Environmental Fair Play, a tool to measure “E” performance in the football industry
Environmental Fair Play project (EFP hereinafter) was born from a strategic alliance between FUNDACIÓN LALIGA and CVC by sharing some of their values and their commitment to listen and collaborate with their main stakeholders and orient their professional performance to generate a positive social impact through their actions and projects. It is a project financed by ECO-Grants funds of CVC Foundation, whose objective is to support companies in accelerating progress in environmental and CO2 reduction initiatives.
EFP project aims to boost positive environmental performance in Spanish professional football clubs and their foundations. At the same time, based on fieldwork, it serves to design a method for measuring the degree of ESG performance that can be replicated in other sports disciplines. To do so, it uses a participatory methodology and a co-learning approach, within the framework of the creation of a community of collaborating actors linked to the professional football sector, whose representatives have extensive experience in the generation and management of corporate environmental performance.
The original objectives of EFP are:
- To promote positive environmental impact of Spanish Professional Football Clubs and their Foundations and, by extension, the field of sport with its different stakeholders (Academy, companies, NGOs, institutions).
- To promote sectorial co-responsibility in environmental matters.
- To facilitate the transfer of knowledge and experiences among the different actors involved in professional sports, especially in football.
- To motivate and give continuity to the strategic management of corporate responsibility in Spanish football industry.
In June 2023 FUNDACIÓN LALIGA has completed an intense year of work since the beginning of the project and among the most relevant aspects that we can highlight at this moment are:
a) Methodological innovation. EFP has been conceived as a participatory co-learning process. Twelve professionals from different fields linked to professional football, but also to other sports and other economic sectors have been involved. These people participate regularly in EFP through the dynamization of the promoter team, contributing their experience and highly specialized knowledge through the different means provided (p2p and group meetings, e-mail and calls).
b) Generosity of external collaborators. This translates into the interest shown by the mere fact of being part of the project, which evidences the widespread concern for environmental issues and the media leverage of football to generate an eco-environmental culture.
c) High level of involvement of football clubs and their foundations. A total of 45 football management professionals participate regularly in the EFP Moodle platform created to support this project. Four online workshops have been organized within this platform, with a high level of participation in each one. Each of them has been highlighted in the EFP methodology. They are developed with an expository and participatory approach. Results from the inter-workshop periods are presented and online discussion sessions are opened. To date, three workshops have been held, in which almost all the football management professionals enrolled in the project have participated.
