Liverpool FC to Offset Climate Footprint of Products Through Carbon Removal Credits
Liverpool Football Club (LFC) and 1PointFive, the Direct Air Capture (DAC)-focused subsidiary of energy giant Occidental (Oxy) announced a new collaboration to launch products for the team’s fans that have had their carbon footprint addresses through the purchase of DAC-based carbon credits.
According to LFC, the new collaboration marks a significant step towards its efforts to reduce its environmental impact through its “The Red Way” sustainability strategy, launched by the club in 2021. Key goals under in LFC’s sustainability strategy include reducing operational carbonemissions by 50% by 2030, reaching net zero by 2040, and achieving carbon neutrality from merchandising from 2030.
Under the new collaboration, LFC will calculate total product emissions from manufacturing through distribution to a club site, and will purchase an equivalent quantity of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits from 1PointFive.
Ben Latty, Chief Commercial Officer at LFC, said:
“Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at the club. Through The Red Way, we are dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint and driving positive change for our people, planet and communities. Joining forces with 1PointFive allows us to explore innovative carbon-removal technologies, sharing knowledge, expertise and helping to advance our journey to halve all of our operational emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2040.”
DAC technology, listed by the IEA as a key carbon removal option in the transition to a net-zero energy system, extracts CO2 directly from the atmosphere for use as a raw material or permanently removed when combined with storage. According to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate change mitigation study, scenarios that limit warming to 1.5°C include carbon dioxide removal methods scaling to billions of tons of removal annually over the coming decades, with DAC positioned to potentially account for a significant portion of the total.
1PointFive is currently developing a series of carbon removal and sequestration projects in the U.S., including STRATOS in Ector County, Texas, which it expects to be the largest DAC facility in the world to date, designed to capture 500,000 tonnes of CO2 per year when fully operational. STRATOS is anticipated to be commercially operational in mid-2025.
Michael Avery, President and General Manager of 1PointFive, said:
“Our organisations have a shared mission of sustainability and by working together we can provide a model for how to use Direct Air Capture to address product emissions and empower consumers to make more carbon-conscious choices.”