Air quality monitoring during tournament-time
Initiative description: Maintaining adequate indoor air quality in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ sites by specifying materials with low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) levels, controlling indoor pollutants and sources of airborne contamination while providing adequate mechanical ventilation. Maintaining adequate outdoor air quality by monitoring air quality, eliminating or reducing sources of pollution at their source, and/or applying appropriate mitigation measures to minimise exposure to air pollution at the sites.
Maintaining adequate indoor and outdoor air quality was paramount to ensuring health, safety and comfort for all attendees, including spectators, the competing teams, workers and volunteers, during the tournament. Indoor air quality was maintained with reference to sustainable building operations certification criteria. Outdoor air pollution sources were reduced by sourcing 82% of temporary power from the electrical substations (rather than diesel generators), through traffic management, the reduction of idling, and the partial electrification of the tournament fleet.
Indoor air quality
Indoor air quality is an important aspect of sustainable building operations. Monitoring of indoor air quality was a requirement of the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) Operations Certification under which all FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ stadiums are certified. This certification requires that stadiums meet certain indoor air quality standards for pollutants, such as VOCs, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. The certification also requires that stadiums have appropriate ventilation systems to maintain healthy indoor air quality for occupants.
In preparation for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, a detailed thermal comfort and indoor air quality assessment was performed by GSAS Trust and GORD Labs for six of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ stadiums during the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™ between 30 November and 18 December 2021. One of the objectives of the assessment was also to measure indoor environmental quality of the stadiums in which air-conditioning systems were used for the first time for a FIFA tournament.
The air quality assessment required assessing indoor pollutant concentration levels by conducting physical on-site measurements and undertaking an occupant survey to verify the level of occupant satisfaction. The thermal comfort level (which included thermal imaging) and air quality of the stadium bowl and indoor spaces using high precision sensors and data loggers was assessed. The levels of ten pollutants were measured as per GSAS requirements. These pollutants were selected based on their extent, duration, and level of hazardous nature.
The assessment found that the air quality met GSAS Operations criterion for indoor air quality and contributed to GSAS Gold or Platinum certification for site operations. This quality level was achieved thanks to the use of low-emitting building materials, identification and elimination of sources of indoor pollutants and/or airborne contaminants, and proper ventilation systems.A number of areas were also identified for further improvements and mitigation measures were recommended, such as adjusting the temperature settings, and removing any potential sources of pollutants near air intakes, which were implemented in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. During the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, indoor air quality monitoring was carried out by the Stadium Authority (the authority responsible for stadium management) to allow fast response times for any adjustments required to provide a healthy indoor air quality for fans, participants and workforce.
Outdoor air quality
There are various tournament related factors that can impact outdoor air quality during a mega-event, such as increased traffic flow, and the use of diesel generators which are typically a popular choice for events as they can provide consistent and reliable temporary power. Larger crowd densities during the tournament in specific site areas also increase the impact of local pollution sources. Tournament organisers sought to identify and eliminate or mitigate sources of tournament-time activities that could impact outdoor air quality. They worked closely with scientists from Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) and technicians from Envirozone to implement an outdoor air quality monitoring programme. The programme included monitoring during the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™ test event and during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
Test events
The FIFA Arab Cup 2021™ provided an opportunity to test outdoor air quality monitoring and mitigation measures during a major event in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. To determine the key sources of pollution, air quality sensors were strategically located where there was likely to be large sources of air pollution from stadium-related activities that could affect human health, i.e. potential ‘hotspots’. This included areas where there was high traffic flow (e.g. bus drop-off/pick-up locations, car parking, etc.) and areas where diesel generators were located. Sensors were also placed where large crowds were expected, such as paths with high spectator pedestrian traffic from stadium site entrances to the turnstiles at stadium gates, and Brand Activation Areas.
Using the data collected from the sensors and observations from QEERI scientists who attended the matches, the ‘hotspots’ were identified as:
Areas where vehicles were located just outside of the stadium security perimeter, such as the buses and cars of the FIFA fleet, and spectator buses and cars.
Areas where vehicles were idling within the security perimeter, in particular ambulances.
Areas where generators were located that power:
stadium site entrances;
broadcast compounds;
signage lighting; and
lighting, ventilation, and cooling systems for temporary infrastructure (e.g., canteens, temporary offices, hospitality tents, media centres and storage facilities).
