To mark World Environment Day, on Thursday 5 June, 2025, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) launched a dedicated methodology aimed at helping national associations, clubs and leagues measure the frequently overlooked embodied carbon emissions of their football infrastructure construction.
According to uefa.com: “The methodology will help organisations account for the environmental impact of football-related construction projects.
“It provides a framework to measure the embodied greenhouse gas emissions of construction – emissions associated with its entire lifecycle, including the extraction of raw materials and any manufacturing processes during development, construction, maintenance or demolition, excluding operational emissions.
“The geographic and economic diversity of UEFA’s 55 member associations was integrated into the methodology.”
The methodology can be applied for several range of buildings and infrastructure, encompassing stadiums, training grounds, offices, hotels and housing.
It is built to support football stakeholders of different sizes across Europe, from clubs to national associations.
Based on the magnitude of infrastructure projects within football – particularly the rebuilding, reconstruction or renovation of stadiums – the associated embodied emissions can be huge, yet they are often not understood or addressed to the same extent as operational emissions.
The new methodology will be helpful in tackling that issue, and ensure that any infrastructure-related emissions are uniformly considered, allowing for comparisons and guaranteeing validity in the future.
The methodology has been developed based on work collectively by the Carbon Trust in collaboration with a working group led by UEFA, comprised of:
- Six national associations – Albania, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania
- Two Leagues – DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga GmbH and Ligue de Football Professionnel
- Stadium operator – Limassol Stadium
- Nine Clubs – ACF Fiorentina, Brentford FC, Brighton & Hove Albion, Eintracht Frankfurt, FC Lausanne-Sport, FC Porto, Real Betis Balompié, Tottenham Hotspur, VfB Stuttgart
Photo: Tottenham Hotspur Sadium
