E.ON to reduce Carbon Footyprint of The FA Cup

Starting from the First Round of The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON, the Carbon Footyprint campaign will encourage fans to make simple energy saving changes to help cut their own emissions. Fronted by Portsmouth and England goalkeeper, David James, it is hoped that the campaign will offset the 45,000 tons of carbon dioxide produced by The FA Cup in order to make the competition carbon neutral.1 The carbon emissions will be calculated for every match in every round of The FA Cup (including replays).

The emissions will be calculated from the operational emissions from all participating clubs, the television emissions from viewers watching matches at home and the travel emissions produced by home and away fans. By logging onto http://www.carbonfootyprint.com/, football fans can find out about car sharing schemes in their area and choose from over 30 different pledges, such as fitting energy efficient light bulbs, taking a coach or walking to a game, or by watching the match together at the pub with friends. One ton of carbon dioxide will be saved over a season if:

Ten fans travel to FA Cup matches by bus instead of the car.
Seven fans each offer someone else a lift or car share to the ground.
11 fans don't overfill the kettle to make their half time cuppa.
21 fans each installed 1 low energy efficient light bulb at home.
1,000 fans watch just four FA Cup matches on a friends TV or at the pub and turn their TV off at home.

In return for making pledges, fans can stand to win a host of exclusive ‘Money Can't Buy' FA Cup prizes for themselves. Throughout the season, E.ON will also be offering a series of promotions aimed at fans to reduce their carbon footprint. From Round Two, E.ON will be organising events on match weekends across the UK, to get fans to watch a match together. To coincide with the Premiership clubs entering the competition in Round Three, E.ON will be offering free coach travel with National Express to selected away games.

Mike Thompson, Head of Sponsorship and Events at E.ON UK said: "We want to use our expertise to help clubs and fans reduce the emissions produced by The FA Cup and believe that Carbon Footyprint is a simple and fun way to educate people on ways that they can make a real difference.  How we all use energy and the impact we have on the environment is such an important issue for us as a company and for society as a whole. This is our biggest sponsorship campaign to date and we're really passionate about making it work and making a difference.

"To have David James, a well known environmental campaigner, supporting our activity adds real value and credibility.  We hope that with his backing the campaign will drive fans to make enough carbon saving pledges on Carbonfootyprint.com to cancel out the emissions produced by The FA Cup." Speaking at the launch David James said: "E.ON's Carbon Footyprint initiative addresses the crucial issue of climate change, a subject that is very close to my heart. I think it's a great way to get the environmental awareness message out to football fans and shows that by making some very simple changes, fans can make a real difference.

"I'll be supporting the scheme and I urge my fellow players and football fans to get behind it, visit the web site and pledge to make a difference." The Carbon Footyprint campaign follows the success of ‘Save Your Energy for the Blues' an initiative run by E.ON in conjunction with Ipswich Town Football Club last season, which saw fans make over 14,000 carbon saving pledges to make the Blues the country's first ever carbon neutral football club.