2022 Environmental Justice Mission Report

The Mission

Vermont Green Football Club believes soccer can be a powerful catalyst for a more environmentally sustainable and socially just world. We’re on a mission to build a soccer club that reflects these values and embeds environmental justice into its competitive strategy, operational processes, and culture. We’re building a club that prioritizes the environment in all business decisions impacting our local and global communities.

What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice is a social movement that fights for the equal distribution of environmental benefits and burdens in our society. It is also a lens that allows us to understand how human rights, equality, and environmental stewardship are interconnected. Through this lens, it is clear that efforts to address environmental crises – like climate change – will be most effective only if they are rooted in social justice.

2022 Mission Goals

In our pursuit to embed Environmental Justice into all club operations, our team set five distinct mission goals that would help guide our work in building the club in 2022 and beyond.

  • Net Zero
  • Fighting Systemic Racism in Soccer
  • Purpose Driven Merchandise
  • Giving
  • Education and Awareness

Net Zero

GOAL

Become a net zero club following the standards set forth in the Science Based Targets (SBTi) initiative.

PROGRESS

  • Began foundational work in partnership with an external team of consultants to build out our internal system to track emissions, develop a plan to reduce those emissions, and work with our venue, vendors, and supporters to collaborate on emissions reductions over the course of our first season and beyond.
  • Calculated and offset all carbon emissions for trialist travel during our Winter Tryout and Spring Tryout using Greenhouse Gas Protocol tools and guidance. These emissions were offset by purchasing verified carbon offsets from a project that advances climate justice. Carbon offsets don’t count towards SBTi net zero goals, but play an important role in neutralizing club emissions and provide needed funding for projects that advance aspects of climate justice.
  • Partnered with CATMA, our local transportation management association, to execute a sustainable transportation plan for our matchday experience. We worked together to connect supporters with more sustainable and financially accessible transportation options to home matches.
  • Selected a kit partner, PlayerLayer, that is a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, and uses the HIGG Index tool to guide best practices in more sustainable product development. Their facilities are powered by solar energy, they’ve developed award-winning waste management systems at their facilities, are removing 12 million plastic water bottles from landfills in their product design, and are transitioning their factory vehicles to hybrids.
  • Hosted games at the University of Vermont who sources it’s electricity from 100% renewable sources.

“We set a strong foundation in our first season to give ourselves the best chance of succeeding in our net zero journey. We  played our games at the University of Vermont, whose energy is 100% renewable, partnered with Recover Brands who’s recycled apparel and circular model has a significant positive impact on the planet, tracked foundational activity data for future greenhouse gas reporting, promoted walking, biking, and public transportation to games, and worked to educate supporters on climate justice. This is a truly ambitious yet attainable goal, and there will continue to be a lot of learning, improving, and innovating as we march ahead. We owe a debt of gratitude to our intrepid MBA consultants Riley, Emily, and Dan, who helped us start our journey to a net zero future.”

— Keil Corey, Co-founder and Chief Purpose Officer, Vermont Green FC

Fighting Systemic Racism in Soccer

GOAL

Stand up to systemic racism in soccer and beyond, and work towards using our platform and resources to build an anti-racist soccer club.

PROGRESS

“We are very excited to be partnering with Vermont Green FC, a group with the same amount of passion and goals for the sport and the State of Vermont. Our goal is and always has been to provide a space for youth to thrive regardless of their ethnicity or socioeconomic status. The combined efforts of Vermont Green FC and Juba Star brings us that much closer to those goals. We are ecstatic and can’t wait to see what the future holds for our partnership.” — Noor Bulle, Founder, Juba Star Football Club.

Purpose Driven Merchandise

GOAL

Source merchandise that satisfies the highest standards of environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

PROGRESS

  • Sourced our merchandise from environmentally and ethically responsible producers, including Recover Brands, PlayerLayer, and Econscious. Some of our fabrics include:
    • 100% organic cotton grown in the US.
    • 100% recycled polyester from recycled plastic water bottles.
    • Upcycled cotton from manufacturing waste scraps.
    • Hemp.
  • Partnered with a kit producer, PlayerLayer, who works with manufacturers that are members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, operating in state-of-the-art factories designed with climate change and environmental stewardship in mind.
  • Embraced circularity. The Club believes in the importance of transforming the linear consumption-production model into a circular one. Recover Brands have developed the technology that allows them to take back everything they sell, including blended fabrics, and recycle used fabric into new products. This process is what’s known as a closed-loop, and our supporters can rest easy knowing their purchase never has to go to the landfill.
  • Promoted DIY by using our sew-on patches to turn old clothing into something new and unique.  
  • Ensured all cotton we sourced for tees and hoodies was certified organic and grown in the US. This means we avoided pesticide chemicals that can harm worker health and contaminate soil and watersheds. This also reduces carbon emissions associated with pesticide production and use, and longer distance transportation.

