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The Sustainable Hour no. 592 | Transcript | Podcast notes
In this 592nd episode of The Sustainable Hour, we speak with Lex Lynch, CEO of Footy for Climate.
The climate crisis is no longer some distant abstract issue for Australian sport. Bushfires, floods and extreme heat are already affecting local footy clubs across the country. Lex Lynch from Footy for Climate tells us how Australia’s biggest sporting culture is beginning to respond. He explains how AFL and AFLW players helped launch the organisation in the wake of the Black Summer bushfires – after professional players themselves were forced indoors because of dangerous smoke conditions.
Today, Footy for Climate works with clubs around Australia to install solar panels, batteries and other sustainability solutions, helping reduce costs while building resilience for communities facing more frequent climate extremes.
We hear how one country footy club cut its annual energy bill from $9,000 to $900, why community football clubs are among Australia’s most important social hubs, and how local sport can become a bridge-builder in difficult times.
We also explore the difficult relationship between football and fossil fuel sponsorships, and ask whether Australia may finally have reached a social tipping point where climate action and renewable energy are now becoming part of mainstream culture rather than a political battleground.
Our interview with Lex highlights how sport can bring people together across political divides. Lex describes how Footy for Climate works with MPs from both sides of politics, AFL clubs, players, local governments and community organisations to create practical climate solutions rather than ideological battles. Community football clubs, he says, are far more than sports venues – they are gathering places, resilience hubs and cultural meeting points woven deeply into Australian life.
→ If you want to know more about Footy for Climate go to: www.footyforclimate.org.au
. . .
Colin Mockett OAM returns with another wide-ranging global climate roundup. This week he reflects on a landmark United Nations resolution supporting climate accountability in international law, growing alarm over Arctic ice melt and Europe’s rapidly rising temperatures, as well as the extraordinary milestone of wind and solar power overtaking fossil fuels in the European Union’s electricity grid.
Colin gives us an update about Forest Green Rovers in England – often described as the world’s greenest football club – whose men’s and women’s teams have both now been promoted to higher divisions while continuing their strong environmental commitments. Full transcript below.
. . .
At the heart of the conversation in this episode is a simple idea: protecting the future of the game Australians love means protecting the future of the communities and climate that sustain it.
“Be authentic,” Lex says at the close of the conversation. “Be true to yourself, be true to your values.”
. . .
NEW SONG
– A feel-good Aussie footy anthem about community, climate action and protecting the game we love for future generations. Inspired by our interview with Lex Lynch.
We around off the Hour with our song ‘Conseqence Times’
→ More songs from The Sustainable Hour
“It’s just some very simple details that you need to put in and we would then connect you with the right organisations, organisations we think you should work with, make sure that you’re connecting to the local government who often own the facility. And I guess importantly, three or four weeks ago the federal government announced their Game On programme, which involves a $50 million dollar package for funding for exactly these sort of projects for sporting community sporting facilities around Australia, solar, battery, LED, lighting, water. So now is the time to get involved because the funding round and applications to put in grant funding applications which is in the next few weeks. Now’s the time to to get on the front foot.”
~ Lex Lynch, CEO, Footy for Climate
→ Subscribe to The Sustainable Hour podcast via Apple Podcasts or Spotify
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We at The Sustainable Hour would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are broadcasting, the Wadawurrung People. We pay our respects to their elders – past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
The traditional custodians lived in harmony with the land for millennia, nurturing it and thriving in often harsh conditions. Their connection to the land was deeply spiritual and sustainable. This land was invaded and stolen from them. It was never ceded. Today, it is increasingly clear that if we are to survive the climate emergency we face, we must learn from their land management practices and cultural wisdom.
True climate justice cannot be achieved until Australia’s First Nations people receive the justice they deserve. When we speak about the future, we must include respect for those yet to be born, the generations to come. As the old saying reminds us: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” It is deeply unfair that decisions to ignore the climate emergency are being made by those who won’t live to face the worst impacts, leaving future generations to bear the burden of their inaction.
“The Indigenous worldview has been marginalised for generations because it was seen as antiquated and unscientific and its ethics of respect for Mother Earth were in conflict with the industrial worldview. But now, in this time of climate change and massive loss of biodiversity, we understand that the Indigenous worldview is neither unscientific nor antiquated, but is, in fact, a source of wisdom that we urgently need.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, weallcanada.org
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Open letter to FIFA
British footballers tell FIFA: the heat is killing our game
“UK players have signed a letter demanding FIFA protect them from dangerous heat at the World Cup, but football bosses keep taking polluters’ cash.”
Picture the World Cup. The beautiful game on the biggest stage. Billions watching. And players collapsing in heat that human beings were never meant to work in.
That’s not scaremongering. That’s the warning now coming from professional footballers themselves.
More than 60 players from around the world have signed an open letter to FIFA demanding urgent action on heat stress ahead of this summer’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Among them are dozens of British players from across the football pyramid, including Chuba Akpom of Ipswich Town, Jordan Rhodes, who earned 15 caps for Scotland, former Norwich City and Wycombe manager Russell Martin, and players from clubs including Oxford United, Derby County, Stevenage, Colchester United and many more.
