Groundbreaking: the first international transfer to be carbon offset

As one of our ambassadors, Will wears our boots, helps to promote Sokito’s mission, and is constantly looking for ways to inject more sustainable practices into his career. That’s why, when we came to him with this idea, he was all in. He was already making the move to Italian club Salernitarna, so ‘all’ we had to do was research the best ways to offset the carbon of

the move.

When we looked into offsetting carbon in Italy, we stumbled upon a crisis we’d never even heard of. For 10 years now, olive trees in Italy have been dying. In unprecedented numbers. And it’s all thanks to a type of bacteria called Xylella fastidiosa. With no known cure, the bacteria had previously been found in places like Brazil, California and Taiwan, but 10 years ago it reached Puglia.

This is why we decided to use Alberami to offset Will’s carbon: a company that is not only committed to carbon capture, but also in restoring the soil integrity and agricultural profitability of the region. By using local farmers, whilst sending 70% of the profits back to them, they have managed to involve communities that would otherwise be uninterested in sustainable farming. Their transparency and methods of testing appealed to our own values: not hiding the aspects of their company that need to be improved, but instead putting in realistic plans to keep pushing for a better future.

Of Puglia’s 60 million olive trees, 21 million of them have been killed by Xylella. A disastrous blow to the local economy and the planet. With the help of new bacteria-sniffing dogs and tree-planting schemes, there are plans to stop the spread of infection and reclaim this land, but it’s not going to be an easy job.

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Ben Mee was the first in the industry to highlight the impact of transfers on carbon output. Using a UN-enlisted company to make his transfer to Brentford from Burnley carbon neutral, his actions opened many people’s eyes to the troubling amount of travel that most players, let alone entire clubs, do

throughout a season.

However, it’s not just footballers who hold the cards when it comes to the industry’s carbon footprint. In fact, 60-70% of its footprint can be attributed to travel to and from matches. And when there’s a World Cup on, people will travel from all over the globe just to see one game. It’s a huge problem, and one that the industry takes no accountability for. As individuals, we can walk, cycle or take the bus to games as much as possible, however the clubs themselves need to be taking steps to encourage these measures.

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