Alignment with the UN SDGs
In September 2015, United Nations (UN) member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which comprises 17 universal Sustainable Development Goals (also known as the SDGs or the Global Goals) and 169 associated targets. The SDGs set out a vision for ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
In developing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Sustainability Strategy and Policy, we referred to the SDGs in three main ways:
When identifying a long list of potential impacts relevant to the sustainability of the tournament, we assessed the positive and negative impacts that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ activities could have on the SDGs.
When selecting the most material sustainability topics to be the focus of our policy and strategy, we reviewed the SDGs most relevant to sport, events and construction activities.
When defining our policy statements and objectives, we also sought to align them with the most relevant SDGs and targets linked to our material sustainability topics and salient human rights issues.
As a result, our plans and performance were aligned with the SDGs, with the aim of contributing to the achievement of the Global Goals. In particular, we identified that the implementation of the Sustainability Strategy would support 11 SDGs – our priority SDGs. The table below demonstrates the linkage between each of the 20 material topics of the Sustainability Strategy and the main SDG targets impacted positively or negatively by the tournament and by the initiatives implemented to manage each material topic. We appreciate that there are synergies and trade-offs that exist between different SDGs beyond the ones that we have prioritised.
The Sustainability Strategy (pages 88-94) summarises our planned contributions to the 11 priority SDGs. More information regarding the specific actions implemented and performance achieved can be found under each of the sustainability initiatives described in this report. A summary of the main contributions towards each prioritised SDG is found further down in this section.