Sustainability has been an integral part of Euro 2024 since the 2018 bidding process, with its strategy focusing on environmental, social and governance pillars.
“There are two aspects when it comes to environmentally sustainable sporting events,” said Dr Hartmut Stahl, who was part of a feasibility study into how to minimise the tournament’s environmental impact.
“In one aspect, you want to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. But the other aspect is making people aware of sustainability. Football is, in Europe at least, one of the most popular sports, and therefore it’s a good way to increase awareness.”
The strategy has been backed with the investment of 32m euros (£27m), about 5% of the Uefa tournament budget, with initiatives including:
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Utilising existing stadiums and using renewable energy in grounds and headquarters.
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‘Clustering’ fixtures to limit team and fan travel.
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Ticket holders receiving public transport passes around games.
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More environmentally responsible sponsorship, with no gas, oil or utilities companies in commercial partnership.
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Reducing water consumption and offering foods with minimal, recyclable packaging.
Euro 2024 is set to create significantly fewer carbon emissions than the World Cup in Qatar – about 490,000 tonnes compared with an estimated 3.63 billion two years ago.
About 80%, according to the study, is expected to be generated by fan travel, and organisers have started a ‘climate fund’ to invest in efforts to make German football more sustainable.
Through it, 25 euros (£21) per tonne of unavoidable carbon produced will be given to German amateur clubs’ environmental reduction projects – estimated to be worth 7m euros (£5.9m).
“Nowadays everything tries to be labelled ‘climate neutral’, including football matches and tournaments,” said Dr Stahl, who added that the fund was a “really good decision”.
Uefa’s idea is that by investing in “projects that will mitigate CO2 emissions over the long term” instead of traditional carbon offsetting methods, it can help strengthen Euro 2024’s “legacy” environmentally and within the German football community.
When it comes to major tournament sustainability, travel is a clear issue.
Uefa has attempted to mitigate this by clustering fixtures in regions, but the team bases have added complexity.
Despite England’s three group games being in the west, their camp is more than 250 miles away in the east.
They were criticised by the Campaign for Better Transport for flying to Germany.
Scotland, who kick off the tournament in Munich on 14 June, are based in the south and could face a 12-hour round trip to their second game in Cologne.
Teams have been discouraged from taking domestic flights, but there are questions around the extent to which that will be enforced.