Liverpool Wins Premier League’s Greenest Club Honors, 33rd Annual Goldman Environmental Prize Winners Announced, Meet 2022 Goldman Prizewinner–Nalleli Cobo!

LIVERPOOL WINS SOCCER’S PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE FOR “GREENEST CLUB”

Over the weekend, Liverpool lost to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League European cup final. Not sure if this is any consolation to their fans, but the team did win the top spot in the Premier League’s 2021 Sport Positive Environmental Sustainability League’s greenest sporting club competition.

The Sport Positive EPL Environmental Matrix measures each Premier League club’s environmental policy and commitment to areas such as clean energy, energy efficiency, sustainability, transport, single-use plastic reduction or removal, waste management, water efficiency, plant based/low carbon food and biodiversity, as well as their education, communication and engagement on the subject of sustainability.

Liverpool scored 23 out of a maximum 24 points, earning praise for overhauling its sustainability project, and for creating a comprehensive strategy that “permeates across every facet of the organization.”

How’d they do it? 

Electricity and gas for all of the club’s UK operated sites comes from renewable sources, while all food used for club catering is sourced locally. The club also owns its own 1/3 acre plot in the Tuebrook area of the city, where fruit and vegetables are grown to be used by chefs at Anfield and the Kirkby training complex.

At the AXA Training Centre, over 650 new trees have been planted, along with 6000 plants and over one mile of hedges. And the club even collects rainwater, which is used to treat the pitches at Anfield and Kirkby.

Why does awarding sports teams for going green matter? In the words of Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan, “As a football club with a global fan base we’re proud to be leading the way on important environmental issues.” If their fans take on climate change with the same fanaticism with which they enjoy their matches, we might just solve this thing.

The LFC Foundation works extensively with local schools to educate on the subject of climate change and sustainability, too.

DEEPER DIVE: Goal.com, Sports Positive

33RD ANNUAL GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZES AWARDED

The Goldman Environmental Prize—also known as the Green Nobel Prize– which honors ordinary people who take extraordinary actions to protect our planet, was awarded last week! 

The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. Each winner receives a significant and unrestricted cash award, international recognition that enhances their credibility, and worldwide visibility for the issues that they champion.

The Goldman Environmental Foundation views grassroots leaders as those creating positive change through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them. By putting a spotlight on these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world. We’re going to spotlight the six winners individually throughout this week and next.

Why does the Goldman Environmental Prize matter to us? It recognizes individuals who are fighting on the frontlines of the greatest environmental issues of our time. Prize winners protect endangered ecosystems and species, combat destructive industries and developments, promote sustainable and environmentally friendly policies, and push for environmental justice.

The Goldman Environmental Foundation accepts nominations from only two sources: a network of internationally known environmental organizations, and a confidential panel of environmental experts from more than 45 nations, including citizen activists and prominent policymakers. There is no application for the Goldman Prize, and unsolicited nominations are not accepted.

DEEPER DIVE: Goldman Prize

2022 GOLDMAN PRIZEWINNER, NALLELI COBO FROM NORTH AMERICA

The Goldman Environmental Prize recognizes grassroots environmental heroes from roughly the world’s six inhabited continental regions: 

• Africa

• Asia

• Europe

• Islands & Island Nations

• North America

• South & Central America

Nalleli Cobo is the North American recipient. She led a coalition to permanently shut down a toxic oil-drilling site in her community in March 2020, at the age of 19—an oil site that caused serious health issues for her and others. Her continued organizing against urban oil extraction has now yielded major policy movement within both the Los Angeles City Council and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. As reported previously on The Climate Daily, both council and board voted unanimously to ban new oil exploration and phase out of existing sites.

Many active oil wells in LA exist in Latino and Black and neighborhoods. Urban oil wells have been clearly linked to asthma and other health problems. In fact a major well was active just 30 feet from Cobo’s home, causing her to suffer nosebleeds, headaches and heart palpitations.

In 2011, together with her mother, Nalleli began walking door-to-door, distributing fliers about the dangers of oil extraction and documenting the rampant illnesses in the community caused by oil pollution. Her organizing resulted in the formation of People not Pozos, (“people not oil wells”) for which she became the spokesperson.

in 2015, after co-founding the South Central Youth Leadership Coalition, Nalleli looked to expand her efforts and work toward phasing out oil sites across the city. The group sued the city of Los Angeles for environmental racism—specifically for disproportionately permitting oil drilling in Latino and Black communities.

Why does her work matter to us? Environmental justice. 75% of wells in LA County are located within 1,700 feet of “sensitive land uses,” such as homes, schools, or parks. Some 580,000 residents live less than a quarter mile from an active well. 

DEEPER DIVE: Goldman Prize, Idealist, Wikipedia, YouTube, The Guardian, People Not Pozos, Center for Biological Diversity, Intersections South LA