These aren’t fringe voices. These are people who have spent their lives on pitches, in training grounds, in the heat. And they know what it does to you.
→ Continue reading on Substack
Footy for Climate: OUR LOCAL
First episode of OUR LOCAL features Emma Kearney and her parents at their family farm located in Cavendish, western Victoria
Second episode of OUR LOCAL features the Fitzroy FC in the inner north of Melbourne with Nell Morris-Dalton and Dylan Buckle
The third and final episode of OUR LOCAL features the Goodwood Saints F.C in Adelaide with Riley Bonner and Riley Thilthorpe
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TRANSCRIPT
of The Sustainable Hour no. 592
Harrison Ford: (00:00)
Bring people together who weren’t talking before. That’s leadership. That’s what moves the needle.
Jingle:
The Sustainable Hour. For a green, clean, sustainable Geelong: The Sustainable Hour.
Tony Gleeson: (00:27)
Welcome to The Sustainable Hour. We’d like to acknowledge that we’re broadcasting from the land of the Wadawurrung people. We pay tribute to the elders – past, present, and those that earn that great honour in the future. We’re broadcasting from stolen land, land that was never ceded, land that the Wadawurrung people were custodians of for millennia and the ancient wisdom that they accumulated in nurturing both their land and their community, we have access to that and it paves a path for us to survive the climate crisis.
Mik: (01:18)
Speaking of wisdom and knowledge, I attended yet another Connection Café in Geelong this Friday. It’s something that happens on the fourth Friday of every month in the CBD of Geelong. And what an amazing level of knowledge that was shared in this little group of people who came together.
Everything… From one person really excited about having ripped up the nature strip in front of the house and planting native plants there and beginning to see the birds coming, and another one excited about reading a book.
A third one actually writing a book and sharing the knowledge with all of us, you know… the manuscript. We’re actually all being offered to – not to co-write, but to participate and comment and and be you know sharing the knowledge of a book before it’s published.
Yet another one has just built a tiny house and has an opening [this Saturday in Portarlington]. We’ll be talking more about that in The Sustainable Hour later, like, a launch of a little building project.
Another one was so excited about her her plant project. She’s becoming known in her local neighbourhood as “The Crazy Plant Lady” because she talks with all the neighbours about plants and that becomes a means of connection. She’s actually just renting an apartment, so she’s planting on her balcony. But also there’s some small pieces of land in front of the building. And while she’s working there with the plants – and I’m imagining even talking with the plants – the neighbours come by and help, and chat, and so on, so it’s a great way of creating connection.
And all together it was so encouraging and there was so much optimism in the room. And this is something built, you know, the Connection Café idea started out as a Climate Café. It’s been going on for years around the world, giving a space for people who were in grief, who were mourning, feeling anxious and depressed about the climate crisis, and the collapse of civilisation and these big questions. So here we were, you know, having – I felt – having turned that around. Everyone in the room understood that, yes, we are in a dire situation. But there are so many good things happening, and there’s so much to exchange and learn from and get excited about! And it’ll happen again on the fourth Friday of June.
But it’s time to hear more serious news about what’s been happening around the world and for that we have Colin Mockett OAM as always ready with the global outlook. What do you have for us today, Colin?
COLIN MOCKET’S GLOBAL OUTLOOK: (04:05)
Yes, thank you, Mik. A little bit deeper than than the plant lady, but it’s still as important, the plant lady is as important because holding communities together is something that’s very important in 2026.
But our roundup this week begins at the UN Assembly in New York, where 141 nations, including Australia, voted for a landmark United Nations resolution, which backs a ruling on climate change in the High Courts, which essentially says that countries can be held legally responsible for their greenhouse gas emissions. In his statement after the vote, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres summed it up thus: “The world’s highest court has spoken,” he said. “Today, the General Assembly has answered.”
“This is a powerful affirmation of international law, climate justice, science, and the responsibility of states to protect people from the escalating climate crisis.”
The vote was actually 141 to 8 with 28 abstentions. Among the 8 that opposed were – you won’t be surprised – the U.S., Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Some of the highest oil producing nations are major greenhouse gas emitters. But those that voted for it included China, Japan, the EU, Brazil, and Australia. I don’t know if if our government was quite aware of what we were signing up to, because we do export an awful lot of fossil fuels that are burned around the world, and if we’re being held responsible in the future, it could be very costly for us.
The United States had campaigned hard to try and sink the vote. America’s UN representative, Tammy Bruce, declared that the resolution included inappropriate political demands relating to fossil fuels.
And the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, which arguably probably has got the most to lose from all of the nations if the rising sea levels continue, had led the international push behind the ICJ ruling. And that country’s Minister of Climate Change, Ralph Regenvanu, called the resolution deeply significant, saying that it confirmed the fact that there was no state above its obligations. And he also said that he had and his delegation had been heavily bullied by the US to try and drop the resolution.
Now in the U.S. itself, we’re 16 months into the second Trump administration, and many environmentalists say that this is their worst fears have not just been realised, they’ve been surpassed. Facing a spate of orders, pronouncements, and actions that target America’s most vulnerable natural resources and their poorest communities, advocates fear that the Trump agenda will set the country back decades. That’s according to Manish Bapna, who is president and CEO of the National Resources Defense Council.
