We bumped into a question which didn’t have an answer to. So we made up our own answer.

It was like this.

In the world of carbon emissions accounting (wake me up when you are done, please) different emissions are grouped into “scopes”. There are scopes 1, scope 2 and scope 3. Still with us? Ok, scope 1 emissions are ones caused directly by an organisation - like the emissions from running a boiler or operating your car fleet. Scope 2 emissions are the emissions from the electricity you buy - they don’t happen at your own site, but happen down the road at the power station you get power from. And scope 3 emissions are the ones caused by customers in the use of the product. So fans travelling to games is the big one. Actually that makes up the big majority of clubs’ carbon footprints.

What we asked was: Hold on, if a club can encourage its fans to do green stuff at home, like saving energy or switching to renewable energy, what “scope” does that fall under? It’s neither scope 1, nor 2 nor 3.

So we called it scope F. F for fans.

So whenever a club does something to encourage its fans to live greener, it’s affecting its scope F emissions. And that can be a big number - a reduction in emissions - if it can reach lots and lots of fans and encourage them to do good stuff.

We also discovered a cool thing. It turns out that the positive effect a club can have for the planet is much bigger by engaging fans than by tweaking its own operations. But you need those operational improvements, because if you aren’t getting your own house in order, fans aren’t going to do their stuff for the club.

The other good thing is it looks like clubs’ sponsors like the idea and are ready to support clubs engaging fans. It worked with the Saints Planet League Cup. Hopefully there’s more to come.

If you’d like to know more about Scope F - check out the website. www.scope-f.com

Here's a Sky Sports feature on Scope F