"Football is not a matter of life and death", Bill Shankly, Liverpool FC's legendary manager, once observed. "It's more important than that."

Fans of other sports or no sport at all may beg to differ. But there can be little dispute about the extraordinary levels of passion that sport is able to inspire. People care desperately about the fate of their home team or their favourite player.

Compared to the fate of the planet, all this kicking of balls and running around might seem a trifle asinine. Little surprise, perhaps, that the environmental movement – known for its worried brows and dire predictions - tends to give sport a wide berth. The one exception is sporting infrastructure.

Recent years have seen a small but growing interest in low-carbon stadiums and the like, as the efforts to green the London Olympic (Queen Elizabeth) Park testified.

But are environmentalists missing a trick? Russell Seymour thinks so. "It's obvious to attach sustainability messages to something that generates so much passion as sport", said Seymour, sustainability manager at the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lords in London. Demographics add weight to the argument too. A large proportion of sports fans are adult, male and "beer drinking", as Seymour bluntly puts it: in short, "not the kind of people who generally engage on sustainability issues."

Winning logic

On paper, linking the power of sport to sustainable living initiatives makes plenty of sense. Sport events and sporting affiliations contain many of the preconditions for promoting mass behaviour change, according to Ian Christie, research fellow at the University of Surrey's Sustainable Lifestyles Research Group: people are gathered in one place, which makes messaging easier; fans enjoy "congregational associations", which provides strength in numbers; and they enjoy competition, which is often used to promote "friendly pressure" to drive improvement patterns.

Furthermore, behaviour change models already exist from which sports organisations can learn. Christie points to the Carbon Rationing Action Group, a grassroots network that sees local residents encourage one another to cut their personal carbon emissions. The success of these groups owes to the participants' common interests, shared vision and regular interaction: factors true of sports fans and players too.

Kerbside recycling initiatives provide another example. Evidence shows that people will recycle more if their recycling rates are compared publicly with those of their neighbours. Sporting folk, more than anyone, understand the spirit of competitiveness that underlies such behaviour.

The celebrity factor of professional sport provides another powerful lever for possible change. Gary Neville, the former Manchester United and England footballer, has become a vocal ambassador for green issues in recent years. It's "crucially important" to have public role models promoting sustainability messages rather than the "usual suspects", argued Trewin Restorick, founding partner of Global Action Plan, an environment group promoting green lifestyles.

In a similar way, the owners of sport clubs could be doing much more to speak out. Fans have "strange affiliations" with their favourite sports clubs, Restorick notes: "If the club endorses it (sustainable living), then it's as if the message has added legitimacy than if it came from, say, an energy company or government."

Engaging fans

Yet sports clubs have largely failed to take up this challenge of engaging their fans. That's partly because they are concentrating on getting their own house in order, said the MCC's Seymour, who also chairs the British Association for Sustainability in Sport. Other barriers include a lack of expertise among sports clubs regarding sustainability and public behaviour change, as well as a fear of lecturing fans.

Getting the tone right is clearly essential. Fans don't want messages "shoved down their throats", said Restorick. Instead, clubs need to get creative. A good example of public engagement is a project run by Global Action Plan at London rugby club Roslyn Park. While fans are watching the game, volunteers from the charity pump up the tyres of their cars. On their return, the charity then passes on tips about safe, fuel-efficient driving.

The US-based Seattle Mariners has gone one step further. Last year, the Major League Baseball club introduced 'Sustainable Saturdays'. The scheme invites fans to participate in an environment-related trivia contest that requires them to look for clues at the various recycling points around the stadium. Participants in the contest, which operates via text messages and runs over ten home games each season, stand to win a tablet computer. Volunteers from youth charity Camp Fire USA are also on hand to encourage fans to use the recycling bins available.

In the UK, Forest Green Rovers is setting the pace – off the pitch, if not always on it. The Gloucestershire-based football club, currently ranked mid-table in the Skrill Premier League, only sells locally-produced organic food in the stadium. The move was introduced by Dale Vince, chief executive of green energy firm Ecotricity, who took a majority share in the club three years' ago. Under Vince's watch, the club has also installed free charging posts for home or visiting fans with battery-powered vehicles.

"There's no preaching or 'you should do this' message attached to it", said Vince, who has also overseen the introduction of 50kW in solar capacity and a chemical-free pitch. "The most important way to get the message out is just to go ahead and do it (environmental action), and if people like it then they might be interested to follow it."

Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox