World Environment Day 2022: Wolves staff participate in new football & environment training
Football For Future were delighted to launch our industry-leading training for club staff in April, delivering our training course at Wolves to educate and empower staff at the club to engage with sustainability in their personal and professional lives.
The announcement comes on World Environment Day, Sunday June 5th 2022, as part of the UN’s #OnlyOneEarth campaign.
Staff gathered at the Molineux for our Climate Crash Course, followed by a module on the interrelationship between football, climate & sustainability. Over 30 senior staff from all club departments attended - and over 95% agreed football clubs have a responsibility to implement environmentally sustainable operations, and to raise awareness of climate change.
The training covered:
The fundamentals of climate change.
The interrelationship between football, sustainability and the natural environment.
Explainers on key sustainability concepts and terminology, including carbon footprint and circular economy.
The Wolves x Football For Future partnership and the club’s sustainability journey ahead.
The training had three aims:
Improve club staff awareness of climate change and its interrelationship with football.
Help club staff understand the role Wolves can play in tackling climate change.
Inspire and empower club staff to engage with sustainability in their personal and professional lives.
Football For Future found success across all three aims. Notably, 100% of club staff agreed football clubs have a responsibility to implement environmentally sustainable operations and 95% agreed football clubs have a responsibility to raise awareness of climate change.
Steve Sutton, Head of Facilities at Wolves, said: “Wolves have a huge responsibility to respond to climate change. We are a big player in the city of Wolverhampton. We have a huge social outreach within the community, so from a social responsibility point of view - it’s huge for us to try and educate and inform people as well as take action ourselves.”
Wolves Head of Academy Operations, Laura Nicholls, agreed, adding: “It’s a really good opportunity for us to learn some key terminology. To really educate and empower different Heads of Department at the club. It really helped us identify how we as a football club and as a department can support and help. I would wholeheartedly recommend the training to other clubs and colleagues. I thought it was an excellent course.”
The club is the first to participate in Football For Future’s new football and environment training for club staff, kicking off the partnership which was announced in May. Football For Future is offering their football and environment training to all football clubs and organisations as a stand alone training or as part of a wider sustainability partnership.
The delivery of this football and environment training to club staff, kicking off the partnership between Football For Future and Wolves, is the first step in the club’s journey to becoming industry leaders in environmental sustainability.
The partnership also includes:
Development of a club-wide environmental sustainability strategy, underpinned by departmental action plans and including a headline club commitment to environmental sustainability.
A comprehensive review of the club’s environmental bootprint and current performance.
A public launch, engaging Wolves fans in the climate conversation.
This announcement comes on World Environment Day, Sunday June 5th 2022, as part of the UN’s #OnlyOneEarth campaign.
World Environment Day is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and has been held annually on 5 June since 1974. It is the largest global platform for environmental public outreach and is celebrated by millions of people across the world. This year it is hosted by Sweden. “Only One Earth" is the campaign slogan, with the focus on “Living Sustainably in Harmony with Nature” - that’s one chant we can all get behind.