It can be easy to become disheartened when you consider the climate emergency and what little progress there seems to have been since the heady days of the Paris Agreement, the international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015 which was supposed to get the whole world working together to adapt to and mitigate climate change.

When you read the news it can feel that, although many of us are devoting so much time and effort into doing what we can, the whole thing is rather futile.  In short, we are f****d.

But let’s try to remain positive.  For sure change is coming rather slowly and there are many setbacks, but some good things are happening.

1.     Green Football Weekend

An interesting initiative that took place last weekend.

80 professional football clubs got together to raise awareness over the climate crisis and highlight the need for action.  So what did they do?

            More than 35 teams took to the pitch wearing green armbands
   Fans going to the Tottenham/Manchester City match had the option of getting to the stadium in a carbon     neutral coach

            Plant-based food was available at many grounds, with some offering a discount to those who chose a vegan pie

            There was wooden cutlery and recyclable packaging

           Old merchandise and reusable items were on sale

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So, there was quite a lot going on, but we need to be honest – even with all this, football is far from being an environmentally-friendly business (though at least it is not as bad as other sports – just think of the air miles racked up by tennis players and fans travelling to different continents, for example).  Football sees teams travelling throughout the country every week, not to mention the thousands of fans.  And what about those new football strips that come out every year, making the old one pretty much redundant? 

Overall, we can give them 5/10 for trying. “Good effort”, but much more needs to be done.

However, in the words of the great Gary Lineker, ”We know that football has the power to inspire and move millions and that’s why Green Football Weekend is such a brilliant, yet simple idea.”

If you’re interested, Liverpool and Tottenham finished join top of the BBC’s Sustainability League last year. 

Liverpool is the first Premier League club to be awarded the British Standards Institute certificate for sustainability. 

The Premier League itself has committed to halving its carbon emissions by 2030 and becoming net zero carbon by 2040

2.     The Competitions and Markets Authority is to scrutinise ‘green’ claims made about household essentials

Now, this is a biggie.

A significant number of household cleaning products, for example, are marketed as green or environmentally friendly, but is this just greenwashing?  We need to know.  It is not good enough to use vague terms such as ‘sustainable’, or ‘better for the environment’ with no evidence.  Manufacturers should not be allowed to mislead us with claims of ‘recycled’ or ‘natural’ materials.  It’s even worse when we pay a premium for these products, which are not as they seem.

The CMA will be examining the accuracy of such claims by manufacturers of food, drink and toiletries.

You maybe remember that the CMA is currently investigating misleading green claims in the fashion industry and has launched e action against ASOS, Boohoo and George at Asda – we make no apologies for naming and shaming!