“The Vermont Green FC team has been a pleasure to work with and they have clearly prioritized sustainability throughout the development of their merchandise offering. Not only have they been deeply engaged in producing the best product, but they’re prioritizing learning about the production process, and origin of materials being used, and in turn educating their fan base about the benefits of conscious consumerism.” — Bill Johnston, Co-Founder and President, Recover Brands

Giving

GOAL

Donate money, time, and resources to like-minded organizations to advance our Environmental Justice mission.

  • Note: this goal was originally titled 1% For the Planet, as we are proud members of this Burlington-based nonprofit’s initiative to donate 1% of gross sales to organizations that work to protect our natural environment. However, our philanthropic initiatives grew throughout our inaugural season so we’ve updated the name of this goal to simply Giving.

PROGRESS

“Tabling at games helped us reach new audiences and the financial support was vital to our efforts to get out across the state to meet Vermonters where they’re at – whether a soccer game, farmers market, parade, or fair – if you could table at it, Keep Vermont Cool was there. As a result, in less than a year, the campaign has engaged over 15,000 people in the campaign, 10,000 of whom are new to the climate movement.” — Liz Edsell, Vermont Public Interest Research Group 

Education and Awareness

GOAL

Educate ourselves and our supporters on how we can influence change through the lens of environmental justice.

PROGRESS

    • Leveraged social media as a tool to communicate our mission and educate our supporters, including highlighting messages from environmental legislation and how to get involved.
    • Utilized halftime of each of our home matches to provide a platform for local mission-aligned organizations to communicate their mission to our fan-base.
    • Painted an 80 foot field sign stating: CLIMATE JUSTICE IS SOCIAL JUSTICE. This sign took the place of potential sponsor signage, and was displayed behind the south goal at all home matches.
    • Worked with our partners to expand our mission’s reach, including SunCommon, Burlington Beer Co., and Ben & Jerry’s.
    • Received organic media attention worldwide, including in pieces from BBC, NPR, and The Athletic.
    • Partnered with King Street Center on a pilot project to build relationships with local youth around soccer and climate justice. This partnership is focused on building community ties between players and local youth from underrepresented and historically marginalized communities, cultivating an inclusive and inviting club environment for these communities, and empowering teens through educational initiatives on climate justice and providing a direct line of sight towards potential employment in solar energy through a career day the club and its title sponsor SunCommon hosted with teens at the center.

“We are thrilled to build this unique and powerful partnership with the Vermont Green Football Club. It is essential that our kids see a reflection of themselves in the adults they interact with. This opportunity provides just that in addition to an entirely new experience not just for our kids, but for our city and state.” — Gabriella Tufo Strouse, Community Outreach Director, King Street Community Center

A Better Tomorrow

Our club was born out of a spirit of hope in the face of uncertainty. We believe there is opportunity in the challenging realities of environmental depredation and social inequality when we find common ground in this spirit. The beautiful game is an embodiment of a collective hope that can bridge divides and reveal common cause. We witnessed this spirit emerge and unfold over the course of our inaugural season in a remarkable way. Our supporters, players, staff, community partners, and sponsors built a joyous and passionate atmosphere at our games, demonstrating the best of what already exists in our community. We are grateful our supporters embraced our mission in our community and beyond, and we are humbled by the support.

The pillars of our mission were established to set a sturdy foundation upon which we could build a club that represents the best of our community. Our ambitions are long term, and each season brings us closer to our vision of a more environmentally sustainable and socially just world. We don’t pretend to know what the future holds, but we do know that we won’t get there alone. Our club is for the people of Vermont and the world over who believe in a better tomorrow, who have hope, and find solace and vitality in the collective spirit of the beautiful game. 

Addressing the real and existential threats that climate change is unleashing in Vermont and around the world is at the core of the club. The dysfunction (and potential breakdown) we are causing our climate system will affect all of us, one of the many examples of how we are all connected, interdependent with each other and nature. It is easy to forget this when we are caught up in feeling isolated, separate from nature and each other. COVID-19 was a deleterious reminder that social bonds and time in nature are essential for all aspects of our health and wellbeing. Reconnecting socially and ecologically has been a powerful remedy for feeling alone. Recognizing our interconnectedness and that we all benefit when we take care of nature and each other are essential steps in a process that could bring about significant positive change in our world. 

