HAMBURG, GERMANY - MAY 25: The FIFA World Cup is pictured at the city hall on May 25, 2006 in ... [+] Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)Bongarts/Getty Images

"If the World Cup, as the flagship sporting event of the human race, isn’t leading the way on impactful climate action, then the future of football and humanity is grave." -Elliot Arthur-Worsop, Founder of Football for Future

Heat domes, atmospheric rivers, flooding, ocean warming, Antarctic ice melt and wildfires. These are all part of the new climate-affected reality of the anthropocene. For many, sports offer an escape from daily life and these climate catastrophes. Unfortunately, sports are increasingly contributing to the problem.

The FIFA World Cup is the premier international competition of the world’s most popular sport. Over 1.5 billion people tuned in to watch the final of the 2022 men’s edition and just yesterday, the largest ever women’s edition of the tournament began. It is being hosted across Australia and New Zealand, and despite player-led climate activism and smart biodiversity restoration work from FIFA organizers on the ground, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from game-related travel will be considerable.

Respected soccer historian and climate change advocate David Goldblatt understands the dilemma the World Cup poses. He calls the quadrennial festival “an extraordinary cosmopolitan celebration, which is a precious thing in a globalized and divided world.” Indeed, past tournaments have created unforgettable memories for fans, like Cruyff’s Clockwork Orange, Brandi Chastain’s winning penalty, and more recently, Messi and M’Bappé’s desert showdown. But the 2022 Men’s World Cup is estimated to have contributed 3.6 million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. As GHG emissions continue to degrade ecosystems and healthy living conditions, the environmental impact of sports-mega events like the World Cup needs to be reassessed.

Elliot Arthur-Worsop, founder and co-director of British soccer charity and environmental advocacy group Football For Future believes "climate is going to become a central consideration in business, politics, football, and everyday life.” He says, “ It is becoming unavoidable and unignorable,” and notes that “all of the signs point to that trend continuing." If there is to be a future for global soccer, the World Cup must adapt to the new reality and become more environmentally sustainable.

Football For Future founder Elliot Arthur-Worsop teaches Chelsea academy players the importance of ... [+] environmental sustainability.Courtesy of Football For Future

The first step would be to build environmental criteria - and specifically carbon audits - into the host nation bidding process. This could mean FIFA working alongside expert sustainability consultants to determine the most environmentally friendly hosting options. Frank Huisingh - founder of Fossil Free Football - believes “when it comes to choosing locations to host World Cups, FIFA should focus on countries with lots of existing infrastructure and good public transport connections between host cities.” This will help avoid unnecessary building projects and encourage sustainable transportation between games.

This does not mean excluding developing nations from hosting. Arthur-Worsop believes the Global North has a responsibility - due to its colonial legacy - to share information and sustainable technology that will level out the playing field and allow nations from the Global South to continue hosting the beautiful game’s most important tournament.

Cutting back on long haul travel is key for the tournament to reduce emissions going forward. David Goldblatt estimates that transport accounts for roughly 60%-80% of the tournament’s carbon emissions. The majority of those stem from air travel, and particularly private jet usage. This past season Real Madrid were caught taking a 15 minute flight for a league match, and the BBC reported that for 81 of 100 Premier
PINC
League games short-haul private jet travel was used. International tournaments are no different. Private jet and first-class travel is the norm and it is enabled when large nations, or sets of nations are chosen to host the World Cup.

This Women’s World Cup saw Ireland play its first game in Sydney against hosts Australia, after which it will cross the continent to Perth before returning to the east coast five days later for its last group game in Brisbane. The Irish women will play three elite level games having traveled roughly 3,725 nautical miles in between. According to Carbon Calculator, Irish fans following their women’s team via that same flight path will emit roughly 0.97 metric tons (2,138 lbs) of CO2 if they fly economy.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JUNE 13: General View of the 68th FIFA Congress after the announcement of the host ... [+] for the 2026 FIFA World Cup went to United 2026 bid (Canada-Mexico-USA) at Moscow's Expocentre on June 13, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)Getty Images

The 2026 World Cup, hosted across North America, will see teams playing as far north as Vancouver and as far south as Mexico City and Miami. Goldblatt says this expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams and 104 games makes zero sense. At a time when caution is needed, the most travel intensive tournament ever is being planned. He estimates the carbon emissions will be around 5.5 million tons, which is roughly the same carbon footprint as that of Fiji.

