In the next couple of weeks, the events of the World Cup will be covered all over the planet. 4 weeks of footie with 32 teams in 8 brand new stadiums and 3 million tickets sold before the kick-off. This World Cup is one of the most controversial ones, with corruption, exploitation, and death of workers, as well as human rights violations. Still, another aspect of this is just as important: the effect of the construction works and the matches themselves on the climate.
For the first time in history, the best teams from five continents meet in the Middle East, in a country with a desert climate and relatively far from the well-known centers of world football. These two facts, on their own, massively influence the maintenance needs of stadiums and the carbon bill of traveling – a price we all have to pay regardless of our stance on the game or where we live.
The event’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is 3.6+ million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). To give you a hint of how much 3.6 million tonnes might be: it’s nearly double the annual tCO2e emission of Cuba in 2021, which was a little under 2 million tonnes.
The lack of infrastructure
When Qatar won the bid for the World Cup under suspicious circumstances, the country didn’t have the infrastructure (e.g., stadiums, hotels, etc.) that might be considered sufficient for an event of such scale.
Thus the construction from scratch and operations of the necessary infrastructure alone produced nearly 900k tCO2e which could be considered an investment in the future of Qatari football, but is it?
Twelve teams are playing in the top tier, the Qatar Stars League, with average attendance of between 43 and 1695 (!) people in the 2019/20 season, the last one before the pandemic. The country, however, has built eight new stadiums to meet the requirements of FIFA – their capacity ranges from 40 to 80 thousand, meaning that after the world cup, these will most likely become unused and, therefore, useless buildings.
Air-conditioning
When calculating the entire carbon footprint of stadiums, the climate of the country, hence the necessary air conditioning, also adds quite a sizeable amount of carbon dioxide to the total sum. The event was already moved from the usual summer months to the next few weeks, but the temperature will still be around 29-30°.
Organizers promised a ground-breaking technology with solar power, but the low(er) Co2-emission is still much more than zero-emission, the usual rate coming from traditional stadiums without A/C.
The burden of not having freshwater sources
Football pitches need plenty of irrigation, but the primary source of freshwater in Qatar is seawater desalination, and all of Qatar’s commercial water supply is obtained through desalination. A few technologies are available for this process, but they all consume plenty of energy: 5 kWh of electricity is needed for each cubic meter (1,000 liters) of fresh water produced. Besides the high energy consumption, every liter of potable water production creates roughly 1.5 liters of liquid polluted with chlorine and copper that depletes oxygen, affecting organisms throughout the marine food chain. Still, small creatures are being sucked into the system and kill already when the process starts.
Going beyond the requirements for green grass, potable water is also needed for us humans, but we need to heed the warning from experts: “you can safely drink tap water in Doha, Qatar; however, it is recommended that you stick to bottled water when possible. This is especially true if you are visiting and are not used to tap water. The WHO claims it is safe; however, the CDC says it is not, so use caution when consuming it.”
Traveling
Most participating teams are far from Doha, meaning the players and the supporters will fly in from more or less distant countries, and officials have already announced that they’re expecting 150+ planes every day. If the government wanted to offset the carbon emissions they promised, they would need to buy 3.6 million “credits” (1 credit= tCO2e). By the end of October, they purchased 200 thousand, 5.55% of what’s needed.
Are you traveling there for a match? Check your carbon footprint.
A sad event?
As we’re approaching the very first whistle, a movement to boycott the event is having momentum. Even if teams don’t refuse to play, the voice of supporters can’t be unheard, and green issues are also highlighted on supporters’ banners – side by side with the ones demanding equal rights for women, the LGBTQ+ community, or labor rights.
Football is the most popular sport in the world by far, its impact on our culture or our mood can’t be denied, for some (lucky) nations it’s also a source of pride, but we should all be aware that we have only one planet, and if we destroy it, there will be no place to play this fantastic game.
And to keep in mind that promises aren’t enough: Carbon Market Watch, a greenwashing campaign group, gave Qatar (and Manchester City) the Bad Sport Award for greenwashing.
Sources and references
–https://www.qatar2022.qa/sites/default/files/2022-08/greenhouse-gas-accounting-report-en.pdf
–https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/cuba
–https://www.footballcritic.com/qatar-stars-league/season-2019-2020/venues/26/23157
–https://www.statista.com/chart/28708/number-of-matches-by-fifa-world-cups/
–https://www.science.org/do/10.1126/resource.2442131/full/Qatar_advertorial.pdf
-https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-dont-we-get-our-drinking-water-from-the-ocean/
–https://absolutedoha.com/can-i-drink-tap-water-in-qatar/
–https://theathletic.com/3637095/2022/09/28/world-cup-manchester-city-greenwashing/
