Women’s World Cup stars to offset climate impact of flights to tournament

Denmark star Sofie Junge Pedersen is leading the scheme that will see 44 players donate to climate initiatives

Sofie Junge Pedersen (centre) is leading the cliamte initiative (Getty Images)

Stars of the upcoming Women’s World Cup have pledged to neutralise the climate impact of their flights to and from Australia and New Zealand by donating money to climate resilience and carbon offsetting initiatives.

A collection of 44 leading players from four different countries, including Danish international Sofie Junge Pedersen, Canadian midfielder Jessie Fleming and Italian defender Elena Linari, have committed to take responsibility for their environmental impact at the tournament.

The initiative was created by 31-year-old Pedersen, who has won 85 caps for Denmark, and is being facilitated by Common Goal, the social and environmental collective movement in global football, and Football For Future, the UK-based climate advocacy group.

Although there are 44 players currently signed up, it is hoped that number will reach at least 50 by the time the World Cup gets underway later this month.

Pedersen explained: “I want to ensure my World Cup experience has a positive environmental legacy. Climate change is the biggest issue humanity faces, and I want to be part of the solution. While there are no current sustainable solutions to aviation, as players we are setting an example, and taking a tangible step in the right direction.”

Chelsea and Canada star Fleming added: “This is a topic I feel passionate about, and I hope this action my teammates and I are taking accelerates the climate conversation and sets a precedent for what athletes can do to push for more environmental policies in football.”

Canada’s Jessie Fleming is another involved in the scheme (Getty Images)

The campaign recognises that these donations are only short-term tools to compensate for players’ flights to and from the World Cup but the stated aim is to inspire everyone in football to take responsibility for tackling climate change, with the hope that governing bodies will make carbon-offsetting a key criteria to hosting tournaments int he future.

The campaign relies on a rigorous and scientific methodology to calculate the environmental impact of the players’ flights to and from the World Cup, directly referencing the flight’s carbon tonnage.

The players will then donate the money to a combination of climate resilience, carbon offsetting and adaptation initiatives run by WWF (Australia, New Zealand) and DanChurchAid. These initiatives are based in Australia, New Zealand, and Uganda.