“If this assault continues, it could take a generation or more to repair the damage,” he warned. It is not an overstatement to say that the Trump administration has launched the worst White House assault in history on the environment and public health. He said, “Day by day and hour by hour the administration is destroying the most significant achievements of our time.”
Democrat Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who is a ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that the president’s corrupt assault on clean air, clean water and affordable clean energy has helped make him the least popular president ever. “Trump’s fossil fuel funded gangster government prioritises lawlessness and disdain for the Constitution,” he said.
It is not lowering household energy costs or incentivising economic growth or reducing pollution. The American people know this has made them worse off, and it will get worse still.
And then – still in the U.S. – comes a report from the San Diego Institute of Oceanography, which says that surface temperatures in the Arctic Ocean are warming more rapidly than anywhere else on the planet. The Arctic ice cap is composed mainly of sea ice and not ice on land, like Antarctica. Sea ice fluctuates with the seasons, it expands in the autumn and winter and shrinks in the spring and summer. In September of each year, Arctic sea ice is at its minimum.
Now, based on the data over the past 40 years, September sea ice is found to be declining at a rate of 12.1 per cent per decade. And it’s starting from a low base because in 2012, scientists recorded the lowest Arctic sea ice minimum on record when the ice cap shrank by 3.39 million square kilometres.
Researchers are also concerned about the Greenland ice sheet, the region’s main expanse of land ice. This ice sheet has lost over 5,000 gigatonnes of ice over the last four decades. This has led to 14 millimetres of sea level rise and the fresh water and sediments that have flowed into the ocean around Greenland have disrupted local climate and ecosystems.
If the entire Greenland ice sheet were to melt, scientists have estimated that global sea levels would rise by seven meters. And just to keep the awful news coming, a new report has found that the continent of Europe is warming at twice the global average, making it the world’s fastest warming continent.
Recent reports in Euronews from the World Meteorological Office highlights severe temperature extremes, record-breaking glacier melt, and mounting pressure on infrastructure, with at least 95 per cent of Europe experiencing above average annual temperatures of the last year.
Prolonged heat waves affected areas from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, with glaciers across all Europe regions experiencing mass loss. Iceland is recording its second largest glacier loss on record. Add to this that in the past year fires have burned more than a million hectares of Europe, marking one of the largest areas affected on record. Meanwhile marine heat waves heavily impacted European waters, reaching record high temperatures for the fourth consecutive year.
But I can’t leave you with this simple catalogue of bad news. Because out of Europe as well was a little balancing piece. The continent passed a historic milestone last week. Last week wind and solar energy generation finally surpassed fossil fuels in the EU grid. And that small but significant note ends our roundup for the week.
. . .
Jingle: (12:32)
Listen to our Sustainable Hour – for the future.
. . .
Tony: (12:40)
Thanks for that, Colin. A real mix as always. I guess one of the things about this work or the work that we’re doing on The Sustainable Hour gives us that overview of what’s happening, like the imbalance of what’s going on, but the scales are getting closer to like the good news or the things that are happening that are good for the climate are becoming more more frequent. And I guess if America wasn’t in the picture, things would happen a lot quicker.
Colin: (13:13)
And a lot better, yes. I like to think that this week is as significant as most of mine. It starts and ends with a little bit of good news. And in between is a catalogue of things which really explain why we need to keep the pressure up. Because things are going really badly, but our media, our mainstream media doesn’t report it anymore. Yeah.
I mean where have you read about the Arctic glaciers melting or seen it on the news or anything like that? No. No, not at all. Yeah. Well look I and I haven’t you might have noticed there was no Forest Green Rovers news. and I’ll explain why. You won’t hear anything now for a couple of months because it’s the end of the season. They’ve had in the UK they’ve had a shake up of the lower divisions of their football.
And the Forest Green Rovers actually got promoted. They were in fourth place in their in their division and they’re now going to be in the new first division. The English League First Division. And the Forest Green Rovers women, which finished second in their league, their ladder, they’re going to be in their first division too. So you’ve got now the two teams from the club which is I think it’s now universally noted as the cleanest and greenest sports club on the planet. They won’t sell meat pies in their stadium and the stadium is run from solar energy and everything is as environmental as it can possibly be. They will be playing in new leagues next year because they’ve both been essentially promoted.
Tony: (15:17)
Yep, that’s good news. And we haven’t given up on getting them on on the show so we can get it from the horse’s mouth, the process that they went through to to achieve what they’re achieving right now. Not on the field so much, we’re more interested in the sustainability side of it and decisions they’ve made around that. Okay, Colin, thanks for the your global outlook there!
Our guest for today is Lex Lynch. Lex is the CEO of Footy for Climate, which is an Australian organisation using our great national game, Aussie Rules, as a vehicle for real climate action. From solar and battery installations at community clubs to building a new generation of player leaders. With 25 years in climate and a lifelong love of the game, Lex is living proof that footy and sustainability can belong in the same circumstances . So Lex, welcome to The Sustainable Hour. Thanks for coming on!
