Joining forces with The Premier League Charitable Fund to "Protect the Planet"

Elliot and Fred from FFF talk on stage during the delivery of the workshop

FFF joined other football-for-good organisations and 120 young people representing clubs from across the Premier League and English Football League at a special Protect the Planet event last month, as part of the Premier League’s commitment to empowering young people to take positive action around climate change. We were delighted to be able to attend the event at Anfield to deliver a workshop on football and climate change.

Funded by the Premier League and the #iwill Fund, and delivered by the Premier League Charitable Fund through the national Premier League Kicks, Premier League Primary Stars and Premier League Inspires programmes, the event saw 9-to-13-year-olds from 25 professional football clubs come together to tackle environmental sustainability at their football clubs and in their communities.

Launched in August 2022, and designed to reduce the barriers to participation in youth social action, the Protect the Planet Challenge increases young people’s knowledge and understanding about environmental sustainability and empowers them to positively influence climate change action in their local communities. More than 2,400 young people representing more than 90 professional football club community organisations from across England and Wales have taken part in the Challenge to date.

The Premier League became a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action framework in 2021 and has been working towards reducing its own emissions by 50% before 2030 and achieving net- zero emissions by 2040, in line with the 1.5 degrees global warming limit of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Together with clubs, the Premier League has been supporting fans and communities to understand the importance of environmental sustainability. 

The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action.  The Premier League Charitable Fund is acting as a match funder and awarding grants to professional football club community organisations to support the Protect the Planet delivery, on behalf of the #iwill Fund.

To find out more about the Protect the Planet Challenge, please visit premierleague.com/plcf.