Everton Football Club has launched a campaign to raise environmental awareness and explore new ways to make a positive impact on the planet.
 
‘Everton for Change’ will see the Club and Everton in the Community renew their commitment to reducing their carbon footprint, while introducing a number of new initiatives across all sites.
 
The campaign comes after both Liverpool City Council and Liverpool City Region Combined authority declared a climate emergency, with the Council setting the aim of becoming a zero-carbon local authority by 2030.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, also announced plans for the Council to become one of the first to appoint a dedicated Cabinet Member for climate change.
 
One of the Club’s first ‘Everton for Change’ initiatives, in partnership with official catering partner Sodexo, will see the introduction of reusable cups in place of single-use plastic cups at Goodison Park.

Starting at Sunday’s match against Tottenham Hotspur, fans will be encouraged to return their reusable cups to designated stackable bins.
 
The ‘Everton for Change’ branding – and the tagline ‘protecting our planet’ – will also be visible at Goodison on LED perimeter boards, the big screens and across other parts of the stadium at all matchdays to raise wider awareness of the campaign.
 
Everton already have in place a number of initiatives across all sites, with the aim of embedding environmental awareness into the Club’s day-to-day operations. These include:

• Reduced energy consumption with the use of LED lighting, installation of lighting motion sensors and centrally controlled heating
• Waste recycling points across Club sites (plastic, cardboard, wood, glass, paper, food, batteries and ink cartridges)  
• Staff encouraged to use digital communications channels to reduce travel for meetings
• Bike 2 Work scheme for staff that minimises use of fossil fuels and provides a pollution-free mode of transport
• At matchdays at Goodison Park, plastic cutlery has been swapped for wooden cutlery, plastic straws have been swapped for paper straws, individual plastic packet condiments have been eliminated, and vegetables are delivered fresh in cardboard boxes to reduce packaging
   

Throughout the season, the Club will continue to develop its processes and procedures to further encourage environmental consciousness and ingrain best practice.
 
Everton’s proposed plans to move to a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock will also provide the Club with a chance to design a sustainable and environmentally friendly stadium, taking advantage of the latest technologies.

Extensive work has already been carried out by the Club’s Stadium Development team to ensure Everton is minimising its carbon footprint throughout the construction period and beyond.
 
Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale, CEO of Everton Football Club, said: “It is clear that the dangers of climate change cannot be underestimated, as Liverpool City Council’s recent climate emergency declaration and aim to become a zero-carbon authority has shown. 
 
“As a Premier League football club, we take our environmental responsibility very seriously. We also understand the significant positive impact we can have by setting a good example and being innovative in what we do to protect the planet.

"We want to bring our fans, our staff and our suppliers along with us on that journey. The launch of ‘Everton for Change’ will help bring to light some of the great work we are already doing, embed an enhanced and more aware environmental culture within our workforce and fanbase, and encourage others to play their part going forward.”