Lex: (16:26)
Tony, pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
Tony: (16:28)
So what’s your background?There’s 25 years, which is a pretty solid stint. Maybe if we can start by talking a little bit about that. What’s your background been in working on climate?
Lex: (16:41)
Yeah, sure. Tony, look, I started or co founded a small organisation in two thousand and one, 25 years almost to the day, I’d imagine, called the Melbourne Environmental Jobs Network, with three friends at uni, which expanded to become the environmental jobs network helping job seekers and employers connect so those that were wanting sustainable jobs could get you know jobs in that sort of space. From there I worked with a not- for-profit organisation called ICLE, Local Governments for Sustainability, working on their Cities for Climate Protection campaign.
So a lot of work with local governments in their communities, state feds to help energy efficiency renewable projects mainly on local government facilities and then into consulting for a bit to Iron Bark Sustainability. Same sort of work. Local governments, their communities, state feds, some global organisations really just to help reduce emissions, a bit of time on the board of Climate for Change, which is an amazing organisation that works on how to have climate conversations, but that’s probably where my 25 years then got me to Footy for Climate a year and a half ago.
Tony: (17:52)
What was it about that that attracted you at the time? Like, to Footy for Climate?
Lex: (17:58)
I love footy. I’ve grew up banking for the North Melbourne Footy Club when I first set foot at North Melbourne primary school in grade prep in 1983. I fell in love with the game and the community and the club. I started going to the games with my friends and my brother and family. 40 years later I still go with the same friends that I met on day one back in Miss Bell Harry’s class in 1983 and tried to play
I was okay, but I just couldn’t couldn’t get enough of the footy when I played, so I was never really gonna get anywhere. But I’ve always absolutely loved footy, which I know is like eleven million other Australians. You know, it’s our national sport and I think especially in areas like Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, the footy playing states, you know, it’s our biggest cultural institution. And so when I heard that there was a way that you could somehow bring my two loves – all due respect to my family – Footy and Climate Change together, I jumped at the opportunity. And I really loved the idea of being able to use as something that can lead to positive benefits beyond just you know the immediate things that we see. And so there are challenges to footy, like there are in a lot of parts of society, and climate change is impacting on our great game. And I was keen to work with the team that had put this organisation together to help try and build on that to make sure that we can make sure our great game lasts forever.
Colin: (19:36)
Great! That’s lovely and that fits in with my beliefs as well, Lex. But can you give me a sort of outline of the organisation Footy for Climate? Are you all fans or have you got any football players and any of the major teams involved? How many members have you got for a start?
Lex: (19:59)
We’re fully… We were started by AFL footballers, professional footballers, so we’re very much not so much a fan organisation per se, but we were founded by Tom Campbell and Jasper Pittard, who were both playing at the North Melbourne Football Club in 2020. And in the wake of the Black Summer bushfires, they, training at Arden Street in North Melbourne had to train indoors for long periods of time because of the smoke and the air quality. And they were, I guess, mindful at the time that as a professional AFL club and as professional players, they had the ability and the privilege to be able to go indoors for a long period of time.
But there are 4,000 footy clubs around Australia and there are hundreds or maybe thousands of clubs that were suffering at that time after Black Summer and weren’t able to play for long periods of time. So it was actually founded by professional AFL players Tom and Jasper, who then started working within the broader AFL ecosystem with other players and within about a year had found that 92 per cent of AFL professional players, so we’re talking about the thirteen hundred and fifty across the AFL and the AFLW, ninety two per cent were concerned about climate change. They are well, they’re 18 to thirty five year old people that grew up around the sport, come from all sides and corners of Australia.
They’ve got strong connections to their local clubs and their local communities and they want to see their local communities and clubs thrive. It’s taught them and given them everything. And so you know, when you look at it like that, it’s not unsurprising that you’ve got these people that really value the opportunity that they’ve had to be able to play the game they love and they want to give something back.
Colin: (21:43)
92 per cent, that’s a big percentage! How many of them are actual members of your organisation?
Lex: (21:50)
We don’t have a membership base, so we’re not structured like that, Colin. We’re looking into launching a membership campaign in the next maybe couple of months and so I guess I’d consider them to be supporters and so we’ve got about 280 again – AFL and AFLW players who have I guess put their hand up and said, I support you publicly and I’ll do my bit to help out where we can.
Colin: (22:13)
Right. And what exactly do you do? Where are your aims and goals, Lex?
Lex: (22:21)
In the early days we were doing a lot of sort of community outreach. There was a bit of work on footballers and their own sort of carbon footprints and offsetting emissions. Tom and Jasper put on an amazing podcast called The Cooldown where they brought AFL players and climate experts together to talk about issues that might transcend those two spheres. A short film called Our Local, which similarly brought AFL and AFLW champions back to their local club to talk about what clubs and what community means to them and the sort of things that they can do through the lens of footy to help, you know, secure the future of the game.
At the moment, we’ve got a couple of key project areas that we work on. One is our Power Forward program. And so Power Forward is about installing solar batteries and sustainability solutions at local footy clubs. As I mentioned, there are 4,000 footy clubs across Australia. So there are 4,000 really community hubs in every town and city across Australia. Last year we launched our Power Forward program at the Mansfield Footy and Netball Club with 30 kilowatt solar and forty kilowatt hour batteries, and held a big party and a big celebration with the wonderful community at Mansfield who really got on board the project.
