Qatar World Cup criticised for ‘problematic’ carbon footprint promises

The Qatar World Cup is failing to live up to promises on reducing its carbon footprint, a new report has warned, creating another problem for the tournament.

Organisers have claimed that the 32-team showpiece will be the first “carbon neutral” World Cup, meaning any emissions would be limited and offset. However Carbon Market Watch (CMW), a not-for-profit organisation which works closely with the European Union, has examined the organisers’ plans and says projected emissions have likely been underreported, with the footprint created from building seven new stadiums of particular concern.

“It would be great to see the climate impact of Fifa World Cups being drastically reduced but the carbon neutrality claim that is being made is simply not credible,” said Gilles Dufrasne of CMW, author of the analysis. “Despite a lack of transparency, the evidence suggests that the emissions from this World Cup will be considerably higher than expected by the organisers, and the carbon credits being purchased to offset these emissions are unlikely to have a sufficiently positive impact on the climate.”

Central to CMW’s complaint is its calculation that carbon emissions created by the new stadiums could be as much as eight times higher than the figures contained in Qatar’s analysis. The CMW report claims the hosts have made a calculation which spreads a stadium’s carbon footprint over its entire lifetime, something the report describes as “problematic”.

“These stadiums have been constructed specifically for the World Cup,” CMW said. “Future extensive use of so many stadiums in such a small geographical space is uncertain, especially when considered against the fact that Doha had only one major stadium before it was awarded the World Cup.”