Wolves Foundation have joined a new initiative – the Clean Air Champions League – an exciting new project focused on tackling air pollution across the continent.
The new initiative, being led by Irish club Bohemians and supported by the European Football for Development Network, will include the installation of air quality monitoring systems at five different venues across Europe, tracking the emissions around the respective stadia.
Alongside the collection of this data, an online resource will feature a ‘live’ league table ranking clubs based on the local air quality, as well as fan and community led initiatives to raise awareness and encourage action on air quality and climate health.
Wolves are the first English club to take part in the Clean Air Champions League, alongside not just Bohemians but also ADO Den Haag from the Netherlands, Real Betis from Spain and the Bulgarian Football Union.
It will form part of Wolves’ clubwide One Pack One Planet strategy, being celebrated at this weekend’s Premier League fixture with Arsenal, which aims to engage fans and stakeholders to help improve the club’s environmental performance.
“We are delighted to be the first English club involved in this hugely important collaboration between clubs and organisations across Europe,” says Jonathan Warburton, Wolves Foundation’s Head of Programmes for Education, Employability and Youth Engagement.
“The concept is that each club or organisation will have an air quality monitoring system installed at their stadium or training facility, from which the date will be able to tell the story about the level of the emissions in the locality.
“That goes into a league table which isn’t just based on emissions but also the number of people who are engaged in activity to build awareness such as educational workshops.
“The partners on the project held their first meeting just before Christmas, and there is plenty more preparation to be done over the coming months before the Clean Air Champions League officially launches in 2026.”
The Clean Air Champions League is aiming to leverage football’s widespread appeal to promote air quality awareness and action across the continent.
From a Foundation and Wolves point of view, the project and data collected will lead to an extensive engagement exercise as to what can be done, if needed, to improve the air quality around Molineux.
“Our role at the Foundation will be to build and develop a plan of educational workshops across the community,” adds Jonathan.
“We will be speaking to fans, local residents, people who work nearby and local schools to assess the best ways of responding to the data, and to see what actions we can all take to improve the air quality within the city.
“Maybe there will be ideas that emerge to change perceptions on travelling to fixtures and travelling to work, as part of a bigger piece around our commitment to One Pack One Planet.
“It can only be a positive for Wolves to be involved in such an exciting project on a European stage, and we are looking forward to seeing how it develops.”
Wolves’ One Pack One Planet strategy features key commitments to environmental stability focused on addressing waste, protecting nature and embedding sustainability, with an overall pledge to reach net zero by the year 2040.