We brought Tom Campbell, co founder, Ben Brown, former Melbourne and North Melbourne player and premiership player, and a bunch of representatives from the AFL and the Players Association to get around the community and talk about this great project, which has seen their energy bills reduced from $9,000 dollars to $900. And for a footy club, that’s the equivalent of a sponsor.
As the president of the Mansfield Footy and Netball Club, Bo Sheffield said: That’s essentially the equivalent of concussion testing for the whole club every year.
We held our our second power forward project a couple of months ago at Myrtleford. Much larger battery, which means that the Myrtleford Football/Netball Club, which is the place of last resort if and when a bushfire comes, can you know be online and provide a space for the local community to be a part of. For that project we brought up, the wonderful Darcy Vescio, who’s an AFLW champion.
Yeah, they’re from Myrtleford. And again, celebrated with the local community.
Mik: (24:48)
Speaking of sponsors… Like, for instance here in Geelong, we have a refinery, Viva Energy, and they are big time sponsors in the local footie clubs, here and there. How do you as a climate organisation deal with that there are, you know, lots of fossil fuels fossil fuel money in the footie industry?
Lex: (25:09)
Yeah, look, it’s a great great question, Mik. Look, it’s a really challenging one, I know, for climate organisations and for footy clubs. The way we look at it is we understand that clubs rely on sponsorship to survive. And we know that there are times when the values of those sponsors might not align with the players and we’re increasingly seeing that, and our hope and desire is that clubs are talking to sponsors and working with sponsors and engage sponsors that are aligned with their values.
I think it’s probably going to be an area that we’re going to see a bit more discussion about. But as you know, our organisation that really sticks to our footy roots, we focus more on the practical solutions and things that we can do at the community level to make sure that the game survives and thrives, acknowledging that it’s an ongoing discussion and while we, you know, acknowledge that the sponsorship is critical to the clubs, we hope that they align with the values down the track.
. . .
SONG (26:20:)
‘Footy forever’ – mp3 audio
Verse 1:
Saturday morning, boots on the ground
Kids on the oval, mates all around
Smoke in the distance, storms in the sky
Still we keep turning up, side by side
And now the clubhouse roof shines bright
Solar panels soaking up the light
We’re leaning into the things that we love
Holding the line when the times get tough
From little towns to the big league game
Everybody here can make a change
Kicking goals for the climate – hey!
Footy forever! Footy forever!
Chorus:
Footy forever
Our future – come rain or shine
Kicking goals for the climate – hey!
Footy forever
Forever – Footy forever
Our future – our planet – our game
Looking after planet
It’s yours, it’s yours and mine
Verse 2:
The canteen’s buzzing, the lights are on
Someone’s fixing nets before the dawn
And now the clubhouse roof shines bright
Solar panels soaking up the light
We’re leaning into the things that we love
Holding the line when the times get tough
From little towns to the big league game
Everybody here can make a change
Hey – Looking after planet
It’s yours, it’s yours and mine
Verse 3:
Four thousand footy clubs and more
Opening every clubhouse door
Solar, battery, clean green energy
People come together in community
Nine grand down to nine hundred bucks
That’s more boots and better luck
More than winning on the day
It’s keeping our club alive and okay
Bridge:
E.V. fleets and carpool rides
Everybody bringing someone by
One big team from coast to coast
Looking after what we love the most
Looking after what we love the most
Kicking goals for the climate – hey!
Footy forever! Footy forever!
Chorus:
Footy forever
Our future – come rain or shine
Kicking goals for the climate – hey!
Footy forever
Forever – Footy forever
Our future – our planet – our game
Looking after planet
It’s yours, it’s yours and mine
Outro chant:
Footy forever! Hey
Footy forever!
Footy forever!
Our future – our planet – our game!
Footy forever!
Our future – our planet – our game!
Footy forever!
Our game!
. . .
Tony: (29:20)
If I wanted to talk to say at the AFL level, admin talk to someone about sustainability, is there someone dedicated to that, or a team that’s dedicated to it? In other words, I guess what sort of a space has it got on the AFL’s radar? Sustainability that is.
Lex: (29:43)
Yeah, the AFL have increased their I mean, obviously I don’t want to speak for the AFL because you know they’re a big body that can speak for themselves. We’ve got a fantastic relationship with the AFL. They’ve been incredibly supportive to Footy for Climate from the very start and they encouraged Tom and Jasper, gave advice, connections, and they’ve given us a lot of support across our journey. Those last two projects that I mentioned, if you you look at the Power Forward projects on our socials or online at Mansfield and Myrtleford, you can see the AFL’s involvement and they assisted us with that. They’ve also in the last few years, they’ve got a head of sustainability. The most recent head of sustainability has been in the role for a year and a half. I work really closely with her. And she’s does a phenomenal job, having come from Club Land at the Richmond Footy Club. The previous head of sustainability likewise built the foundations for the AFL to take the next step.
