As the curtains close on the football season and the honours are handed out, a whole new game of strategy and high drama begins. The summer transfer window gives managers the chance to add new players and offload squad members they feel are no longer required. While top club officials pore over the finances related to a purchase or sale, fans eagerly await the business their beloved team will accomplish. Every signing a team makes is closely scrutinised, especially when it comes to a top-flight side in a nation with a long history of football. Selling a player from the first team is viewed as a microcosm of a club's ambition, or lack thereof, and supporters on social media, forums, and other online communities vigorously debate every media-reported rumour.[i] The process behind each transfer is one with many moving parts. Often, clubs, players and agents work together like clockwork to strive towards the best outcome for all parties, but perhaps just as often, any one of these stakeholders may behave like the proverbial horse led to water refusing to take a drink. In either case, a lot of work and travel go into making these multimillion-pound deals happen.
Following two years of declining transfer fee spending as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's interruptions, clubs boosted their overall transfer fee expenditure in 2022 by 33.5% compared to 2021, spending USD 6.50 billion in total. While this number is still below what it was in 2018 and 2019, there is little doubt that clubs are on the way to returning to their pre-pandemic financial strength. The number of clubs that finalised transfers with a fee also reflected this tendency. In 2022, both the quantity of teams spending money on transfers (950) and those receiving fees for departing transfers (1,155) rose to record heights, exceeding even the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.[ii]
Source: FIFA
The top ten player transactions alone earned 12.5% of the total amount spent on transfer fees in 2022. The top 100 clubs, with English teams once again topping the list, were also responsible for nearly 50% of the 2,843 moves that included fees. Their whole expenditure surpassed USD 2 billion for the first time and rose to a new high of approximately USD 2.2 billion.[iii] The eye-watering figures related to football transfers are unlike those related to any other industries recruitment processes, so shouldn’t their climate consciousness run as deep as their pockets?
William Troost-Ekong departed Watford in January 2023 to sign a loan deal with Salernitana of Serie A. By measuring the emissions of all the flights and automobile trips he and the other participants in the agreement took; he collaborated with eco-friendly football boot company Sokito to determine the carbon footprint of the relocation along with all of the logistics associated with making the deal. By collaborating with Alberami, a project that helps olive producers in southern Italy replant trees and use more sustainable agricultural methods, the final result, roughly one tonne of CO2, was offset. He's now trying to strike up a conversation with other footballers about the environmental impact of their transfers.[iv]
Troost-Ekong told the i newspaper: “Right now, it has to be something that you seek out yourself and it’s too easy not to do it. In my opinion, there hasn’t been enough done by clubs at every level of the game to promote that education and understanding. “When I made the announcement about making my transfer carbon neutral, I had private messages from lots of players on social media asking about the details – how I worked it out, what offsetting the footprint entailed. That’s the good bit for me, to see the enthusiasm in people who have never really thought about this stuff before. You hope it sets into motion a domino effect.”[v]
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Source: ESPN
But just how much carbon could be saved if Troost-Ekong’s dominoes begin to fall?
According to the Guardian, in 2022, the top five European leagues of men’s football saw the transfer of 1727 players for a total cost of £4.1 billion during the summer transfer window.[vi] Taking the value that Troost-Ekong used calculated as an average, the transfers produced a total of 1727 tonnes of CO2. There are assumptions in play here that may cause an over or underestimation. For example, the use of private jets may be more abundant for the higher-cost transfers. However, even if the number were double this prediction, it would still pale in comparison to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which generated an estimated 3.63 million tonnes of CO2e.[vii]
Despite the World Cup context making transfer-related emissions seem minor, through the lens of the average European, whose carbon footprint is 7.7 tonnes, there may be a missed opportunity for football to lead from the front.
With 8 Billion Trees (a nature-based carbon offset company) reporting the price of offsetting one tonne of CO2 as £31 to £62 depending on the carbon market and the estimated 1727 tonnes of carbon related to the summer transfer window in Europe, the cost of offsetting emissions is minuscule compared to the money spent on the players themselves.[viii] At a minimum, £53,537 and at maximum, £107,074, a carbon-neutral transfer window would represent between 0.0013% and 0.0026% of the total spend in Europe’s top five men’s leagues.
Within the first hour of a tweet announcing Manchester United’s signing of Mason Mount, it had been viewed two million times. Whilst the carbon saving that could have been achieved on the transfer itself was fairly minor, the reach and influence of football could mean that by setting a climate-conscious example, football clubs may engender an eco-positive change in its millions of fans around the world.
[i] Bleacher Report- Who Has the Power in World Football Transfers: Clubs, Players or Agents?
[ii] FIFA- Global Transfer Report 2022
[iii] Ibid
[v] Ibid
[vi] The Guardian- Football transfer window summer 2022 – Europe’s top five men’s leagues
[vii] Carbon Literacy Project- What is the Carbon Footprint of Sport?
[viii] 8 Billion Trees- Carbon Credit Price Per Ton in 2023 (and Every Other Year)
Oscar is a recent graduate with a background in earth science. He is currently studying an MSc focussing on disaster responses, emergency planning and community resilience. His postgraduate research project will assess the link between climate crisis risk perception and attitudes to green energy projects. “Adapting to the climate crisis through the pursuit of net zero requires community engagement and understanding. Zero Carbon Academy’s goals closely align with this approach and I’m excited to have the opportunity to research and communicate a variety of topics relating to our environment and sustainability”.
