Thinking about football, and FIFA in particular.
Football’s carbon footprint
FIFA is the international governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. (If, like me, you have never heard of futsal, it is a variant of football that is played indoors with a smaller ball and fewer players than traditional football.)
In case you were wondering, I am not going to be discussing football. Not only because I have no interest in the sport, but when it comes to it, I am arguably the most uninformed person on the planet.
So, why FIFA?
In recent years, FIFA's trustworthiness and reputation have been called into question due to corruption scandals and other controversies. However, even by its own controversial standards, FIFA has in the past few weeks done something incredible It decided to prematurely assign the 2030 World Cup to Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. In addition, it has stipulated that the first three games will be played in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina in honour of Uruguay's 100th anniversary as the site of the first World Cup.
In doing so, FIFA has ensured that neither Latin America, Europe, nor Africa will be able to bid for the 2034 World Cup as according to the bidding requirements, only member associations from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) are eligible to host the tournament. To make things more complicated or impossible for the bidding countries, FIFA further decided that any bidding countries from Asia and Oceania would only have 26 days to bid for 2034. And quite arbitrarily, it moved the decision process three years earlier than planned.
Only one country has -immediately- submitted a bid. Saudi Arabia. The manner in which Saudi Arabia earned its uncontested success was unexpected by many. However, it is clear that these changes enabled Saudi Arabia not only to bid in confidence but to have its success, to host a World Cup, and, on its own, confirmed almost immediately. All these demonstrate that no one can touch FIFA and its product, football. No one, except for some million or billion people—the football fans.
And now let's talk about our main interest: the climate.
In a time of climate crisis, you would expect that even FIFA would revise its bidding process to give carbon and environmental sustainability top priority across all risk factors and to ensure that prospective hosts will adhere to the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework which requires signatories to pledge to halve emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero by 2040 and to submit plans and annual reports on how they are aiming to achieve these goals. FIFA has committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2040, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
The 2030 World Cup is set to significantly increase overall emissions due to the organisation’s plan to host the event across multiple countries and continents. FIFA has stated that it will take all required measures to mitigate the environmental impact of the tournament and will reduce travel in relation to site inspection visits and other meetings. But FIFA's trustworthiness has been a topic of discussion and debate for many years.
It's worth noting that fan travel makes up roughly 70% of football’s carbon footprint. Furthermore, the infrastructure required for such a large-scale event is another significant source of emissions. FIFA's claims that the Qatar World Cup was "fully carbon-neutral" were found to be unsubstantiated, and the organisation's sustainability criteria were criticised after over 70,000 air miles were flown by sides competing at the Women's World Cup.
Is there anything we can do to influence FIFA and other sports governing bodies to adopt more sustainable practices and reduce the environmental impact of their events? Despite the criticism and controversy related to corruption, transparency, and environmental impact, FIFA is a powerful organisation that governs world football and has a significant impact on the sport's global landscape. The only people who can touch FIFA are a few billion people. The football fans.
The rest of us will continue to do what we always do: activism and action. Engage in discussions and debates to raise awareness about the issue and encourage others to join the conversation.
Join the subscriber’s chat if you want to start or join a conversation. Threads are a quieter space where readers can have a real, in-depth talk with me and others about issues that matter. All welcome- except trolls.
