The carbon footprint of football fans: Emotional and rational correlates of home and away game travel

IF 5.4 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Environmental and Sustainability Indicators Pub Date : 2025-02-12 DOI:10.1016/j.indic.2025.100635

Christian Kraft , Christoph Bühren , Pamela Wicker

{"title":"The carbon footprint of football fans: Emotional and rational correlates of home and away game travel","authors":"Christian Kraft , Christoph Bühren , Pamela Wicker","doi":"10.1016/j.indic.2025.100635","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the carbon footprint generated by football fans traveling to German third-division league games during the 2023/24 season, analyzing both emotional (connectedness to nature) and rational determinants of seasonal carbon footprint (environmental knowledge, perceived environmental pollution, and transport-specific environmental consciousness). The analysis is grounded in the value-belief-norm theory, which suggests that pro-environmental behavior is driven by personal norms, beliefs, and values. An online survey of 815 fans was conducted to outline their match-related travel behavior. The findings revealed that the average seasonal carbon footprint per fan was 438.45 kg CO<sub>2</sub>-e, with car travel contributing to 82% of the total emissions. Regression analyses showed that only transport-specific environmental consciousness of fans significantly reduced their carbon emissions. This finding suggests that rational determinants may play a stronger role in shaping pro-environmental behavior than emotional ones. The results offer policymakers strategies to mitigate fan travel emissions in professional sports.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":36171,"journal":{"name":"Environmental and Sustainability Indicators","volume":"26 ","pages":"Article 100635"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental and Sustainability Indicators","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266597272500056X","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study investigates the carbon footprint generated by football fans traveling to German third-division league games during the 2023/24 season, analyzing both emotional (connectedness to nature) and rational determinants of seasonal carbon footprint (environmental knowledge, perceived environmental pollution, and transport-specific environmental consciousness). The analysis is grounded in the value-belief-norm theory, which suggests that pro-environmental behavior is driven by personal norms, beliefs, and values. An online survey of 815 fans was conducted to outline their match-related travel behavior. The findings revealed that the average seasonal carbon footprint per fan was 438.45 kg CO₂-e, with car travel contributing to 82% of the total emissions. Regression analyses showed that only transport-specific environmental consciousness of fans significantly reduced their carbon emissions. This finding suggests that rational determinants may play a stronger role in shaping pro-environmental behavior than emotional ones. The results offer policymakers strategies to mitigate fan travel emissions in professional sports.

查看原文