Environment

As well as confronting social issues directly affecting humans such as discrimination and poor health, the state of the environment within which we interact is also a key element of UEFA's social responsibility programme.
UEFA aims to initiate and sustain activities to protect and restore the environment. By using resources and the attention received by football, UEFA hopes to highlight national or global environmental concerns and organise major football events in a more sustainable way.

WWF – associated partner
Founded in 1961, WWF is the world's leading conservation organisation working in over 100 countries to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

• UEFA sponsored WWF's Panda Ball gala dinner in Monaco in 2008, where funds were raised for WWF's conservation activities focusing on Europe's biodiversity.

• In recent years, UEFA has backed and actively participated in WWF's Earth Hour, the biggest environmental awareness campaign ever. For example, more than 7,000 cities and towns in 152 countries and territories switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2012, sending a powerful message for action to save the planet.

• UEFA and its carbon compensation:
UEFA's major source of greenhouse gas emissions is air travel – its carbon footprint from flights in 2007 was 20,617.811 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e). This is comparable to approximately 2,850,000,000 footballs filled with carbon dioxide. On 1 July 2009, it began a one-year emissions reduction trial, consisting primarily of purchasing internationally recognised renewable energy carbon credits.