New Sustainable Project Launched In Dublin

New Sustainable Project Launched In Dublin

Last Thursday and Friday (8th and 9th of September), a new EFDN project under the working title of “Sustainability Scoring” was launched with all related partners in Dublin. The project aims to transform football’s potential as a climate champion and planetary custodian into genuine climate leadership. It will do this by focusing on actions that European football clubs, leagues, and associations can take to advance sustainable practice and be a leading voice in the fight for climate justice.

The project is a multifaceted proposal that seeks to realise football’s potential as a planetary custodian by combining the reach and global passion for football, with the urgent need to progress environmental actions. This will deliver transformative outcomes for football clubs, their fans and communities, and the global community’s fight against environmental collapse and climate change. 

On Thursday the meeting was opened at the Mansion House in Dublin where the Lord Mayor of Dublin (Caroline Conroy) welcomed the participants through a speech informing the group about the Mansion House and the city of Dublin itself. There was a TV crew present to pick up some interviews with the partners of the project. This was followed by a historical football walking tour of Dublin with the history of Bohemians FC club history covered extensively.

All the clubs also had a chance to present their own organisation and inform the group about all the different sustainability linked projects that are already happening in their organisations. To follow this up was Sean McCabe, who presented the overall Sustainability Scoring Project and his original ideas on how all the partners can collaborate together.

On Friday, the partners went more into depth about the project and made sure that every partner felt comfortable with the project and had a clear overview of the project itself. They ran through each deliverable that needs to be made throughout the project and discussed the first ideas for a marketing campaign about sustainability. Finally, the final tasks were assigned and the kick-off meeting came to a close in Dublin.

The project aligns with and will help to advance, objectives related to resource efficiency, circular economy, the mitigation of emissions, and the restoration of biodiversity contained within the European Green Deal, while also enabling bottom-up participation of fans and their communities required by the European Climate Pact and the New European Bauhaus. By rooting the underlying strategy in climate justice, the project will help build an understanding of, and advance, the Just Transition in Europe in support of the Just Transition Mechanism. 

The project also hopes to tackle many of the different sustainable development goals. This includes 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, 13: Climate Action, 14: Life Below Water, 15: Life on Land, 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, and 17: Partnership for the Goals.

Project partners 

• Bohemian FC 
• Real Betis 
• FC Twente   
• Ferencvarosi TC   
• FC Randers Fonden 
• St Pauli 
• Werder Bremen 
• TASC  
• Fundación LaLiga