Manchester Is Green | 30th September 2022 | Press Release | Hubbub

Embargoed until 00:01 Friday 30 September 2022

Sustainable eating pilot show huge potential for football fans to help tackle climate change • Nearly 6,000 tonnes of CO2 could be saved if Premier League fans just swapped to veggie burgers for one weekend. The impact would be even bigger if they were inspired to make simple changes in their everyday lives.

Football clubs have the power to mobilise behaviour change amongst their fans and could play a vital role in supporting community-led climate change action. If every football fan attending a Premier League match this coming weekend, who would usually eat meat, swapped a beef burger for a veggie burger, 5998 tonnes* of CO2 would be saved. This is the equivalent to 2,499 people living car-free for a year1. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg and new research suggests clubs could have a much bigger impact outside of their stadiums.

As the first Manchester Derby of the season approaches on Sunday 2nd October, the results of a pilot project inspiring Manchester United and Manchester City fans to eat more sustainably are today revealed and show huge promise. Manchester is Green was a threeweek challenge run by environmental charity Hubbub in May 2022. Through a series of activities including cook-alongs and match-day challenges, 72 Manchester United and Manchester City fans and their households were supported to eat better for their pockets, for their health, and for the planet. The project set out to explore if football could be used as a hook to inspire fans and their households to eat better for the environment, and flip some of the stereotypes about football and food habits on their head: to see if we could shift from burgers, chips and pies to beans, pulses, and sweet potato fries.

After three months, a survey which 66 participants completed suggested that new eating habits had stuck: • • • •

70% now eat less meat 77% now eat more plants 83% now waste less food 68% say being involved with Manchester is Green helped save them money on food (£17.47 per week on average = £900/year)

“I love bacon butties, pies and steak, I’m not really the kind of person that would normally go for this.”

Carl, Newton Heath, Manchester United fan – reduced the amount he ate from five or six days a week to one or two days a week.

Whilst much of the focus for clubs is on cleaner transport or tackling energy inefficiencies in stadiums, the potential impact of fans’ behaviour is enormous. With clubs leading, supporters will soon follow. Almost 9 in 10 (88%) of the Manchester is Green participants believe football clubs and players should play a role in inspiring football fans to take on even more planet friendly behaviours.

Hubbub has identified three clear actions football clubs can take to encourage fans to eat more sustainably: • Match day: Encourage more plant-based uptake on match-day menus and nudge fans to ‘try something new’.

• Home fixture: Inspire fans to take on more planet-friendly behaviour at home, particularly eating more plant-based food and reducing food waste.

• In the community: Keep supporting local community groups taking action to help people cook more tasty, healthy and planet friendly food. But also, initiatives that help people live more sustainably in other ways too.

Gavin Ellis, Co-founder of Hubbub said: “The conversation around the role football can play in tackling climate change is rapidly evolving. Football has a unique role in society; it can mobilise collective change and a growing number of voices are saying that football (and fans) could be a powerful and, as yet, largely untapped asset in the fight against climate change.

Despite their differences and rivalries, football fans have much in common: a shared sense of identity, shared rituals and a common language and the football calendar offers multiple opportunities for engagement.

We saw in Manchester is Green that football fans are interested in learning about sustainable diets, regardless of what team they support. It’s crucial that they can see others like themselves also making a change, and that the information is presented to them in a way that is interesting, inspiring and relevant to their lives.”

Forest Green Rovers, referred to as the “world’s greenest football club” are demonstrating how football can inspire football fans to make simple changes that are better for the environment, including a fully plant-based match day menu.

Dale Vince OBE, chairman of Forest Green Rovers said: “Football has a huge opportunity to engage with fans and help them become fans of the environment as well as of football.

Our experience at Forest green Rovers shows how receptive football fans are to changing their lives - when presented with clear information and a role model. Manchester is Green shows how the beautiful game can inspire fans to help create the beautiful world we all want to live in.”

Manchester is Green is part of #InOurNature, a Manchester-wide drive to tackle climate change, trialling climate-friendly ways of living and supporting people to make better lifestyle choices that help the environment.

Hubbub has published an impact report and encourages organisations interested in collaborating to email hello@hubbub.org.uk.

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NOTES TO EDITORS *If we took those attending all Premier League matches that weekend who would usually eat meat, 5998 tonnes of CO2 would be saved if everyone swapped a beef burger for a veggie burger.

How this stat was calculated: • Last year the average attendance of premier league matches was 39,472 people.

• There are 20 teams in the premier league, so 10 matches each weekend.

• This means around 394,720 people will be attending Premier League matches each weekend.

• 91% of people in the UK are meat eaters (source: Statista put vegetarianism at 7% and veganism at 2%) • If all 359,195 meat eaters ate beef burgers, this amounts to 7,076,142kg CO2 eq.

• If they all ate veggie burgers, this would be 1,077,585kg CO2 eq.

• 7,076,142kg – 1,077,585kg = 5,998, 557kg CO2 eq which is 5,998 tonnes • Source for burger CO2 figures - a 4 ounce Irish beef burger = 19.7kg CO2 eq. and a veggie burger = 3.0kg CO2 eq. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S2352550921002165 1This is the equivalent of 2,499 people living without a car for a year: Calculation: Taking a car off the road for a year saves 2.4 tonnes of CO2 https://iopscience. iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541 • 5998/2.4 = 2,499 The full-time results from a 3 month on survey (66 responses): Cooking from scratch • 59% now cook more from scratch • 86% now very or extremely likely to cook more from scratch in future • 59% have saved money by cooking more from scratch Eating less meats and more plants • 70% now eat less meat • 53% now very or extremely likely to eat less meat in future • Health then environment now top reasons to do this • 77% now eat more plants • 61% have saved money by eating less meat

Wasting less food • 83% now waste less food • 68% are now very or extremely likely to waste less food in future • 79% have saved money by wasting less food Overall • 68% say being involved with Manchester is Green helped save them money on food (£17.47 per week on average = £900/year) • 79% now making more environmental choices in other areas of life post MIG. • 61% feel healthier post Manchester is Green • 88% believe football clubs and players should play a role in inspiring football fans to take on even more planet friendly behaviours

A B O U T I N O U R N AT U R E #InOurNature is a Manchester-wide drive to tackle climate change led by Hubbub, Manchester Climate Change Agency and Partnership, Manchester City Council, Amity CIC, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Commonplace.

The In Our Nature programme is funded by the National Lottery Climate Action Fund, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, the Wates Family Enterprise Trust and a coalition of corporate partners including the Co-op, Suntory Beverage and Food GB&I, Danone UK & Ireland, JCDecaux, Coca-Cola GB and Tetra Pak. For more information and to join the movement visit inournaturemcr.co.uk.