Free FA Cup travel with E.ON

CARDIFF CITY FANS TRAVEL FREE WITH E.ON AND NATIONAL EXPRESS

TO REDUCE THE CARBON FOOTYPRINT OF THE FA CUP

E.ON, one of the UK's leading energy suppliers and Sponsor of The FA Cup, is offering free coach travel with National Express for football fans heading to FA Cup Fourth Round matches, as part of its Carbonfootyprint.com campaign.

The offer, launched ahead of the Third Round, proved a success with over 750 away fans pledging to leave their car at home and travel by coach to FA Cup fixtures around the country. By travelling together by coach rather than taking their cars, fans saved over 32 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of watching 123,000 matches on TV.

E.ON will be providing free coach travel for away fans at each of the 16 Fourth Round fixtures in order to reduce the environmental impact of The FA Cup. By logging onto Carbonfootyprint.com, fans can reduce their own carbon footprint by opting to travel by coach.

Cardiff fans could save 636kg of CO₂, the equivalent of powering a TV for over 3700 hours if they take the free coach for the 112 mile round trip to Hereford.

Meanwhile Newcastle United fans face the longest journey in Round Four with a 550 mile round trip to The Emirates as Kevin Keegan's men take on Arsenal. If 50 Toon fans travel in a coach together they will save over 3 tonnes of CO₂.

With fans expected to clock up over 4,500 miles in total traveling to games over the Fourth Round weekend, fans are being encouraged to do their bit. Going by coach is the most environmentally friendly form of transport, emitting just 29g of CO₂ per passenger per kilometre basis (gCO2/pass.km) compared to trains and cars. If just one coach is filled with fans at every game rather than traveling by car, over 26 tonnes of CO₂ would be saved, the equivalent of boiling over 18,500 kettles for your half time cuppa.

The partnership with National Express will run across every round of The FA Cup through to The Final in May. By encouraging fans to travel to matches together in a coach, rather than driving in a car, fans can make a significant difference to competition's carbon emissions.

Mike Thompson, Head of Sponsorship & Events at E.ON said:

"Following on from the great success last round, we're delighted to be able to offer free coach travel for fans traveling to games in Round Four. With thousands of fans traveling to FA Cup games every round, it is no surprise that travel has the biggest environmental impact. By providing free coaches to away games this round and for every round until The Final, we hope that fans will travel to the game together rather than by car, and reduce their carbon footprint. The initiative with National Express is a great way of communicating some of the easy steps fans can take to help make this season's FA Cup carbon neutral."

Paul Bunting, Chief Executive, National Express, added:

"We are delighted to be working with E.ON to make it easier for football fans to reduce their carbon foot print when travelling to support their team during the FA Cup. In 2006 nearly 300,000 tonnes of CO2 were saved from entering the atmosphere by people using the National Express instead of the car, and this brilliant campaign will help people understand that changing travel habits from cars to public transport is the single best way they can help the environment".

The free coach travel offer forms part of E.ON's Carbonfootyprint.com campaign, which aims to offset the 45,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide produced by The FA Cup. Carbon emissions are calculated for every match in every round of The FA Cup (including replays) and include the operational emissions from all participating clubs, the television emissions from viewers watching matches at home and the travel emissions produced by home and away fans.

By logging onto www.carbonfootyprint.com, football fans can also find out about car sharing schemes in their area and choose from over 30 different energy saving pledges, such as fitting energy efficient light bulbs, walking to a game or watching the match together at a pub with friends. So far this season, over 20,000 pledges have been made by football fans.

The Carbonfootyprint.com campaign follows the success of 'Save Your Energy for the Blues' an initiative run by E.ON in conjunction with Ipswich Town Football Club last season, which saw fans make over 14,000 carbon saving pledges to make the Blues the country's first ever carbon neutral football club.