“Completely coincidently, we received a quote for our flood insurance renewal today,” says Futers, the director of innovation and growth at Lincoln City Football Club. “And if you want evidence that climate change is very real on a day-to-day basis for sport, I have a document that will prove it.”

Futers, who joined the English League One club last December, sat down with The Sustainability Report to discuss Lincoln City’s approach to climate action and broader sustainability issues. While the conversation began with a focus on the club’s vulnerabilities – flood risk is a particular concern given its location within a central basin – it quickly became clear that Futers was eager to shift the focus toward the opportunities these sustainability challenges could unlock for a football club like his.

A few weeks ahead of the interview, Lincoln City launched a joint venture, Quambio Sports, in partnership with Swiss technology firm Quambio to drive carbon footprint reductions among the Imps’ fan base through a platform designed to facilitate “behaviour change”.

“Around 70% of our carbon footprint comes from fan travel to away games,” Futers says. “So you’ve got this really strange dynamic where literally the reason we exist as a club, getting fans to stadiums, is causing our biggest carbon footprint. We thought: that’s a massive challenge, but also a massive opportunity.”

The technology, he adds, issues monthly challenges that encourage fans to adopt more sustainable behaviours, with the ‘Green Fan of the Month’ winning prizes like framed signed shirts. Although there’s still some development needed, Futers explains that it functions similarly to Strava for cyclists. For instance, by using ticket purchase and location data, the app can prompt fans to travel to games via car sharing or active mobility, then track whether they followed through and calculate the resulting carbon reduction.

“It’s very much a tech startup and we subscribe to the idea of a minimum viable product, so this is just the start of a journey that over many years will prompt this kind of behaviour,” Futers explains.

The partnership has a minimum duration of three years, and, although the key objective is to reduce the club’s carbon footprint, Futers suggests that a successful platform could be commercialised and white labelled to other football clubs and sports teams facing a similar problem.

Futers also believes that the app can help to improve the matchday experience for fans as well as support the club’s sustainability goals, with fans finding each other and interacting during car sharing or using public transport together.

Quambio Sports, which is chaired by former Southampton FC head of sustainability Caroline Carlin, is just one of a number of innovation projects in the works being developed by Futers and his team. Innovation, he says, is a “key investment” for the club, which is trying to behave in a “very entrepreneurial way”.

“We are doing this in a way that’s authentic to us,” Futers says. “Could other clubs do this? Yes. But I think it’s really important that clubs do it in a way that matches their values. Our community is really important to us, so the idea that we would produce something on the innovation agenda that another club would do is just not the right thing for us.

“Yes, we are committed to innovation, but only in a way that’s right for Lincoln City Football Club.”

Opt into our newsletter for exclusive content focused on sustainability strategy, communication and leadership for sport’s ecosystem.