Accounting tricks
In its report, Carbon Market Watch said it was sceptical the GCC would be effective in offsetting emissions generated by the tournament. Doha underestimated the climate change impacts by omitting a range of emissions from its calculations, it said.
Gilles Dufrasne, lead author of the report, said the carbon credits purchased by the host country are derived from renewable energy projects that are already operational and profitable.
“That’s why they don’t have much quality because they are not generating … additional reductions compared to what would have happened anyway,” he said in an interview.
“So it is basically quite unlikely that their impact will actually compensate for the emissions from the tournament.”
Qatar’s World Cup organisers have dismissed Carbon Market Watch’s conclusions as speculative, saying that emissions will be calculated using “best in practice” methods after the tournament ends to ensure they are based on existing activities.
But climate analysts said carbon offsets are being overused as the primary basis of net-zero claims for sporting events.
“We basically have to use a mosaic of measures including demand reduction, including renewable energy and … offsets to some extent. We cannot use one of those measures alone,” said Karim Elgendy, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, a think thank.
“You don’t start with offsets; you end with offsets.”
New models needed
Environmental advocates have called on FIFA to develop new models to determine where the World Cup is held in the future.
They say the tournament should not be awarded to countries that require extensive infrastructure development, and that it should ensure fans worldwide have an equal chance of attending.
“These events could actually, instead of being seen as a cash cow … be seen as a real opportunity to create lasting positive change, not only socially or economically but also in terms of sustainability,” said Jreissati of Greenpeace.
However, environmentalists and analysts say that will not be the case with the 2026 World Cup, which will be held across three countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
“Everyone will fly everywhere,” said Elgendy of the Middle East Institute. “There is no promise of any kind of carbon reduction, let alone a net-zero carbon event.”
As part of its climate strategy – launched last year – FIFA said it aims to reduce emissions at the events it organises and that it plans to be carbon-netural as an organisation by 2040.
Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said that all Olympic Games must be “climate positive” from 2030 onwards – meaning that host cities would need to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit during the event.
Jules Boykoff, a US academic and former football player, said human rights and environmental impacts should be key considerations in the awarding of future sporting events.
“We need to make change, we need to pivot toward a greener future,” said Boykoff, a professor of political science at Pacific University in Oregon. “If not, now, then when? If not through these sports … then how?”
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