Elliot Arthur-Worsop admits there is no perfect solution to reduce Scope 3 emissions stemming from fan travel. In fact he insists that, "the fan experience is the essence that underpins our collective love for the beautiful game." Like Huisingh, he favors compact hosts with existing infrastructure who have reliable and sustainable intra and inter-city transportation available to ferry fans between games. Such hosts allow fans to enjoy multiple games while reducing the environmental impact of the tournament.

Compactness and local fan participation are other methods of reducing the need for air travel while maintaining the tournament’s lauded festive environment. This could mean hosting World Cups in compact regions of the world with good transportation networks, such as the Netherlands and Western Germany, the Pearl River Delta or the eastern corridor of the United States. Goldblatt pushed the idea of a compact World Cup even further with the notion that one city could host the entire event. Cities like Istanbul, London, and Buenos Aires are natural soccer hotbeds, well equipped to take on visitors and have enough quality stadiums to easily host a large tournament.

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - MARCH 27: Aerial view of Independiente's Libertadores de América stadium ... [+] (R) and Racing's Presidente Juan Domingo Perón stadium on March 27, 2020 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)Getty Images

Arthur-Worsop also warns about the dangers of using carbon offsets to mitigate the impact of tournament emissions. He says established accreditations may not be as trustworthy as consumers think and it is better to invest in climate resilience initiatives and sustainable development options. Goldblatt seconds this, calling offsets “completely and utterly unreliable,” noting that they tend to function as a “get out of jail free card,” without real regard for the environmental consequences. He urges FIFA, governments and private companies to collaborate on zero carbon energy supplies and transportation, and says that moving forward, issues of plastics, food sourcing and waste also need to be addressed.

The other main issue all three experts agree FIFA must tackle as quickly as possible is sponsorship. Fossil fuel investors have long sponsored the FIFA World Cup, but as the world moves from one climate disaster to another this is no longer viable. Frank Huisingh calls the last World Cup a “fossil fuel festival,” precisely because of its sponsorship agreements. He says, “through its problematic sponsorship deals with Qatar Energy and Qatar Airways, it gave a huge platform to big polluters. Furthermore, promoting the World Cup as carbon neutral while it was probably the most polluting sporting event ever, showed FIFA did not take responsibility.” Removing the platform for fossil fuel related organizations - think banks, car companies, airlines, crypto companies and gas companies - will decrease their visibility and influence amongst viewers of the world’s most popular sport.

FIFA has many issues to address and it must do so quickly. When asked if climate-related interruptions or cancelations should be expected at the next World Cup (2026), all three experts said yes. David Goldblatt was emphatic, calling it a “100% guarantee.” This comes as no surprise since the Tokyo Olympics, the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the Australian Open all suffered delays and cancellations due to weather. Moreover, in recent weeks the world has seen extreme heat plague Mexico and the southern US, with World Cup host cities Houston, Monterrey and Guadalajara hitting over 100F temperatures. At the same time, New York and Philadelphia were covered in wildfire smoke and potential 2030 host nations Spain, Portugal and Morocco all had brutal 100-plus degree temperatures.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 7: Smoky haze from wildfires in Canada diminishes the visibility of the ... [+] Empire State. New York topped the list of most polluted major cities in the world on Tuesday night, as smoke from the fires continues to blanket the East Coast. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)Getty Images

FIFA cannot solve these issues alone, but it has the power to push the football community in the right direction by making its pinnacle event more sustainable. This summer’s tournament seems to offer a glimmer of hope in that regard. Dr. Sheila Nguyen is the Head of Sustainability for this summer’s Women’s World Cup. She understands the power of this tournament, noting that the decisions taken at it “can reflect and/or lead on society’s sustainability standards and expectations.” To that end, she crafted a sustainability strategy which looks to curb emissions while increasing climate awareness and promoting biodiversity. She proudly states that fans will have access to free, low emission transportation in 9 of the 10 host cities. Moreover, the tournament is using existing infrastructure, with all 10 stadiums achieving green building certifications. Finally, this tournament is working hand-in-hand with First Nations and Māori communities to emphasize the need for nature positivity, including restoration and conservation.

These steps will not completely reduce the environmental impact of this World Cup, but they will certainly make it more sustainable than previous editions. They also highlight the soccer community’s capacity for growth, and its willingness to prioritize the environment the game is built on. More needs to be done going forward, but as Elliot Arthur-Worsop says, "football has more exciting potential than any other industry on the planet to catalyze true transformation," so there is still hope the World Cup and the wider soccer community will become more sustainable.