Football and pollution: I have always felt bad because I know what a flight causes
I worry about the climate but didnt think more than 40 Womens World Cup players would sign up to create a positive environmental legacy for the tournament I f I had to pinpoint one moment when I started to really think about climate change, it would be in 2009 when Cop15 was held in Copenhagen. Since then, my interest has just been growing and I have become more and more concerned about the future. My efforts to change my behaviour and reduce my carbon footprint didnt come all at once, but gradually I have adjusted things in my life to be more carbon friendly. What is driving me is that the countries and the people that are least responsible for this situation are the most affected by the climate changes. That is unfair. For about five years I have paid for carbon offsetting or compensated for flying, because unfortunately it is difficult to avoid in my job. I have always felt bad because I know how much pollution a flight causes. I have felt it was something I wanted to do and something that is good for the planet, although we realise it is not the solution. Last year, I did a presentation about climate change for my teammates in the Denmark squad and for my clubmates at Juventus. I said: What if we all paid compensation for our flights to and from the World Cup? and immediately had lots of support from them. So we spoke more about what is happening with the climate, what are the consequences of what we are doing. When people realised we have a crisis on our hands they were very supportive and wanted to do something. After feeling their support I got in touch with Common Goal and Football For Future , two organisations who were immediately very interested in the idea. We have had lots of meetings on how we can campaign in the best way and I am delighted that more than 40 Womens World Cup players have committed to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their flights to and from Australia and New Zealand to create a positive environmental legacy for the tournament. It is the biggest player-led climate action in football. The players will donate money to a combination of climate resilience, carbon offsetting and adaptation initiatives run by WWF (Australia, New Zealand) and DanChurchAid . The initiatives are based in Australia, New Zealand and Uganda. This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue' . We are not saying we are saving the world by doing this, far from it. But it is about everyone who can doing their bit and inspiring others, to see if fans and other players would consider some positive climate actions. I dont eat meat and I never cook with meat or milk. My clothes are secondhand and I invest money in totally sustainable companies working for a green transition. I also look at the politicians who are fighting for the changes we need. When we started this project I didnt expect wed receive as much support as we have done, but if someone could take the presentation I did to all the teams in the world people would be very interested in supporting things like this. I knew it would be difficult for me to reach as many people as possible but Common Goal and Football for the Future have been contacting players from many teams. It has been growing and it is nice they could help spread the word because I didnt expect so many players to sign up. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a weekly roundup of the wonderful world of womens football after newsletter promotion I hope football fans and other people out there wont think we are saying we are heroes for the planet, because that is not what we want to do with this campaign. It is important to say that any action that is good for the planet is a good action. If a person had to be carbon neutral before they spoke out about climate change and about the structural changes we need to make, nobody would speak about climate change, not in our part of the world at least. Its important to say: OK, this is one action you can do and can we can support the climate-friendly initiatives. But we know this is not the solution, not something that can save the planet. In the long run, we have to have flights that are sustainably carbon neutral. This is more a short-term action when we have a flight we cannot avoid because the Womens World Cup is also an important event for the mobilisation of women and girls around the world. It is important we show them that we can be who we want to be, and that they will be allowed to play football and other kinds of sports, just as boys and men do. It is an important tournament but it is also important people are critical because of the decisions we make all the time. It is not only footballers, but the question everyone needs to ask themselves is: Is this a flight that is worth doing or can it be avoided? Sofie Junge Pedersen is a Denmark international who has played for Juventus, Levante and Rosengard among others. She was talking to Kyra Sethna-McIntosh .