Football
Without the Footprint
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Football is America’s most popular sport, reigning supreme in households around the world for the last five decades. Every Fall when Football season is in full swing, millions of fans flock to stadiums like SoFi Stadium and gather around TVs to watch their favorite players and teams in action.
But did you know that energy has a long and intertwined connection to football? From the uniforms and equipment to the stadiums and tailgates, energy plays a big part in shaping the game we love. That’s why we are partnering with the Los Angeles Rams on their journey to do their part in helping decarbonize America’s favorite sport.
Official carbon management partner of the
California Resources Corporation (CRC) and the Los Angeles Rams have teamed up for "Football Without the Footprint," a carbon management initiative that enables the Rams to reduce and offset carbon emissions from the team's operations. This partnership established CRC as the team's official carbon management partner and made the Rams as the first NFL team in California to agree to purchase locally sourced carbon credits to offset their carbon footprint.
First Year Impact
CRC delivered emissions reductions and offsets on the Rams' behalf totaling roughly 79,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of avoiding emissions from more than 17,000 cars for a year.
Helping The Rams On Their Decarbonization Journey
Supporting the local community has long been the cornerstone of the Rams' mission and vision, and the organization proactively designed sustainable facilities and operations to limit local emissions. The "Football Without the Footprint" initiative enables the Rams to take their mission even further.
Through this partnership, CRC has delivered independently certified low-carbon oil and natural gas certificates from its Los Angeles Basin operations to address the Rams' travel-related emissions and facility energy use.
For emissions that could not be reduced directly, CRC delivered locally sourced carbon credits to help offset the team's residual emissions. The first-year portfolio included carbon credits from an industrial emissions avoidance project in Huntington Beach, California.
How Carbon Management Works
Carbon management refers to a variety of technologies and processes used to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. CRC's carbon management business, Carbon TerraVault (CTV) is developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects that will inject CO2 captured from industrial sources into depleted underground reservoirs for permanent storage. CRC's CTV I is currently injecting CO2 into the 26R reservoir, marking active operations in California's first U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Class VI carbon storage project.
What is a Carbon Credit?
A carbon credit is a tradable certificate that signifies one metric ton of CO2 has been removed or avoided through certified carbon projects. Companies purchase carbon credits to offset their own emissions and help meet their carbon neutrality goals, and that carbon finance flows back to the project to support the emission reduction activity. Carbon credits are certified by either governments or independent certification bodies.
Powering the Game
Energy has been powering the game since football’s inception over a 100 years ago. Did you know that many of the essential pieces of football gear - including the actual football itself – are made of petroleum-based products? In fact, petroleum plays a key role in the game we love! Here are some surprising facts about the energy it takes to power the game, and how petroleum is fueling every kick and powering every touchdown.
Impacting Communities
As part of “Football Without the Footprint,” CRC and the Rams are working together to uplift local communities by investing in initiatives such as garden builds, beautification projects, and Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) programs that integrate carbon management practices and education.
During the first year of the partnership, CRC and the Rams, partnered with EnrichLA and completed five edible gardens at schools in Inglewood, Long Beach, and Woodland Hills. The gardens provide lasting spaces for hands-on learning focused on sustainability, environmental stewardship, and STEAM education.
CRC also partnered with the Rams, Hollywood Park, and Cedars-Sinai on a free STEAM Education program for fourth- through eighth-grade students. In just over six months, the program directly reached more than 3,000 students through school visits, interactive learning stations, career-focused events, and experiences at SoFi Stadium. CRC professionals participated in Career Day and multiple STEAM Squad school visits, helping students connect sustainability and carbon-management concepts with real-world careers.
This partnership has enabled CRC and the Rams to educate fans and local communities about the importance of carbon management technologies and meeting California’s energy needs with local, responsibly produced energy rather than importing energy from other states or foreign countries that have inferior safety, labor, human rights, and environmental standards.
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