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    FIFA’s Carbon Neutrality Own Goal

    Stockholm (NordSIP) – Having already put the boot into the 2022 Qatar World Cup in the context of workers’ rights and modern slavery, this week the Laundromat’s attention is drawn to the event’s claims of carbon neutrality.  In an official statement, the organisers declare that their goal is “to offset all greenhouse gas emissions, while advancing low-carbon solutions in Qatar and the region.  A carbon-neutral tournament is delivered through a four-step process: awareness, measurement, reduction and offsetting.”  However, immediate questions are being raised about the data and methodology underpinning these claims.

    On the one hand, the environmental impact of the project is likely to have been underestimated, and conversely, the effectiveness of the offsetting measures overestimated.  The two sides of the argument can be found in the FIFA World Cup 2022 Greenhouse Gas Accounting Report and a Carbon Market Watch (CMW) report entitled Poor tackling: Yellow card for 2022 FIFA World Cupʼs carbon neutrality claim.

    Among the objections to the methodology, it is argued that the carbon footprint of the eight large stadiums provided for the event has been grossly underestimated.  One dubious factor used in the calculation is the effective lifespan of these assets.  The authors of the CMW report question the post-event potential of these assets in a very small country that previously only possessed one major stadium, and where there are no domestic, large-scale sports leagues.  The World Cup’s carbon footprint relating to the stadiums was calculated on the basis of its roughly one-month use of these facilities divided by their estimated total lifespan.  CMW believes the actual carbon footprint should be 8 times higher.

    The proposed mitigation and offsetting measures also come in for criticism.  The event organisers have been instrumental in setting up a new Global Carbon Council, under the auspices of which the necessary carbon credits will be produced through various environmental projects.  However, they are still far short of the estimated 1.8 million credits needed to compensate for the World Cup’s emissions.  Moreover, many of the proposed projects relate to grid-connected renewable energy, which are not considered to represent significant additionality due to the increased cost-competitiveness of renewables.

    Aside from the objections to the methodology used in the organiser’s claims, one can also question the fundamentally negative environmental impact of FIFA’s original decision to appoint Qatar as host country.  The local climate requires the use of vast amounts of air conditioning and desalinated water.  Qatar had no appropriate infrastructure in place, and almost all the raw materials needed for constructing the facilities had to be imported.  The blatant greenwashing on display can be added to the list of reasons to boycott the event.  While no qualified national team has declined to attend, the boycott and protest are taking various forms such as cities refusing to offer public broadcasts or teams wearing “protest kits.”  It may be hard for individual football fans to avert their eyes from the matches, but it is clear that FIFA needs to take its environmental and social obligations far more seriously in the future.

     

    Image courtesy of Reto Scheiwiller from Pixabay
    Richard Tyszkiewicz
    Richard Tyszkiewicz
    Richard has over 30 years’ experience in the international investment industry. He has worked closely with major Nordic investors on consultancy projects, focusing on the evaluation of external asset managers. While doing so, Richard built up a strong practical understanding of the challenges faced by institutional investors seeking to integrate ESG into their portfolios. Richard has an MA degree in Management and Spanish from St Andrews University, and sustainability qualifications from Cambridge University, PRI and the CFA Institute.

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