this unifying image lies a less rosy reality: the environmental impact of sporting events, particularly football, is worrying.
Between the pollution generated by the travel of teams through flights, the energy consumption of infrastructure and the tons of plastic waste abandoned in stadiums, the king of sport has responsibilities to assume on behalf of the planet.
Charles Olusegun Vidjanangni, president of ''FORAM Initiatives'', an organization committed to the fight against plastic waste on football fields, told us that "football is one of the industries that pollute the environment much more, through the millions of plastic waste that supporters dump in stadiums." Indeed, according to Antoine Miche, founder of Football Écologie France, a simple football match can produce up to ten tons of waste, a large part of which is made up of single-use plastics.
Stadiums saturated with plastic
In major international competitions, the scale of the phenomenon remains crucial and worrying. Discarded cups, abandoned water bottles, food packaging and other ephemeral accessories accumulate here and there. With each final whistle, tons of waste end up in landfills and further increases the amount of plastic waste in nature.
And this reality is not only specific to major competitions. National leagues, regional tournaments, and even small matches face the same problem.
The impact of global warming on sport
Global warming has a direct impact on the world of sport, due to rising global temperatures. Today, it is not uncommon to see cooling breaks observed during matches, particularly in regions where temperatures regularly exceed 30°C. These interruptions, intended to allow athletes to cool down and hydrate, demonstrate the necessary adaptation to increasingly frequent and intense heat waves.
These extreme conditions not only affect sports performance, but also pose health risks to players, increasing cases of dehydration, thermal exhaustion and heat stroke. Beyond the fields, climate change calls into question the organization of certain sporting events, forcing federations to rethink calendars and invest in infrastructure more adapted to new climatic realities.
That said, with the new innovations which consist of making major sporting events competitive, players are further polluting the environment through the emission of greenhouse gases, the destruction of spaces and the use of plastic waste. The reality is simple, it is the athletes who are increasingly paying the price. The problem is therefore crucial and delicate.
In recent years, the largest African football competition, which is the African Cup of Nations, has been increasingly postponed due to heavy rains linked to climate change and is now played in the summer. The concern therefore becomes a double-edged sword.
Towards eco-responsible stadiums
Several players are now committed to protecting the planet through the fight against plastic waste and raising awareness for the organization of sporting events with a carbon-free footprint. We can cite, among others, Fair Play For Planet, StadiumGO, Sportingoodz and Decathlon which are all French initiatives.
Some European clubs are also setting an example. English club Forest Green Rovers is often cited as the most eco-responsible football club in the world. With its entirely wooden stadium, its energy coming from 100% renewable sources and its exclusively vegetarian diet, this English third division club demonstrates a clear desire to demonstrate that it is possible to reconcile a passion for sport and respect for the environment.
In West Africa, the NGO Forum Initiative uses the concept of eco-supporterism from France Écologie Football to raise awareness among millions of supporters about “zero plastic pollution in football”. The project launched in 2023 the International Eco-Supporters Campaign for Net Zero in Football. The said campaign consists of training and deploying Eco-Supporters in stadiums during matches and competitions in national leagues, Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and African School Football Championships.
The sports press gets involved
The Union of Sports Press Professionals of Benin (UPSB) has included awareness raising for stadiums without plastic waste in its program for 2024. Thus, on the sidelines of the celebration of International Press Freedom Day and in collaboration with the national waste management company, the union instituted a sanitation campaign at the René Pleven stadium in Cotonou with a communication towards football clubs.
Football, as the most followed sport in the world, has a unique influence in raising awareness of environmental issues. Beyond infrastructure, it can promote eco-responsible practices: solar stadiums, waste management or reducing the carbon footprint of events. Players, clubs and federations must actively engage as sustainability ambassadors, collaborating with communities and NGOs for educational campaigns and concrete actions such as reforestation or water management.
All stakeholders must assume their responsibility to make football a powerful engine for the protection of our planet and the environment.
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