06 June 2024
Press Release
For immediate release
Office: +44 (0) 1483 412324
Out of hours: +44 (0) 7500 577620
Email: gmitchell@wwf.org.uk
Don’t Take My Home: Football Fans asked to unite for nature with WWF at Euro 2024
- WWF is launching a new campaign for Euro 2024, asking football fans to unite and stand up for nature with a fresh take on famous chant ‘Don’t take me home’.
- While all eyes are on the Euros this month, every 30 seconds an area of Amazon rainforest larger than a football pitch will be destroyed.
- WWF is calling on football fans to come together and help stop deforestation and the destruction of nature in the Amazon as research shows climate change and extreme weather could also impact the beautiful game.
6 June 2024 – WWF is launching a new campaign for Euro 2024 with a twist on famous chant ‘Don’t take me home’. The environmental organisation is calling on football fans to get behind their Amazon Appeal throughout the tournament, helping to stop the destruction of the rainforest and prevent the impacts of climate change and extreme weather on football, people, and wildlife around the world.
With all eyes fixed on the green grass of the pitch for Euro 2024 this summer, nature remains in freefall as global leaders, businesses, and human activity fail the world’s forests on a catastrophic scale. While fans avidly watch the Euros, every 30 seconds an area of Amazon rainforest larger than a football pitch will be destroyed.
Under the combined pressures of climate change and deforestation, the Amazon rainforest is approaching an irreversible tipping point, meaning that if just 5% more tree cover is destroyed, the forest is likely to decay, dry out and die. This means we will lose the Amazon as we know it, and football could follow.
The Climate Coalition has found that extreme heat and rainfall cause an estimated 62,500 amateur matches to be delayed or cancelled each year [1]. And professional teams are not exempt, as by 2050, an estimated 39 of the 92 stadiums in the top four leagues of English football will be at high risk of multiple climate hazards, such as drought, flooding, and windstorms [2]. In a recent interview with the BBC, Cambridge United groundskeeper of 45 years, Ian Darler, described the weather over the last 12 months as “exceptional” and “scary” adding that “'heavy rain in recent months had made it difficult for him to get training pitches ready for next season”.
To turn the focus of football fans back towards nature loss, WWF’s new video ‘Don’t take my home’, draws attention to the destruction of the rainforest. From the iconic jaguars, sloths, and macaws in their last great stronghold to the 47 million people that live in the Amazon, its continued destruction will take their home.
The impact of the devastating changes to our climate can also be seen in our homes and around the world in increasingly destructive wildfires, floods and food crises. Less forest means a more unstable world, putting our food and water security at risk. It also means more climate change, less protection against extreme weather events, and less biodiversity.
Sports fans are already calling for action. In 2023, the British Association for Sustainable Sport found that 40% of football spectators experienced climate-related disruption [1]. In addition, 63% of fans called for a new independent football regulator to protect the sport from climate impacts and minimise its contribution to greenhouse emissions [1].
Players are speaking out too. A new report from Planet League, led by Tottenham Hotspur Women centre half Amy James-Turner highlights the opinions of players and managers on environmental and climate issues. Interviewing and surveying professional female players and managers, Amy found that 70% agree climate change has affected playing conditions, with one respondent describing playing during a wildfire stating they “could barely see, it was so smoky and foggy.”
But there is hope as 96% of respondents said football should actively reduce its carbon footprint and that “football clubs need to lead from the front” and 85% agree the football community working together can be effective in the fight against climate change.
Jamie Gordon, Senior Programme Advisor – Latin America, (and fan of Gillingham FC) at WWF said:
“The Amazon rainforest is at a tipping point and the decisions we make today will determine whether it’s still here for the next generation.
“The Amazon is also home to nearly 50 million people along with countless species. Worldwide, forests provide livelihoods for 1.6 billion people and climate regulation. Their loss globally is already having an impact on the football pitch, with tens of thousands of matches cancelled, and will only get worse.
“The time to act is now. There is no extra time. But we can bring our world back to life by ending deforestation and rebuilding our vital defence against climate disaster.”
Through its Amazon Appeal, WWF aims to reduce the impact of climate change across the world by stopping deforestation in the Amazon, protecting forests and rivers, and restoring habitats for people and wildlife.
WWF is therefore calling on football fans to unite and support their campaign to stop deforestation, while protecting the game they love and help bring our world back to life.
Protect the Amazon. Protect the Future – Donate to WWF's Amazon Appeal | WWF UK
ENDS
Download images and video here
For further information please contact:
George Mitchell | Media Manager at WWF
T: +44 (0) 1483 412324 | E: GMitchell@wwf.org.uk
OR
Out of hours contact:
T: +44 (0) 7500 577620 | E: press@wwf.org.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
Don’t Take My Home Video - https://youtu.be/N1EvGDPgQIg
Key Amazon Facts:
47 million people live in the Amazon including 2.2 million indigenous people.
On average, a new species is identified in the Amazon every day.
The Amazon is thought to be home to 10% of known species on Earth, with around 34% of mammals and 20% of birds in the Amazon lowlands found nowhere else on Earth.
It's estimated that there could be nearly 400 billion trees of 16,000 different species standing in the Amazon basin.
Some scientists estimate that if we lose just 5% more of the Amazon, it will trigger a tipping point where the rainforest will no longer be able to sustain itself - we will lose the Amazon as we know it.
An estimated 150-200 billion tonnes of carbon is stored in the Amazon rainforest with more than half of the carbon stored in indigenous territories and protected areas.
The Amazon has warmed by about 1.2°C since pre-industrial levels.
References:
[2] Football and climate change | Zurich UK News
About WWF:
WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) is a global environmental charity, and we’re bringing our world back to life. With nature in freefall, we’re urgently tackling the underlying causes that are driving the decline – especially the food system and climate change. And we’re finding solutions so future generations have a world with thriving habitats and wildlife.
It’s a huge challenge, but there is hope. We’re working globally with governments, companies, communities and others who have the will to act and the power to transform our world. We’re using our ground-breaking scientific research, our global influence, and the backing of our many supporters to make sure the natural world’s vital signs are recovering by 2030. WWF. Bringing our world back to life.
WWF. Bringing our world back to life.
Find out more about our work, past and present at wwf.org.uk