World’s greenest football club adds climate stripes to kit

Two English Football League clubs have kicked off the 2024/2025 season sporting the University of Reading’s climate stripes.

Forest Green Rovers FC - recognised by FIFA as the greenest football club in the world - has become the second club to adorn the red and blue graphic after Reading FC first featured the stripes on their 2022/2023 home and away kits. 

This season, Forest Green Rovers has included a design inspired by the climate stripes on both of their new strips. A graphic inspired by the biodiversity stripes, created at the University of Derby, also features on both of the League Two side’s strips. 

Dale Vince, Chairman of Forest Green Rovers, said: “We’ve taken big strides to bring sustainability into every facet of what we do as a club. Continuing to find ways to raise awareness of the Climate Crisis is in our DNA and we’re chuffed to join the #showyourstripes campaign.” 

Professor Ed Hawkins, creator of the warming stripes at the University of Reading, said: “The climate stripes are designed to start conversations about our warming world. Bringing the stripes to the pitch will get fans talking about our planet, the challenges it faces, and what must happen to stop rising temperatures. 

“Football unites people, and now it can unite fans in the fight against climate change. Forest Green’s new kits turn players and supporters into climate ambassadors, transforming each match into an opportunity to inspire action and acknowledge the urgent need for global climate solutions."

Reading FC has retained the climate stripes - which illustrate the rise in average global temperature since 1850 - on their home and away shirts for 2024/2025. The Royals included the stripes on the sleeves of their 2022/2023 home strip and featured a variation of the climate stripes on their away kit. This season, the stripes can be found in the collar of all three of Reading FC’s kits. 

Tim Kilpatrick, Head of Commercial at Reading FC, said: "Sustainability remains integral to Reading FC's identity. The club has made great strides in reducing its carbon footprint since the climate stripes first featured on its kits two years ago. During that time, we have helped to start several climate conversations with our employees and fans. Including the stripes in this season's kits will help to turn conversations into climate action within our local community."

Sporting stripes

The new kits from Forest Green Rovers and Reading FC mark the climate stripes’ latest sporting representation. 

In 2023, it was announced that Formula E team Envision would race with the red and blue added to their lime-green livery. 

The stripes were also displayed at the 2024 London Marathon as runners closed in on the finish line.