Qatar’s World Cup will emit more CO2 than any recent sporting event

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IN 2009, WHEN Qatar bid to host the men’s football World Cup, it promised a carbon-neutral event. Even back then, the prospect of neutralising the carbon-dioxide emissions generated by hosting hundreds of thousands of fans in newly constructed stadiums, in a desert state, seemed fanciful. So it is proving. In their greenhouse-gas accounting report, published last year, FIFA, the game’s governing body, and the Qatari organisers estimated that the World Cup would generate 3.6m tonnes of CO₂ emissions. Estimating emissions for big sporting events is a relatively new practice and methodologies can vary, but that figure is higher than for any recent World Cup or Olympics (see chart).

It is also likely to be a significant underestimate. A report in May 2022 by Carbon Market Watch, a climate watchdog, found that the official forecast failed to account accurately for the emissions generated from stadiums. FIFA, which insists its methodology is “best in practice”, reckons that the bulk of the emissions (52%) will come from fans and players travelling to Qatar, while less than 25% are from stadium construction. That is because organisers expect these stadiums to be used for years after the World Cup, spreading their carbon footprint way into the future.

Carbon Market Watch believes such reasoning is far-fetched. Before the World Cup Qataris were able to get by with only one stadium, it points out. Consequently, it estimates that the emissions from stadium construction for the World Cup are undercounted by a factor of eight. It puts the real figure at 5m tonnes.

FIFA and Qatar are at least promising to offset the 3.6m tonnes of emissions they forecast by purchasing carbon credits. To do this, Qatar has established the Global Carbon Council (GCC), a dedicated carbon-offset agency. Beyond adjusting for World Cup emissions, the GCC will promote a path to “a low-carbon future”, no mean feat for a country with the world’s highest emissions per person. Yet the agency is still kicking into gear. Only six projects, saving less than 600,000 tonnes, have been approved so far.

In the grand scheme of things, emissions from sporting events, such as the World Cup, may seem trivial. Even CMW’s estimate of 5m tonnes amounts to less than 0.02% of the world’s annual emissions. But sports teams and organisations make a big play of their carbon-neutral credentials. Nearly 200 of them, including FIFA, have signed up to the UN’s Sport for Climate Action Framework, an initiative to help sporting bodies reduce their carbon footprint. Ninety-three, including the English Premier League, have signed a more tangible agreement, which includes commitments to halve emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. FIFA has not joined that pact. Perhaps for good reason. Hosts of the next World Cup in 2026, a joint effort between America, Canada and Mexico, estimated that their tournament would generate 3.7m tonnes of CO₂, more than the official Qatar estimate.■