Ranked: The most sustainable Premier League football clubs

Green policies over transport, food and waste assessed in ranking for 2021

Tottenham Hotspur FC were ranked joint top for sustainability (Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty )

Premier League clubs have been ranked in a new league table - but this time not for their football scores.

England’s top sides have been given marks for sustainability after their green policies were assessed by BBC Sport and the United Nations-backed Sport Positive Summit.

The initiative, which has run over the last few years, has looked into what Premier League sides are doing to reduce the environmental impact, with schemes including the use of biofuel for travel to games and car-sharing.

The scores are now out for 2021.

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur came out joint top in the sustainability ranking, both of whom have committed to reducing their emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and being net zero by 2040.

Southampton, who has made the same pledges, came joint second with Manchester City, who has committed to being net zero by the end of the decade instead.

Arsenal came third place along with Manchester United - who were forced to defend flying 10 minutes to Leicester for a game last year.

The new league table gave clubs scores for schemes in 11 different areas, including transport, food, energy, single-use plastic reduction, waste management and biodiversity.

Top-scoring club Liverpool was found to have planted hundreds of trees, hedges, bushes, and wildflower plugs at their Academy.

Meanwhile joint winners Tottenham has built a barn and farmhouse for bats to live and use biofuel to travel to matches.

Last year, the club also played a game against Chelsea that it said had net zero emissions.

BBC Sport said all 20 clubs had schemes to promote sustainable transport, including Manchester City’s car-sharing scheme and Southampton’s cycle-to-work scheme that offers staff free bike checks.

Other initiatives involved cutting down on emissions from food, with Norwich City - which came fourth in the table - using sourcing produce from an onsite allotment.

Brentford announced it would use the same home kit twice in a row to not only save fans money, but also help the environment. “It has helped to get more people talking about what they can do to reduce waste, to recycle and to reuse things that we all own,” the club’s chief executive Jon Varney told BBC Sport.

Newcastle came bottom of the sustainability table, with Leeds coming second last. Both clubs have been approached for comment.