Hello! Great to see you return to my blog! Last week, I discussed the possibility of clubs reducing their carbon emissions through the use of renewable energies. Hence, I thought it would be perfect to continue the discussion of carbon emissions through this week’s blog by introducing the concept of carbon credits.
So what exactly are carbon credits? In layman terms, it allows companies to emit carbon dioxide at the expense of other companies. This situation arises due to the different volume of greenhouse gases each company produce. Hence, companies that have not hit their emissions cap are allowed to sell their excess credits to those that pollute more, thereby increasing their emissions cap.
Such offset programmes have begun more common these days, with the value of the global carbon market increasing by 34% in 2019. This is due to the aforementioned need to hit emissions caps, and the desire for businesses to brand themselves as being eco-friendly to attract more consumers. It has worked to the benefit of companies like Tesla, which raked in $1.7 billion since 2012 just through selling credits.
Given the wide range of companies trading on the carbon market, it’s no surprise to find a football club among them too. Back in 2012, Newcastle United FC announced its partnership with Carbon Neutral Investments (CNI), where the latter facilitates the sale and purchase of carbon credits. This allowed Newcastle United FC to offset their carbon emissions, thereby becoming the ‘world’s first carbon positive club’.
While it paints the club in a positive light, I can’t help but question the effectiveness of the carbon credit scheme. This led me to do a bit of digging, and I quickly found that credits aren’t as effective as reducing emissions as they were touted to be. This is based on an article about carbon credits and the Amazon rainforest, which found that forests either weren’t preserved as they were supposed to, or got cut down eventually. This meant that the actions of buying carbon credits didn’t offset carbon emissions as they were supposed to while allowing companies to continue polluting without a guilty conscience.
Through further investigation, I also found that CNI and Newcastle United FC were no longer partners. In fact, the company has filed for liquidation in 2015 and is due to be dissolved in 2022. Yet, there was no news of the termination anywhere on the club website, a stark contrast to when the deal was first announced.
While the club has demonstrated its commitment to reducing its carbon emissions by installing a combined heat and power system which produces less carbon, the dissolved partnership between CNI and Newcastle United FC has made me doubt whether the carbon credit scheme actually works. This hasn’t stopped other clubs from buying carbon credits though, with Ligue 1 side Lyon announcing itself as the ‘first French club’ to join the “Climate Neutral Now” initiative in April 2020. Will the initiative last or follow in the footsteps of Newcastle United? Only time will tell…