Japanese consortium joins the Japanese professional football league to join the club to promote climate change response measures

Chairman of the Japanese Professional Football League Yoshika Nonomura (left), and the Japanese Consortium Shunhei, a specialized director of the Japanese Consortium

People's Daily, Tokyo, May 14, According to the Asahi Shimbun, the Japanese Consortium, which has long supported 60 franchise clubs and athletes in the Japan Professional Football League, announced that it will officially devote itself to climate change response. On May 9, the Japanese consortium signed a "Cooperation Agreement on the Field of Sustainability", promising to promote relevant measures through sports to help achieve a sustainable society.

In terms of specific response measures, clubs will participate in the "Sports Positive League" (SPL), which aims to visualize the club's response to climate change. Its evaluation system covers 12 projects including clean energy applications, cut or ban on single-use plastics, etc. It is worth mentioning that the English Premier League has carried out SPL evaluation work since 2018, and the Japanese Professional Football League plans to officially start this work from January 2026.

By then, the response measures of 60 clubs will be quantitatively evaluated and ranked. This move is intended to stimulate the competitive awareness among football clubs and promote the development of the Japanese professional football league in an environmentally friendly direction.

In terms of financial support, the Japanese consortium provides 370 million yen (about 18 million yuan) in funding for the event every year, and each club can receive up to 4 million yen (about 190,000 yuan). The special director of Shinhei Sasagawa of the Japanese consortium said: "The victory or defeat of the competition is important, but the fulfillment of social responsibilities to the region cannot be ignored."

At the press conference to issue the cooperation agreement, the athletes attending also expressed their deep concerns and sense of crisis about global warming. (Translated by: Chen Jianjun)