DMU to help Nirvana create first Net Zero amateur football clubs

Researchers and students at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are working with two community football clubs to help them achieve their ambitions of becoming Net Zero. 

The collaboration comes as the United Nations (UN) announced its Football for the Goals Campaign at the Women’s Euros 2022 in Manchester this week.

Leicester Nirvana recently wrote to the United Nations Academic Impact Initiative (UNAI) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Hub based at DMU asking for a partnership to achieve their green ambitions.

Shortly after, the university was connected with SG Eintracht Peitz, near Cottbus, in Germany, a team that also has the same vision.

The project to create a Net Zero amateur football club is believed to be a first in both the United Kingdom and Germany.

The full Leicester Nirvana team

Researchers at DMU have already begun scoping work with Leicester Nirvana to identify how a team from one a city-centre estate with many social challenges begins the process of decarbonisation.

The aim is to help both clubs become Net Zero in carbon emissions in all aspects of the beautiful game. This includes travel to games, the players’ diets and nutrition, the kits the players wear to train, the clubhouses and lighting, recycling practices and inclusive values. Both teams want to use the SDGs as a framework for collaboration to achieve their visions.