Almost 90% less carbon dioxide emissions than the Qatar World Cup. Precise rules that all players must follow to respect the environment. Parking spaces in stadiums for private cars halved. And a substantial investment to make the fans’ experience at Euro 2024 in Germany, starting on 15 June, as less polluting as possible. UEFA is preparing for the most sustainable edition of the European Championships ever.
Speaking about it is Michele Uva, UEFA sustainability manager, who the day after the qualification of Spalletti’s national team for Euro 2024 spoke at the Social Football Summit at the Olimpico: “Today is a good day here in Italy to talk about the European football championships, where there will be great attention to environmental, social and organizational sustainability. We will give all participating national teams a list of 15 recommendations to follow to protect the environment. For the fans, UEFA has invested 32 million euros: 17 of these will be used to reduce the cost of public transport tickets, to encourage their use to travel around the host German cities.”
Private car? No, better to get on trains or buses. Or, for those who decide to take their own car, the advice is to travel with other people. It will also be more economically convenient. “The parking capacity of the 10 stadiums in Germany that will host the matches has been halved by 50%. Furthermore, the parking ticket will cost based on how many people are on the seats: those who are alone pay more. We want to encourage car sharing.”
Facilitating UEFA’s green turn, approved during many private meetings in recent months and discussed in the Respect Forum in Frankfurt last June, is certainly the host nation: Germany, thanks to the ready stadiums and high-level infrastructures. “Having 10 systems ready certainly helps. Building a stadium pollutes the environment a lot, I think both of the concrete work but also of the transport of materials. In Qatar, around 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions were emitted to build the stadiums, in Germany there will be 500 thousand tonnes of emissions but, with the reduction plan we have studied, we aim to reduce them by up to 350 thousand”. An absolute turning point, with the hope of never backtracking in the future. But what are the benefits for UEFA? «We don’t do it to feel good. But because we want to avoid the risk of not acting and of football becoming a passive subject. Instead, we believe that it must be active, proactive, and not just suffer the evils of civil society. On the contrary, football must be an example for people. And then adopting sustainable attitudes increases and guarantees your income, because today all sponsors have a chapter that talks about sustainability. If you don’t meet certain standards, the sponsor won’t choose you.”
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2023-11-21 13:55:49
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