And I think – funny – if I had my consulting hat on, I’d probably say that the things that the AFL have done in the last six to eight months are exactly what I would have advised. They’ve started with their operational emissions, and a couple of weeks ago announced a partnership with a large energy company, Energy Australia, through a renewable energy purchasing deal, and now all of the emissions from their two big assets, which is Marvel Stadium here in Docklands and AFL House, and now 100 per cent renewables.
That’s the first step. We’re gonna see more, but it’s a step in the right direction when a large organisation like that decides that they are gonna go a hundred per cent renewable energy to a very large energy user.
Colin: (31:23)
I think that’s commendable, Lex, and I’m particularly excited by your involvement with the smaller clubs, the small country clubs, because I believe not only is it an advantage if you get them to install panels and batteries, but basically what you do then is recruit them into the environmental corps so that the players and the fans or the local community, you’re right to say it’s a hub. there they are the centre of each community. And if you get them involved in thinking climate, you’ve won them over. You’ve won the community over, if you put it that way.
But in that regard, are you in touch with all of the local teams? Because I’ve got a local team at the end of my street and certainly hasn’t got the venue. It’s a big venue now. It’s got an LED screen putting the scores up, but to my knowledge it doesn’t have any solar panels or batteries. So have you got a sort of a package that you put out to the smaller clubs?
Lex: (32:35)
We do, Colin. What’s your local club?
Colin: (32:38)
Bell Park Dragons.
Lex: (32:41)
Okay, I’ll make sure they’re on our list. But we too… so we’ve had, you know, we’ve had our… we launched Power Forward last year, and our target is 500 clubs by 2030 to have solar and batteries and sustainability solutions.
And depending on the club, that might be different. That might be LED lighting, that might be something about water, it might be something about recycling. The Power Forward Expressions of Interests were put out late last year, and so we encourage clubs to to get onto us and to just give us their details. So as we go out to seek and source funding for these projects, they can be the first cabs off the rank.
So it’s just some very simple details that you need to put in and we would then connect you with the right organisations, organisations we think you should work with, make sure that you’re connecting to the local government who often own the facility. And I guess importantly, three or four weeks ago the federal government announced their Game On programme, which involves a $50 million dollar package for funding for exactly these sort of projects for community sporting facilities around Australia, solar, battery, LED, lighting, water. So now is the time to get involved because the funding round and applications to put in grant funding applications which is in the next few weeks. Now’s the time to to get on the front foot.
Tony: (34:05)
Lex, if we can drill drill down a little bit further on that. So do you encourage local suppliers to do the installations?
Lex: (34:15)
Yeah, definitely. I mean, look, I think generally, you know, we’ll probably find us more of these projects than there’s anyone who’s listening from a footy club or a local government would know. I’d say 90-95 per cent of footy clubs in Victoria and South Australia, for example – and I think it’s similar in New South Wales, maybe not quite as high – leasing from local governments.
Local governments have really strong and clear procurement policies that require them to make sure they’re getting best value for money and have got a lot of criteria around local suppliers. And so I think we always try and make sure that we’ve got local suppliers and installers where possible.
Or we work with the commercial partners of the AFL or sponsors of the AFL. So for the project at Mansfield, we worked with Easy Being Green, who’ve been around for about 20 years in this broader sort of renewable energy space. And they just scrambled and did an amazing job working with the community, getting local suppliers on board to complete that project. And so we’d always encourage it, and we expect that’s going to be the case.
Colin: (35:22)
Hey Lex, each week in our roundup during the football season, the Northern European soccer football season, we report on what’s happening at Forest Green Rovers, which calls itself the world’s greenest sports organisation because it’s environmentally carbon neutral. It’s managed to cut out all of the emissions and and runs a very clean green outfit. You’re in the right position to tell us: Is there an equivalent in Australia? What’s the greenest football team that you know of?
Lex: (36:03)
It depends, I guess, on whether we’re talking about the 18 AFL and AFL W clubs or we’re talking about the 4,000 community clubs?
Colin: (36:13)
Mm. If if it turns out to be a very small one that is now carbon neutral, that’d be better because we can point to them and say, Hey, everybody can do it. If it turns out to be one of the big ones, so much the better. They’re the model for all of the other big ones.
Lex: (36:29)
Yeah. We’ve got probably got a two-part answer for that, Colin. For the local community clubs, I don’t know, but I can find out. There’d be certainly lots of clubs, like there are already a lot of clubs that have got solar, battery, and renewable energy. And the next thing would be to look at their you know, transport emissions would be the big one, the challenging one for them, and whether there are clubs that are offsetting or working with their, you know, local governments to use EV fleets or carpooling, whatever it is, there could be something out there.
At the AFL level, the similar you know the similar, more challenging emissions to reduce around transport. The nature of the job involves flying. If you are playing in a national competition, you have to play in Perth sometimes and you have to fly. So I know that a lot of clubs have reduced their emissions of their facilities, on their clubs and their clubs’ rooms.
So for example, the North Melbourne Football Club recently signed up to B Corp and is now B Corp certified. The Carlton Football Club only a few months ago also got involved in a large power purchase agreement to reduce their emissions to zero from their operations. Richmond as well has been a real leader over this time.
I think in Geelong there’s a lot happening at the moment. Geelong just recently announced a deal with a solar company. So there’s a couple that are really moving. I’d say there are none that are carbon neutral yet because of the flights, but that’d be the next step, the next cab off the rack to look at how they can offset those.
