The basketball European Championship in Spain next month will be a carbon neutral event, organisers have said.

"For the first time in Spain, a sporting event has taken up the challenge to calculate the emission of greenhouse gases during a tournament to be able to offset its emissions to produce a neutral balance," the organisers said.

For the event to be carbon neutral all its emissions must be offset, which involves paying someone else to cut greenhouse gas emissions on your behalf, with the aim of not adding to the world's stock of gases blamed for global warming.

The organisers have enlisted the help of a Spanish company called CO2-Solutions to help devise strategies that reduce the amount of CO2 they produce from activities and to calculate emissions before and after the event.

Allied to this, organisers have worked to impress on individuals their responsibility to help reduce their carbon footprint, to recycle waste and to promote the use of public transport for the event.

EuroBasket 2007 takes place from September 3 to 16 with the final in Madrid.

Organisers of last year's soccer World Cup in Germany offset carbon dioxide emissions through local measures and the funding of clean energy schemes in India and South Africa.