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Sportswashing, they said, saw oil and flight companies from the Middle East infiltrating the English Premier League and luring prominent footballers such as Ronaldo to their shores while their governments used oil money to host big sporting events and divert attention from human rights abuses.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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Green lobby groups in Africa and Europe are canvassing sports federations to ditch sponsorship from fossil fuel companies that are responsible for climate change.

This campaign on sports sponsorship is the biggest one after the removal of tobacco in sports. FIFA burned sponsorship from the tobacco industry in 1986 and has since worked with World Health Organisation to improve its policies.

In Africa, TotalEnergies, which has gone on a massive exploration campaign in the continent, sponsors the African Cup of Nations (AFCON). National teams such as South Africa’s women’s team, Banyana Banyana, benefit from the support of Sasol, which is classified as the second biggest greenhouse gases emitter after Eskom.

Skiing in Europe gets support from fossil fuel companies, which, ironically, are responsible for global warming that is melting the snow and potentially destroying the sport.

Speakers at webinar hosted by World without Fossil Ads on April 9 called for the total burn of fossil fuels advertisement especially through sports. Sports is where companies get the biggest audiences especially the youth to promote their products.

Sportswashing, they said, saw oil and flight companies from the Middle East infiltrating the English Premier League and luring prominent footballers such as Ronaldo to their shores while their governments used oil money to host big sporting events and divert attention from human rights abuses.

Andrew Simms, an activist from the UK, said that sports federations could find alternative sponsors other than fuel companies. “Sports is floating on a sea of carbon, but that can change. Remember, it took Russia to invade Ukraine for UEFA to ditch gas sponsorship,” Simms said.

He said that football could be used as a lever for change. “Football has power to influence, for example, the Black Lives Matter campaign.” Simms also cited Manchester United’s star Marcus Rashford campaign against child food poverty when he managed to fight for the provision of free school lunches.

“Sport can make a big contribution by not being a billboard for fossil fuels,” Simms said. He said that fossil fuel companies often raised disingenuous arguments about the jobs they offered and threatening to cut them if they were pressured not to advertise.

Stephen Horn, who is country director for Clean Creatives and runs a web infotainment show – Politically Aweh – the argument about jobs was sensitive. “The argument raised is - do we want jobs or a safe environment? In a country of unemployment like South Africa, it’s a dangerous argument,” Horn said.

Björn Sandström, a cross-country skier from Sweden, said that it was easier for an individual athlete to drop fossil fuel sponsor but not so for a federation whose profits will drop.

“I’m totally dependent on these companies and we are doing a sport on snow and the snow is disappearing. Unfortunately for us, our beautiful sport is vanishing because of climate change,” said Sandström.

Simms argued that sports were once dependent on tobacco advertising but still survived after cutting ties with the industry. “When we shrink fossil fuels we will see growth in green energy. Once we push dirty sponsors out of our way, we can find alternatives,” Simms said.

Nyasha Mukapiko from Zimbabwe said that football would not die if CAF cut ties with TotalEnergies. He runs the Kick Total out of AFCON Campaign.

“Before TotalEnergies, Orange, a telecommunications company sponsored AFCON. We are campaigning for Total to stop exploration in Africa and invest in green energy,” Mukapiko said.