Authors
Takahashi, Kiichiro; Itsubo, Norihiro; Sakuma, Satoru; Sawada, Haruki
Abstract
Japanese soccer was temporarily suspended and forced to play without spectators due to measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. Several LCA case studies of sports events such as marathon, golf tournaments and triathlon have already been carried out by authors. Carbon footprint of Tokyo Olympic Game also been calculated to realize carbon free event. But there are few examples of environmental footprint for sports professional team in Japan. In addition, there are still few papers that evaluate the environmental impact of a pandemic. In this study, we evaluated carbon footprint for Ventfore Kofu, Japanese professional football team located in Yamanashi prefecture. We covered the venue, athletes, management, visitors, sponsors, promotional items in the analysis. Through the analysis, we found the key processes to reduce the carbon emissions efficiently. The results are also shared with various stakeholders using mass media. Due to the spread of COVID-19 and measures for avoidance of infection, the number of visitors and that of games have dropped and the activities of team also completely changed. We estimated the carbon footprint in 2019 (before COVID-19) and 2020 (with COVID-19) to consider the influence of virus.