Top football clubs in England have been criticised for their lavish travel habits, specifically the use of private jets to get to domestic away matches, as campaigners urge them to “support climate-friendly travel”.
Climate charity Possible claims that, on average, private jet journeys emit 40 times more CO2 than comparable journeys by coach and that most football clubs’ domestic journeys taken by plane only saved an hour’s travel time on average.
Last year, BBC Sport research revealed that Premier League teams took a collective total of 81 individual short-haul domestic flights to and from matches during two months, with some journeys only lasting 27 minutes.
Even shorter journeys have been flagged and criticised, namely when Manchester United took a 10-minute flight to an away match in Leicester in 2021, a journey that would have taken just over two hours by car.
As reported on Business Green, Possible aviation campaigner Rob Bryher said: “Almost all of these games can be reached by coach or train without costing the club more than an hour more of their time, but the impact would be significant in cutting carbon and setting a positive example on tackling the climate crisis”.
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Rival club Manchester City – one of the few in the Premier League to publicly report its travel and sustainability data – is also feeling the heat today as new research by Possible revealed that its players took 10 domestic flights to matches across England last season via private jet.
These 10 journeys alone generated the same emissions as 402 return journeys by electric coach, which Possible claimed would be enough to take every Premier League team to every game in a season.
Possible urged clubs to avoid using private jet services for domestic away games, as its research shows 84% of away games played by Premier League teams could be reached by coach in less than 4.5 hours.
Bryher adds: “We need football clubs, and the Premier League itself, to support climate-friendly travel so that football can continue in a sustainable and positive way”.
