Football is the most popular sport, globally and in the United Kingdom. However it generates a range of negative environmental impacts, such as climate change, due to an extensive amount of travel involved. The growing contribution of football clubs to the global carbon footprint has been recognised, but never consistently assessed. This study assesses the carbon footprint of the English Premier League (EPL) clubs, using the patterns of their domestic travel in the 2016/2017 season as a proxy for analysis. The study shows that, within the 2016/17 season, the EPL clubs produced circa 1134 tonnes of CO 2-eq. as a result of their travel, where transportation accounts for 61% of the carbon footprint. To reduce this carbon footprint, a careful review of the current corporate travel and procurement practices in the EPL clubs is necessary. This is in order to optimise the travel itineraries, prioritise more climate-benign modes of transport and contract budget accommodation providers with the 'green' credentials.

Tourism transportation contributes substantially to the global carbon footprint. This contribution is predicted to enlarge, especially in 'emerging' tourism markets, and hence urgent carbon mitigation is necessary. Effective mitigation is determined by reliable carbon footprint assessments whose number is however limited, particularly for developing countries with growing tourism. This study applied the life cycle assessment (LCA) based method to appraise the carbon significance of various transport modes between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the key itinerary for travel with leisure and tourism purposes by local residents and overseas visitors in Brazil. Given the envisaged rise in biofuel use in the Brazilian transportation sector, this study is unique in that it evaluated the carbon reduction potential offered by biofuel. The study demonstrated that overland public transport represents the most carbon-efficient mode of local transportation. It further highlighted the crucial role of biofuel in minimising the carbon intensity of transportation between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.Policy-making and managerial recommendations were put forward to facilitate more climatebenign local transportation practices.

Sporting mega-events generate substantial carbon footprint where return transportation of event participants and visitors between the source and host countries makes the largest contribution. To enhance environmental sustainability of sporting mega-events, it is paramount to select a host country with the lowest carbon footprint from international transportation without compromising the magnitude of major visitor flows. The Facility Location Problem (FLP) model represents an established tool employed in the business environment to determine the best location for the installation of facilities to provide for existing or envisaged consumer demand. The model has proven its feasibility in a number of economic sectors, but rarely been applied in tourism, and never with sustainability management and planning purposes. This study contributes to knowledge by demonstrating the applicability of the FLP model when planning for sporting mega-events. The model enables selection of a host country with better climate credentials by quantifying the magnitude of international transportation of the event participants alongside the associated carbon footprint. Application of the FLP model to the FIFA World Cups shows that, to facilitate the progress of these mega-events towards sustainability, a decision on a host country should be made after the team qualification round, rather than before, as it currently stands. The model can then identify prospective hosts with the lowest carbon footprint from international transportation.

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