We are continuing our efforts to represent our home state and bring about positive change through connection and leveraging the best of our community.

NET ZERO

For our club, net zero is our way of taking responsibility for the climate pollution we cause, while participating in the movement for climate justice. Becoming a net zero soccer club is by no means a simple process, and doing it right requires integrity. We set a strong foundation in our inaugural season by choosing the right partners who were already on the path to reducing emissions. We were fortunate to host our games at facilities that run on renewable energy, partner with an apparel company that uses innovative fabrics and a business model that has a major positive impact on the environment, collaborate with a sustainable transportation organization that helps us connect our supporters to sustainable transportation options, and team up with a fantastic cohort of MBA consultants who helped us start our Science Based Targets journey through tracking foundational activity data and prioritizing our efforts in the seasons ahead. Next season we will continue these efforts, refining and improving our data collection of fan, staff, and player transportation, apparel emissions, facilities, and waste. We will be adding additional capacity to these efforts to help us better calculate meaningful emissions numbers that will inform how we set a Science Based Target and our strategy for achieving that goal. We will also continue to educate our supporters on climate justice and how they can join the movement.

FIGHTING SYSTEMIC RACISM IN SOCCER

Racism hurts our communities in overt and systemic ways. In Vermont, there is a community ethic shared by a majority of residents that recognizes overt racism–obvious displays of personal and institutional hatred against people of color–as abhorrent and toxic. Structural racism, however, shows up in more insidious ways that may not be as immediately obvious for 93% of the state’s residents who identify as white.

The Club founders admit to not knowing the full breadth and depth of systemic racism in Vermont, but are committed to learning and taking actions that contribute to making Burlington, and Vermont, a truly inclusive and welcoming place for everyone who visits or calls it home, including our diverse roster of players.

Those efforts help illuminate an extension of racism in America (and round the world): people of color are disproportionately harmed by environmental degradation in the form of pollution, toxic chemical exposure, and the impacts of climate change. 

We will continue to work with ARSC to advance the pillars of anti racism while we move step-by-step to connect the dots between racism and environmental harms. Fortunately, Vermont is home to incredible organizations that are working to advance anti racism and environmental justice. Some of our community partners are those very organizations. As we strengthen our existing partnerships, we are also exploring new partnerships and initiatives that bridge the gap between local and global climate justice.

PURPOSE DRIVEN MERCHANDISE

We set out on a mission to imbue our kits and apparel with meaning, to be a source of pride for all who wear them. Our aim is for our apparel to tell a deeper story, one of interconnectedness and respect for the people and ecosystems that put clothing on our backs. How we cultivate the raw materials, manufacture, design, distribute, and dispose of our clothing is all part of the story. We also have to question our consumption habits. The apparel industry is rife with environmental and social justice challenges, but we’ve discovered there are others like us who are working to change the direction of apparel production and consumption – from linear to circular. We are continuing to work with these partners and increase opportunities for supporters to engage in the circular economy.  

The Ellen McArthur Foundation, an organization leading the circular transformation in fashion and other industries, sets a compelling vision, wherein, “a circular economy for fashion creates better products and services for customers, contributes to a resilient and thriving fashion industry, and regenerates the environment. It prioritizes the rights and equity of everyone involved in the fashion industry, and will create new opportunities for growth that are distributed, diverse, and inclusive.” This is a vision we’re getting behind, by continuing to source packaging from recycled materials, source apparel and merchandise from recycled and upcycled materials, and work with vendors that will take back clothing at the end of its useful life and upcycle it into new items. We will also continue to educate our supporters on ways to modify their consumption habits to drive better outcomes for the people connected to the lifecycle of our clothing and the environment.

1% FOR THE PLANET

We are continuing our commitment to 1% for the Planet – this means we donate one percent of our annual sales to non-profits working on behalf of the environment. We did this because we recognize there are environmental and social costs to doing business, like causing greenhouse gas pollution that we are either directly or indirectly responsible for. We believe philanthropy is practical and forward-looking, like an insurance policy. Having a healthy environment and society is good for our business, so we aim to reflect that common sense in how we run our business.

EDUCATION AND AWARENESS

We are continuing to use our platform to educate ourselves and our supporters on how we can influence change through the lens of environmental justice. We believe this approach provides our best chance at reversing the climate crisis, while simultaneously addressing major social justice challenges, including systemic racism. We will continue to provide community partners with opportunities to use our platform through halftime spotlights, digital stories, and community initiatives. We are committed to providing a platform for all voices to be heard.