Sustainability performance monitoring
Initiative description: Monitoring and evaluating both the conformance to sustainability management plans, procedures and processes and the ISO 20121 standard, and actual outcomes achieved against sustainability objectives and human rights responsibilities, through the tracking of key performance indicators and through audits and management reviews. This includes identifying and correcting non-conformities.
Qatar 2022 becomes first FIFA World Cup™ to achieve ISO 20121 sustainability certification
In June 2022, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22), a joint venture between FIFA and the Host Country focused on delivering tournament operations, achieved ISO 20121 Sustainable Event Management Systems certification. This international standard sets requirements for developing and implementing an effective management system to deliver a sustainable event. The scope of the certificate covers tournament operations across all official venues and measures the effectiveness of the management system from the planning stage to tournament delivery.
The certification was granted after an extensive audit process that was initiated during the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™ – which was held exactly one year before the first FIFA World Cup™ in the Middle East and Arab world. Achieving ISO 20121 certification was a key sustainability target for tournament organisers. For more information about this target and other targets associated with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, please visit the sustainability targets web page of this report.
Tracking progress
The progress and performance of each of the initiatives in the Sustainability Strategy was monitored against the Sustainability Implementation Plan. The Plan, that was finalised in 2019, included key milestones, performance indicators and targets for each of the initiatives as applicable. In addition, ten performance targets were published, covering the most critical issues in the Sustainability Strategy. These were formulated based on an evaluation of existing best practices in the industry as well as the past performance and experience of tournament organisers.
Progress and performance against the Sustainability Strategy’s milestones and targets was regularly monitored. Initiative Coordinators, or those team members in charge of the delivery and performance of each initiative, provided updates in the Sustainability Implementation Plan. This was reviewed by a Governance Task Force, made up of team leaders across the tournament organisers’ sustainability teams, who had the opportunity to ask questions to Initiative Coordinators and provide input to help improve progress or performance as needed. The Task Force held meetings with Initiative Coordinators every 2-3 months to cover all pending questions and identify ways of addressing any risks or issues to keeping on track.
A Sustainability Steering Group, made up of representatives from FIFA, Q22 and the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), met twice per year to assess progress with the delivery of the Sustainability Strategy and to make decisions and agree on actions to address any challenges being faced by the delivery teams. For more information, please visit the sustainability governance web page of this report.
The critical milestones to deliver the Sustainability Strategy were also incorporated into the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Tournament Master Schedule. A Tournament Risk Register was also put in place to identify key issues, risks and decisions associated with the milestones in the Master Schedule. Progress was tracked monthly by the Planning and Integration Team that was comprised of FIFA, Q22 and SC representatives.
In the lead up to tournament time, the Sustainability functional area developed a detailed action plan for each of its operational projects and used regular review meetings to track progress and address issues. During the tournament, an online Incident Management and Reporting System (IMRS) was used to track daily incidents, daily reports and develop initial de-brief reports from all team members working across sites and at the Tournament Headquarters.