Our dream: A world united through football.

As part of its vision of promoting football and interest in sports to create an environment where people can live happier lives, JFA is actively pursuing a range of football-related environmental initiatives. These include efforts to reduce the environmental burdens associated with football and environment awareness-raising activities for the entire football family.

The Challenge 25 Campaign
A Popular Movement to Stem Global Warming

JFA has a history of promoting football-related environmental initiatives. One of these was a campaign to curtail global warming called Team Minus 6%, in which it was involved from June 2005. Team Minus 6% was recast as the Challenge 25 Campaign on 14 January 2010. JFA wholeheartedly endorses the new campaign’s goals and is continuing its participation in this national environmental project.

The Challenge 25 Campaign takes the Team Minus 6% Campaign one step further. The goals of curtailing global warming and reducing carbon monoxide are the same, but the targets are more ambitious. Challenge 25 recommends a range of concrete steps that ordinary Japanese people can take to cut their carbon monoxide emissions both at home and at work.

As a nation, Japan is targeting a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (based on 1990 levels) by 2020. Achieving this involves the promotion of six specific goals and 25 actions: (1) adopting eco-conscious lifestyles; (2) choosing energy-efficient products; (3) choosing energy from renewable sources; (4) making homes and offices more energy efficient; (5) supporting strategies to reduce carbon monoxide; and (6) participating in greenhouse gas reduction activities at the global level.

JFA and the J.League plan to continue their initiatives to increase the number of sports grounds covered with natural grass and to discourage the engine idling of the buses and other vehicles of the Japan National Team and J.League club sides. We are also encouraging the football family (the 47 prefectural football associations and all the various football leagues and bodies) to follow Challenge 25’s recommendations. We are actively publicizing our environmental conservation and greenhouse gas reduction efforts through advertising and other media at international matches and major J.League and JFA games.

Stadium-tidying and Recycling

JFA is working with Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd., the Official Sponsor of the Japan National Team, to promote environmental activities focused on the national team.

Stadium-tidying sees fans help with the post-match clean-up by collecting and separating garbage. This initiative, which makes Japanese stadiums clean and pleasant and at the same time reduces the impact of rubbish generated during matches, has won global acclaim.

As part of this initiative, paper cups used at national team matches are collected in dedicated bins for recycling.