If women’s football cares about the climate crisis it must cut ties with Barclays

As a professional footballer I see the climate crisis killing my sport and believe we have a duty to act accordingly

When I play football I feel free from the worries of day-to-day life. But as a young person living in a climate and environmental crisis, these worries have become increasingly hard to ignore. This has been made even harder by the fact that the climate crisis is killing my sport, and one of the companies most responsible is plastering its name all over football in England to distract from what it is doing.

As a professional footballer, I’ve had the privilege of representing my country, New Zealand, 15 times. From being a champion of Italy with Juventus to playing most recently for Hearts in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, I have been lucky enough to experience football in a variety of settings. The goal was always to use football as a means to experience the world, but it turns out the world I’ve been experiencing isn’t what I thought it would be.

For this reason I am using my career to fight for the defining issue of our generation: tackling climate change. Call me a hypocrite if you like – I would accept another call-up from New Zealand with all the travel involved – but nobody is perfect and that charge won’t stop me from using my platform to encourage positive change. If my New Zealand upbringing taught me anything, it’s that we have to do everything in our power to protect our precious ecosystems.

Women’s football is more popular than ever but as the game grows we find ourselves at a turning point – one where we get to decide what our future looks like. What are our core values? Where do we want women’s football to be in five or 10 years’ time, and which organisations do we want to be working with?

From the Lionesses securing £600m for girls’ football in English schools, to the Afghanistan women’s national team’s fight against the Taliban, footballers are defining what our game will look like on a daily basis. We saw it consistently at last year’s Women’s World Cup, including when 44 players launched football’s biggest climate campaign. We’re aware of our responsibility to help shape the future of our sport.

Which brings me to something I can’t ignore. Barclays, the lead sponsor for the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship in England, was the top European funder of fossil fuels between 2016 and 2022, according to the Rainforest Action Network’s banking on climate chaos report. The report states that Barclays provided £149bn to the fossil fuel sector, including to Shell and TotalEnergies, whose products are driving up planet-warming emissions. This situation is sadly not unique to women’s football but we have an opportunity – and I believe a duty – to change it.

At the start of this year, Barclays launched its “Here for the land of football” campaign, joined by prominent footballers and aimed at investing more in the sport. I believe this is a cynical attempt to sportswash (the sporting equivalent of greenwashing) its image and use women’s football as a distraction from the devastation it inflicts in the name of commercial success. It cares more about profits than about the future success of football, and in doing so threatens the planet on which football depends.

Climate change will have a devastating impact on women’s football. Last year I supported Football For Future’s evidence to the Future of Women’s Football Review, which laid bare this impact. Even at a professional level, women’s football does not have the infrastructure to protect players from severe weather events, frozen pitches and extreme heat. Many women’s teams do not play in their club’s main stadium, affording them less control over facilities.

In the 2022 Euros, the Lionesses were forced to train inside before their quarter-final against Spain owing to high temperatures. Last season, Chelsea’s fixture against Liverpool was abandoned after six minutes because of a frozen pitch. Scientists agree climate change makes extreme weather more likely. We are already seeing how the climate crisis is threatening the beautiful game.

Climate change will also exacerbate almost every inequality that exists between men and women, disproportionately affecting women’s and girls’ ability to perform everyday tasks. While I fight for climate action in football, one of our sponsors is funding the destruction of habitats that communities depend on to survive.

Barclays touts its investment in women and girls, claiming “football belongs to all of us”. But any positive impact it has had in advancing women’s football is fundamentally undermined by the impact it is having on our planet.

I am urging the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship to reconsider the role they have given Barclays. We’ve fought for generations to get the game to where it is today and as we grow we must take care to do so in a way that is in line with our values and secures a positive future.

This is our moment to be bold and to continue to show the world a new way. There’s plenty more progress to be made, and we have a huge opportunity to align with an organisation that will lead the way with us, towards a brighter future. It is time to hold Barclays accountable. It may claim to be inspiring the next generation to play football, but its destructive actions will leave no planet to play on.

Katie Rood is a footballer, a Kiwi and a vegan. She has represented New Zealand 15 times and is a free agent while completing her recovery from a knee injury. Her clubs include Juventus, Bristol City, Lewes, Southampton and Heart of Midlothian.

The Barclays response

Barclays has supported the Premier League for over 23 years and the Women’s Super league since it became professional in 2019, the largest ever investment in UK women’s sport by a brand. We have supported over 2,900 community sports groups to make football more accessible through the Barclays Community Football Fund and are supporting the ambition to provide equal access for girls to football in schools through the Barclays Girls’ Football Schools Partnerships, increasing the number from around 3,000 schools to almost 20,000 since 2019.

To reach net zero, investment is needed to support current and future global energy demand, including oil and gas, as renewable energy is scaled up. Barclays is supporting energy companies transition with a $1tn target of financing, whilst investing £500m in the climate tech necessary for decarbonisation. As the number two clean energy adviser globally, we are playing a significant role towards financing real world decarbonisation.

Cover photo: Katie Rood has played 15 times for New Zealand and in Europe for clubs in Italy, England and Scotland. Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images