Young people join forces to Protect the Planet

 

Funded by the Premier League and #iwill Fund, and delivered by the Premier League Charitable Fund through the national Premier League Kicks, Premier League Primary Stars and Premier League Inspires programmes, the event will see nine-to-13-year-olds from 25 professional football clubs come together to tackle environmental sustainability at their football clubs and in their communities. 

 

Held at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium, the event will enable young people to take part in an exhibition of their youth social action projects devised to protect the planet, alongside a motivational panel discussion featuring inspirational role models, and workshops and skills sessions designed to support young people’s understanding of the world around them. 

 

The Protect the Planet event has been co-designed by, and will be co-delivered with, the Premier League Charitable Fund Protect the Planet Youth Panel, a group of 14 young people aged 11 – 16 with a passion for environmental sustainability. 

 

Tigers Trust representatives will be exhibiting their Protect the Planet project at the event - around how long plastics take to be broken down. 

 

Girls from the Malet Lambert Premier League Kicks programme carried out a Social Action project around protecting the planet and how long plastics take to be broken down. 

 

As a reward the Trust ordered the girls thermal reusable bottles but looked for a company which gave something back to the environment. 

 

This is Mr Bamboo was discovered, so for every bottle bought, they plant a tree and we now have the link to our impact page. 

 

Social Inclusion Manager Kayleigh Jackson enthusiastically expressed, "The innovative efforts of the young participants in our Malet Lambert Premier League Kicks Programme are truly commendable. They are actively engaged in promoting the use of renewable resources, contributing to the thriving of new trees. This not only benefits the environment but also reflects a forward-thinking approach that we highly value. 

 

"Launched in August 2022, and designed to reduce the barriers to participation in youth social action, the Protect the Planet Challenge increases young people’s knowledge and understanding about environmental sustainability and empowers them to positively influence climate change action in their local communities. More than 2,400 young people representing more than 90 professional football club community organisations from across England and Wales have taken part in the Challenge to date. 

 

Premier League Charitable Fund Chief Executive, Ruth Shaw, said: “Environmental sustainability is of great importance to the Premier League Charitable Fund. Through the Protect the Planet Challenge young people from Premier League programmes across England and Wales have developed some brilliant ideas to drive positive environmental sustainability action in school, at home and in their communities. 

 

“We must all play our part in this important issue, and I’m grateful to the Premier League and #iwill Fund for their support in helping our charity, and the professional football club community organisations we work with, to empower thousands of young people to take positive action on climate change.” 

 

The Premier League became a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action framework in 2021 and has been working towards reducing its own emissions by 50% before 2030 and achieving net- zero emissions by 2040, in line with the 1.5 degrees global warming limit of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Together with clubs, the Premier League has been supporting fans and communities to understand the importance of environmental sustainability. 

 

As part of the Protect the Planet Challenge, the Tigers Trust team explored the positive work Hull City is already doing to tackle climate change, including using recyclable and renewable materials and energy. 

 

The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action. The Premier League Charitable Fund is acting as a match funder and awarding grants to professional football club community organisations to support the Protect the Planet delivery, on behalf of the #iwill Fund. 

 

To find out more about the Protect the Planet Challenge, please visit premierleague.com/plcf