Mik: (37:59)
And how do you deal with that transport problem, especially the flights? What are you telling the teams?
Lex: (38:05)
Look, we don’t provide advice directly to the 18 clubs and you know, we know and expect that footy will be a national competition and will involve flying. I guess it’s a bit like the broader discussion around the things that, you know, clubs or organisations or individuals could do. And there’s things that we can do on our own, at our own carbon footprint, but there’s also things that are the bigger, broader systematic changes, which is, you know, around the systems and the cities and the towns that we live in.
I live in a city. There are times when I drive a car, there are times when I might need to travel and there’s systematic things and we don’t point the finger at individuals and we don’t point the finger at clubs for doing things that might not be perfect. We’re not after purity here, but we’re after improvement. And we acknowledge that air travel is one of the harder to abate sectors, which is why we we need to start on those that are easy to abate, which involves renewable energy and electrification of transport, like vehicle transport.
Mik: (39:04)
Prices for transport have gone up, certainly because of the oil crisis, the war in the Middle East and all this. Is that a positive in a way? How do you see that? You know, because it does maybe make, you know, people more aware of should we be driving less, should we be flying less?
Lex: (39:23)
Yeah, it’s a good question, Mik. Like, as far as, you know, from my role’s concerned, I think anything that’s gonna, you know… if it’s increasing the general cost of living and the ability for footy fans and footy players to be able to do and play the things they love, that’s not a good thing. You know, we want to make sure that the crisis that we have here, the broader sort of fossil fuel crisis with the states of the Strait of Hormuz et cetera closed, doesn’t impact on our stakeholders and the communities and the clubs and the people that we want to be able to play the game forever.
You know, there’s the obviously the bigger, broader discussion around the move to electrification and if there’s a bit of a silver lining and that helps people realise, you know, all of us realise and reduce the costs of electric transport and electrification, then then that that’s a good thing.
Mik: (40:17)
Do you think we have reached a tipping point now? You know, there’s been for decades all this debate about for and against is climate real? Should we be changing over to electric appliances and solar and so on? Have we reached a tipping point where now it’s actually really just rolling? Do you feel that?
Lex: (40:37)
Yeah, I do. There’s a there’s a great resource that was released I think late last year called the 89 Per Cent Club. And it took a lot of the polls and surveys and focus groups from all around the world and you know showed and demonstrated that there’s generally a pretty consistent understanding in every town, every city, every country that 80 to 89 per cent of people want more renewables and more climate action.
So I think it is there. It’s maybe not what we see and read, when we, you know, if you’re reading certain media that’s gonna amplify you know, the challenges that we have, but there are still challenges and I think there are things that the broader sustainability movement or renewables developers and investors could do a lot better, especially in regional areas where we need to make sure that when there’s more work with communities, again, generally renewables are considered really positive to get throughout Australia regional and rural areas, even where there are renewable projects that are being developed, but there’s improvements to make.
And yeah, I think once once we can start learning from some of the mistakes from the last couple of years there, it’ll become a lot easier. I think so. What do you guys reckon? Are we there?
Tony: (42:01)
Its certainly improved. Yeah. Certainly. And people that have in the past looked at their their differences and said, no, we can’t work together. And now I see a lot more evidence of them saying, ‘Okay, when we look at our similarities, we have to work together.’ And just to to make it’s all about numbers, essentially.
Lex: (42:29)
Yeah, to give you an example, Tony, and like every year for the last couple of years we’ve held a Victorian parliamentary reception, the Footy for Climate and AFL parliamentary reception. It’s been co sponsored by James Newbury, who’s the shadow I’m gonna get it wrong, he was the shadow treasurer. Apologies to James if that’s not the case anymore. And Steve Dimopoulos, who was the environment minister and minister for events and again has recently had a portfolio change. But Steve and Dimo are from opposite sides of the aisle. They co-sponsor this event. We have thirty to 35 MPs rock up. Andrew Dylan’s come along the last few years, the CEO of the AFL. The Premiership Cups are there. And we get representatives from both sides of the aisle.
So our approach is to absolutely work across the aisle and we see so much alignment in general. There are still pockets of misalignment or disagreement, but the way we work and our role is to absolutely work with all and listen to all.
Tony: (43:31)
Yeah. Is there any collaboration or attempts at collaboration across sports? Like you’re obviously representing Aussie Rules, which is up in this country as regards participants and supporters and general punters. But yeah, what about say cricket, tennis, yeah, other sports that that have got a profile in the country? Is there anything happening on that front?
Lex: (43:58)
There is there’s a lot and we work closely with them. So, Cricket For Climate in particular that was founded by Pat Cummins, the Australian cricket captain, a few years ago. We work really closely with the team at Cricket for Climate on the projects that we were talking about before in particular. So most footy clubs, they’re footy clubs in winter and they’re cricket clubs in summer. And you know, we’ve got a similar approach to the way that we work with our collective sports. We work closely with an organisation called Surfers for Climate Action who do an incredible job working with that other cultural institution that we have. and yeah, others as well.