Based on the information collected from the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™, the Sustainability team collaborated with several functional areas including Power, Signage & Dressing, Transport and Medical teams to determine how to mitigate and manage these sources during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
Mitigation measures for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™
Tournament organisers implemented a number of measures to eliminate and mitigate air pollution for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. These included:
Partial electrification of fleet: In preparation for the tournament, a substantial portion of the country’s public bus fleet was converted to electric thereby leading to zero tailpipe emissions. In addition, a significant portion of the event transport fleet was electric and represented the largest low-emission fleet ever deployed for a FIFA World Cup™. For more information, please see the low-emissions vehicles web page of this report.
Traffic management: In preparation for the tournament, Qatari local authorities implemented traffic reduction measures to minimise congestion and reduce emissions in the wider city and around stadiums. For example, selected roads were closed and allowed only vehicles with the right permits. For the tournament, attendees were provided with access to free public transport including the metro and buses. Some stadiums did not have direct access to a metro station so relied more on buses and spectator shuttles. For more information, please see the adaptable, efficient transport solutions and public transportation web pages of this report.
Minimising idling vehicles: To curb this source of air pollution, relevant staff and contractors, such as bus drivers and ambulance crews, were provided with training. The training encouraged drivers to be aware of their idling time and take steps to minimise it, such as turning off the engine when waiting for passengers or shutting off the engine during long periods of inactivity. A system that allowed central tracking of idling vehicles was also implemented. Staff in the transportation headquarters could monitor when vehicles were needlessly idling and were able to issue instructions for bus drivers to turn off vehicles when it was safe to do so.
Reduction in diesel generator use: The majority of diesel generators were replaced with temporary electrical substations providing power from the national electricity grid. This resulted in 82% of temporary power being supplied from the grid rather than by on-site diesel generators. Solar powered lights were also deployed in parking and other areas to reduce the need for generators. In some areas, such as the broadcasting compound, generators needed to be made available. For more information, please see the low-emission temporary power solutions web page of this report.
Tournament-time monitoring
Air quality was monitored again during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ to ensure mitigation measures were working and to take any remedial action as needed.
Air quality monitoring was conducted for the entire duration of the tournament; starting seven days before the first match and until the final match in each stadium. Real-time, solar-powered, air quality sensors were deployed strategically around stadium sites in ‘hotspot’ locations to continuously monitor the levels of air pollutants.
Between three to six sensors were deployed at three locations at each stadium. All sensors were verified against local reference monitors for four weeks before the start of the tournament, this helped to reduce likelihood of incorrect sensor readings and to ensure that the stadium sites specific pollution was being picked up. To complement the monitoring conducted by the sensors, QEERI scientists were deployed to stadiums each match day to observe conditions on the ground starting two hours before match kick-off and ending one hour after the match ended.
Daily air quality reports were provided to tournament organisers by QEERI based on the previous day’s sensor results and QEERI’s onsite observations. Reports were used to alert tournament organisers if air pollution levels exceed safe thresholds. Results were presented using the Air Quality Health Index* (AQHI).
*AQHI measures the air quality on a scale ranging from 1-10. The higher the number, the greater the health risk associated with the air quality. AQHI combines the potential risk from short-term exposure to PM2.5, NO2, and O3 air pollution. Although this classification system was intended for Canadian conditions, in the absence of a local equivalent, it was the recommended best-available assessment tool: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/air-quality-health-index/about.html.
Monitoring observations
Because most sensors were strategically located near ‘hotspots’ (i.e., broadcast power generators, bus drop-off zones, and multi-casualty staging areas with ambulances and trucks), some AQHI results were in the moderate and high-risk categories. This was mainly due to:
Emissions from the remaining generators i.e. those not that could not be replaced by temporary electric substations (e.g. generators used to power signage, some parking floodlights, the broadcast compound).
Hundreds of thousands of international visitors requiring ground transport, resulting in higher transport-related emissions close to the stadiums around each match.
The most common recommendation from the daily air quality reports was to check, and where possible, mitigate emissions from the broadcast power compound generators. In the majority of instances, it was difficult to mitigate the emissions further during the short time period of the tournament. It may nevertheless have been possible to mitigate the emissions further by testing generators to ensure appropriate emission levels (in line with international best practice emission limits) and with a more detailed emissions control plan (including maintenance and repairs related to emissions).
For transport related emissions, local air quality monitoring results provided staff in the transportation headquarters with further evidence of the impact of idling, which was useful information to remind bus drivers why they needed to turn off vehicles when it was safe to do so.
Overall, the work to maintain adequate outdoor air quality demonstrated that mitigation actions put in place for the tournament (i.e. traffic management, electrification of the tournament fleet, reduction of idling, and the reduction of diesel generators use) do make a difference in reducing sources of air pollution during mega-events.