Download our new infographic on the ‘carbon bootprint’ of watching football. Our research finds that when watching on your own then the lowest carbon way to watch football is by using a smartphone or tablet connected to broadband internet. Emissions for this can be as much as eight times lower than watching on television, mostly due to the smaller size of the screen.

But the research reveals that when it comes to impact on the climate, then streaming on a personal device can also be the highest carbon way to watch the broadcast of a game. If mobile data is used then this increases the carbon bootprint of watching the game by at least ten times compared to a broadband connection. Mobile data transmission can be very energy intensive - watching a whole game could have the same associated emissions as driving ten miles in an average petrol car.

In general sharing a television screen with multiple people, either at home or in the pub, remains the lowest carbon way to watch football per viewer.

We worked with The FA to calculate the carbon bootprint of The FA Community Shield game between Manchester United and Wigan taking place on Sunday 11 August. This is estimated to be approximately 5,160 tonnes of carbon dioxide, with 5,000 tonnes of that amount coming from fan travel - equivalent to the total annual emissions from energy use for around 1,000 average UK households.

Download the Carbon Bootprint of the FA Community Shield and Carbon Bootprint of Watching a Game

Read more in our press release:
Carbon Trust unlaces the ‘carbon bootprint’ of watching football