So there’s an organisation called Frontrunners that helps athletes in general with climate advocacy and leaning into the things that they love. we’ve touched on on the other sports, the so in what we call soccer. We know that the football, I’m gonna get the name wrong, but whatever the equivalent of the Soccer Players Association here in Australia have done an amazing job in the climate space for a good 5-10 years. So we work closely across sports.
Colin: (45:02)
Alexi, what is the title of your film again and is it available if anybody wants to see it online? I’m assuming they’re making it available to all sports clubs and this could be an in for those who are not aware what they can do as a sports club.
Lex: (45:23)
The one to the first one to do it, yeah. So Power Forward would be the one that you’re referring to. And on our website, footyforclimate.org.au, you’ll find there’s a link there to ‘Power Forward’. And we’ve got the pilot Mansfield projects there. There’s more information on our socials on on Instagram in particular that will have the latest projects. We’re gonna be rolling out a lot more in, so you can check out the brief video of Mansfield on our website.
Mik: (45:52)
We’ve been talking to Lex Lynch about AFL, footy, and climate. Do you have a slogan or something? Like if we were to convince more people here in our local area, what’s your slogan?
Lex: (46:08)
I don’t know if we’ve got a slogan or a catchphrase, but we’ve got I probably I reckon we’ve got a couple. We’ve got: ‘Our Future, Our Planet, Our Game.’ But what I always talk about is just making sure that the reason we exist is to protect the future of the game. We want to protect the future of the game we love and the things that we love. We know that since 2025 195 local community football clubs have received emergency assistance from the AFL because of bushfires, floods and other climate extreme weather events. And we need to make sure that when those things happen, we’re there to assist. And we want to make sure that we reduce the chances of impacts like that by playing our part in reducing emissions so we can play footy forever.
Colin: (46:59)
Congratulations, Lex, and carry on kicking goals for the climate.
Lex: (47:04)
Thanks, Colin. Thanks, Mik. Thanks, Tony!
Mik: (47:07)
Be a climate champion!
Colin: (47:09)
Yep. Make a mark on the environment.
Tony: (47:14)
They keep coming!
Mik: (47:16)
Lex, we we always end the program with saying ‘Be something’. Do you have a suggestion for what you would say people who have listened to this should go out and be?
Lex: (47:26)
Be authentic!
Colin: (48:11)
That’ll be good. That’ll work with me.
Mik: (48:12)
Why?
Lex: (48:31)
Be true to yourself, be true to your values. Like, if we’re talking about even the you know, we we talk to our players about this. We’ve got a bunch of AFL players who are concerned about this issue as I you know meant mentioned before, as again, vast majority of Australians are and often pulled in a lot of directions and unsure where to go and we just remind them to to be themselves and tell their own stories and talk about the things that they care about and the things that they can do. And they’re very good at being authentic.
And yeah, we all try our best today.
Colin: (48:50)
Just as a just as a final thing, Lex, you would think that Adelaide’s team Port Power would be a leader in in your area. Are they?
Lex: (49:02)
Is this because of their name?
Colin: (49:03)
Yeah.
Lex: (49:05)
Look, I haven’t worked too much with the with Power, so I can’t… I have met some of the team from the Port Adelaide Football Club through some AFL sessions. So the AFL head of sustainability puts on sessions with all the AFL clubs every month or two, and I know that they are part way through their journey, and they’ve got plans. Where they’re up to, I don’t know.
Colin: (49:35)
Well, they’re halfway there with the name! They’re almost sort of… because of their name.
Lex: (49:40)
Gold Coast Sun, maybe as well?
Mik: (49:43)
Thank you, thank you! Be authentic – for the future.
Lex: (49:46)
Bring it on.
. . .
SONG (49:47)
‘Consequence Times’ – mp3 audio
Verse 1:
Clashing realities
coming to a head now
I can feel the reckoning
in the weather
in the water
in the way people speak
The harm we tried to avoid
has already landed
on country
on ecosystems
carrying two hundred years
of someone else’s decisions
Bridge:
There’s frustration
A drifting sense
of not being in control
but that’s only until
we step in, together
and everything shifts
Chorus:
These are consequence times
Live like every choice
tilts the balance
And every breath matters
Part by part
road by road
community by community
we turn the tables of power
Verse 2:
Talk to your people
Talk to your tribe
Speak of the land
the weathering trees
the spaces between us
the ways we depend
on each other
Reorient the centre of gravity
we pull the power back
to the hands that care
We who know the names
of the creeks and the neighbours
Bridge:
Move with people
into the long work
of declaring your own destiny
for your local place
We want the good life
not the perfect life
The shelter that keeps
the wind outside
Chorus:
These are consequence times
Live like every choice
tilts the balance
And every breath matters
Part by part
road by road
community by community
we turn the tables of power
Outro:
The only thing you can be
is your own difference
Act in every part of your life
in ways that make beauty possible
Make connection
In consequence times connection is everything
. . .
Spoken words by George:
There’s a lot of frustration and there’s a lot of a feeling of not really being in control.
Part by part, road by road, community by community, turn the tables of power.
Making beauty possible, making shelter possible.
The only thing that you can be is your own difference and you should live as if everything you do, every action you take, has consequences.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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