The earth’s atmosphere contains greenhouse gases which capture some of the heat from the sun. That’s what makes the earth’s climate suitable for life. But over the last 200 years, human activity has released a huge amount of extra greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing the planet to warm up.

Even though it’s true that the climate has always changed, this usually occurs over millions of years. The climate has been really stable in the time that humans have been around – until now. Scientists say 2023 was the hottest year on record and probably the hottest for at least 125,000 years.

The human activities which release greenhouse gases include burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, as well as clearing trees and wetlands which normally store carbon.

Every part of society, including football, has depended on these activities to develop. The good news is that we have most of the solutions we need to continue to enjoy the things we love while also making the climate safe – we just need the will to make changes.

The last time the atmosphere had this much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere was around 3 million years ago. Back then, temperatures were about 3°C warmer, sea levels were 15-20 metres higher, and trees grew near the South Pole.

Global warming is accelerating, and 2023 was the hottest year on record at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (which means before we started burning large amounts of fossil fuels). In Australia, our hottest year was 2019, which led into the ‘Black Summer’ bushfires. A degree or two on average might not seem like much, but small changes have a big impact.

Global warming increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events like heatwaves, bushfires, droughts, and floods. It also causes sea ice and glaciers to melt, which gradually increases the sea level. We don’t have to imagine these impacts on Australian football, because we’ve already seen them. Unless we make big changes, they will continue to get worse, threatening the sport we love.

Health and safety are the top concerns, but football is also arguably the sport which suffers the greatest drop in quality when conditions are too hot.

It's important to take action to protect both the value of the competition and the welfare of players and fans. This means trying to limit global warming as much as possible while also creating measures to avoid or adapt to its worst effects.

Follow a Player Survey, Nearly one in three (29%) A-League Women matches were affected by extreme weather, and 15% of A-League Men matches were affected, according to the players.

Nineteen ALW players and 15 ALM players during the period (total 34) felt their match should have been delayed or postponed due to the conditions. In the ALW, one in six matches had its quality impacted by the weather, according to the players.

One out of every 28 ALW players said they had health problems resulting from the match conditions. In the ALM, which has generally been played in larger stadiums with better facilities and more shade, as well as with later kick-off times, 5% of matches had their quality impacted by the weather and 1% of players suffered health effects.

The graphic shows the number of very hot days we should expect at A-Leagues venues each summer by 2050 if we continue only with current action on climate change, compared to the average number of such days from 1981-2010.

The average total number of extreme heat days across all main Australian A-Leagues venues will rise from 162 to 267 by 2050: a 65% increase.

As far as we can tell, none of the A-Leagues clubs nor the APL itself have reported (or measured) their carbon emissions. But we can get an idea using work done elsewhere.

The Brazilian club Fluminense FC conducted an audit of its emissions for 2012, which found it released the equivalent of 2,581 tonnes of CO2 that year, across senior and youth team operations.

The main contributors were:

Throughout the PFA's history, we have always explored ways in which we can not only support and represent our players and build the game in Australia, but also harness the responsibility as an organisation to make our community, and the world, a better place.

Given the increasing individual and collective responsibility we have as global citizens to ensure our environment and our Earth is protected, the PFA launched Our Greener Pitch in April 2021.

Our Greener Pitch aims to encourage players, clubs and the football community to take individual and collective action to mitigate the effects of climate change. The cornerstone of the policy is a commitment to reducing and offsetting the organisation's carbon emissions.

The Our Greener Pitch player committee is a chance for PFA members who are passionate about the environment and sustainability to get involved and help spark change in the football industry. The current members of the committee are:

• Emma Ilijoski
• Sasha Grove
• Maddy Whitall
• Emma Checker
• Beattie Goad
• Melina Ayres
• Ben Halloran
• Andrew Redmayne
• Scott Neville
• Alex Chidiac
• Aivi Luik
• Jackson Irvine
• Chris Harold