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25th Sep 2019

UEFA to plant 50,000 trees in Ireland to counteract emissions from people travelling to Euro 2020 matches

Rudi Kinsella

Euro 2020 trees

600,000 trees in total will be planted by UEFA.

UEFA have announced that they will be planting 600,000 trees, 50,000 of which will be in Ireland, to offset emissions produced by people travelling to Euro 2020 matches.

50,000 trees will be planted in each of the host nations of next summer’s tournament, meaning Ireland will be one of 12 countries receiving this gesture.

As well as this, UEFA will invest in gold standard renewable energy projects in partnership with the South Pole to offset the estimated 405,000 tonnes of carbon produced by fans and UEFA staff travelling to games in the tournament.

Announcing the plan, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said, “UEFA EURO 2020 is a celebration of European football that will happen right across the continent. The nature of the tournament means there are many benefits over a traditional one.

“In addition to being able to take the matches to more diverse communities across Europe, there is no need either to build a host of new stadia or the transport links that they need, which carry a huge environmental cost in concrete and other resources.

“But it also has a cost – with increased travel for fans to watch their teams play. UEFA takes its responsibilities on this seriously and it is right that we offset the carbon emissions that causes.

“Working with South Pole will help to build gold standard renewable energy projects, which will be of lasting value to the planet.

“In addition, we wanted to celebrate the 60 years of the European Championships and combining that with an environmental legacy is a logical choice. Some 600,000 trees will be planted – 50,000 in each of the 12 host countries. I believe this will help all those communities benefit from EURO 2020 having been played there.”

More information can be found on the UEFA website.

Now all we have to do is qualify for the thing…

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