Lausanne (AFP) – The biggest and most lucrative World Cup ever will take place this summer, but it is also set to become the most polluting sporting event in history, according to environmental experts. “Unlike the case of the Olympic Games, where the carbon footprints have been reducing over the last several editions, this is totally opposite in the case of FIFA men’s World Cup,” said David Gogishvili, a geographer at the University of Lausanne (Unil).
This summer’s World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams for the first time and will be played in three countries—Mexico, Canada, and the United States—also for the first time. It is projected to generate unprecedented revenue; however, Unil’s research indicates that it will “produce the largest carbon footprint in the history of international sport.” The calculations for CO2 emissions range from five to nine million tonnes, compared to “around 1.75 million tonnes” for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Gogishvili noted. This figure significantly surpasses the estimated 2.17 million tonnes of CO2 generated by Russia in 2018, which involved 40 fewer matches, and the 3.17 million tonnes from Qatar in 2022, an event criticized for its hastily constructed, oversized, and air-conditioned stadiums.
All 16 venues for this summer, from the “smallest” in Toronto with 45,000 seats to the largest in Arlington, Texas, which holds 94,000, already existed when the Games were awarded, a point highlighted in 2018 by the “United 2026” bid. The main issue lies in the vast distances between stadiums; for instance, the distance between Miami and Vancouver is more than 4,500 kilometers. This will increase the major source of CO2 emissions for international events: air travel for teams, officials, media, and especially the “more than five million fans” targeted by FIFA. For example, Bosnia and Herzegovina will travel 5,040 kilometers to play group games in Toronto, Los Angeles, and finally Seattle.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who claimed his “determination” to combat climate change at COP26 in Glasgow, has pledged to “measure, reduce and offset” emissions related to its World Cups. However, FIFA has been reprimanded by the Swiss Fairness Commission (CSL) for misleadingly promoting the “climate neutrality” of the 2022 World Cup and has refrained from making any guarantees for 2026. Environmental analysts agree that limiting the scale of mega-competitions is the best way to reduce their impact, as the International Olympic Committee has done with its quota of 10,500 athletes for the Summer Games. By increasing its flagship tournament from 32 to 48 teams, a year after expanding its World Club Cup from seven to 32 teams, FIFA is doing the opposite.
The climate cost of any international match is “26 to 42 times greater than an elite match” at the national level, according to a 2025 report published by the New Weather Institute think-tank. “A single match during the final stages of the men’s World Cup is responsible for 44,000 to 72,000 tonnes of CO2,” the report states, equivalent to the emissions of 31,500 to 51,500 British cars over an entire year. Gogishvili points out that FIFA’s “insatiable appetite for growth” results in more matches and, inevitably, “more athletes, more fans, more hotel infrastructure, more flights; it’s kind of a never-ending cycle.”
The 2030 World Cup will be spread across six countries and three continents, starting with a trio of matches in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay before shifting to hosts Morocco, Spain, and Portugal for the remaining 101 matches. The 2034 World Cup is set to take place in Saudi Arabia, in a climate comparable to that of Qatar, but with 40 more matches in a much larger country. Saudi giant Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, became a major sponsor of FIFA in 2024.
“It would seem that FIFA’s environmental denial will continue,” wrote Gilles Pache, a professor at Aix-Marseille University, in the Journal of Management Research in 2024.
© 2024 AFP
