Climate experts have sounded the alarm, warning that FIFA’s choice to host the 2030 World Cup across six countries, involving fans travelling to over 100 games, will significantly worsen the tournament’s carbon footprint. This decision starkly contradicts the soccer governing body’s climate commitments.
Recently, FIFA revealed its plans for the 2030 World Cup, with Spain, Portugal, and Morocco as the primary hosts and Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay hosting three games each in honour of the tournament’s centenary. However, this decision entails a significant number of trans-Atlantic flights for teams and fans, as matches will be played in both South America and Europe. This approach diverges sharply from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where all 64 matches were confined to eight stadiums in and around Doha, involving only 32 participating teams.
“The big problem is that they’re continuously growing the event,” said sport ecologist Dr Madeleine Orr, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, whose research examines the impacts of climate change on the sport sector.
“Every decision that grows the World Cup is going to increase the carbon footprint of the event. That’s the unfortunate truth, it’s a trade-off.”
“You get growth economically and as a result, you’re getting a bigger environmental footprint… FIFA itself have said that they are considering the environment, yet all of the actions suggest otherwise.”
FIFA has stated that they will implement necessary actions to minimize the environmental consequences of the World Cup. They also mentioned that 97% of the 2030 tournament will take place in three neighbouring countries or those located just a few kilometres apart.
“For 101 games, the tournament will be played in a footprint of neighbouring countries in close geographic proximity and with extensive and well-developed transport links and infrastructure,” FIFA said.
FIFA has also stated in the past that they were dedicated to reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2040.
In June, a Swiss regulatory body levelled serious accusations against FIFA, alleging deceptive claims concerning carbon neutrality and the environmental consequences of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Quentin Cuendet, representing the Swiss Climate Alliance and Avocates pour le Climat, filed a case against FIFA, accusing the organization of “greenwashing” at the event. Cuendet contended that FIFA’s efforts to minimize the tournament’s impact on the environment were ineffective and misleading.
“The first reason is that in such big tournaments, with people coming from all over the world, most emissions are from flights. This is something FIFA cannot reduce,” Cuendet said.
“It’s too big, it’s about 80-85% of total emissions. I cannot see how FIFA can commit to have any positive effect on those emissions.”
“The second reason is that at the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA claimed it offsets part of its emissions.
“What we showed at the proceedings in Switzerland is that FIFA was unable to prove that the offsetting was effective and had a positive impact on the emissions of the World Cup.”
According to Dr Walker Ross, an expert in sports management at the University of Edinburgh and a member of the Sport Ecology Group, a single trans-Atlantic flight would result in the emission of 1.5 to 2 tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) per passenger.
“For the last World Cup in Qatar, travel within the country was quite minimal because the country is so small,” Ross said.
“(In 2030) you’re going to have teams fly down to South America, play a match and then they’re going to fly back to, let’s say Spain. That just seems quite carbon intensive.”
Ross also mentioned that the tangible advantages of carbon offsetting, such as acquiring and preserving a forest or planting trees, will require several decades to effectively integrate into the system.
“Meanwhile, the actual carbon impact of those flights is very much right now, it’s not years and years down the road, which is what we’re seeing with offsetting,” he said.
