GHG reduction & offsetting by attendees
Initiative description: Giving recommendations on how attendees and participants can reduce and/or offset their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including emissions from travel, accommodation and food and beverage.
Football has a unique platform to inspire communities around the globe and drive long lasting positive change. Tournament organisers encouraged ticket holders to understand their own carbon footprint and reduce their GHG emissions throughout their spectator journey, via the FIFA Save the Planet campaign, FIFA Climate Action Pledge, Hyundai Goal of the Century campaign pledge, reminders and tips. Additionally, Hayya (Fan ID) card holders were provided with free public transport, including access to the metro and buses.
Save the Planet | Green Card for the Planet
Save the Planet is an environmental commitment that aimed to unite the global football community to tackle climate change. The campaign was successful in spreading its messages to over 290m people. Over 2,000 pieces of content were shared and the sum of all social interactions such as likes, shares, retweets or comments was approximately 190k.
On World Environment Day, 5 June 2022, as part of the campaign, the FIFA President launched the ‘FIFA Green Card for the Planet’ - a call to action to players, fans, referees and communities around the world to pledge their commitment to reducing their footprint on the planet.
In the launch video on social media, the FIFA President called on everyone to get involved by preparing their own “Green Card for the Planet” video message where they mention an action that they will undertake to protect the environment while also requesting others to follow suit. Celebrities who took part included Rachel Brown-Finnis, Arsène Wenger, Pierluigi Collina, Maxi Rodríguez, and Naomi Campbell, among others.
Climate action pledge
Alongside the FIFA Green Card for the Planet campaign, FIFA launched an email campaign specifically to engage ticket holders in climate action. The FWC 2022 Fan’s Climate Action Pledge was a contest whereby ticket holders could pledge to measure, reduce, and offset their carbon emissions. As an incentive, participants earned a chance to win one of 50 vouchers for QAR 900 through a random draw. The contest ran between June and October 2022 and winners were sent their vouchers before the start of the tournament. The vouchers were redeemable during the tournament at official FIFA retail stores around Doha, Qatar.
The aim of the FWC 2022 Fan’s Climate Action Pledge was to raise the awareness of ticket holders on climate change and encourage them to take actions such as flying less often, taking public transport, cycling more, eating less meat, eating more plants, purchasing products locally and switching to green energy. It also encouraged ticket holders to engage with their local climate action organisation(s) to reduce their emissions and look to build a brighter, more sustainable future for generations to come.
Over 86,000 ticket holders that had registered their interest in FIFA campaigns received an email inviting them to take part in the Climate Action Pledge. Over 21,500 people visited the dedicated webpage and over 4,000 fans pledged their commitment by registering their pledge on the website.
Goal of the Century campaign pledge
FIFA commercial affiliate, Hyundai, also sought to encourage fans to take climate action via their Goal of the Century campaign, which aimed to unite the world for sustainability by using football’s unique ability to inspire team spirit and togetherness. As part of the campaign, Hyundai ran the Goal of the Century pledge from July to December 2022. Former England national team player Steven Gerrard and pop sensation BTS, amongst other ambassadors, invited fans to pledge to perform one of 34 sustainable actions if their favourite team scored a goal via the FIFA+ platform. Fans could additionally take a personality quiz of five questions to help them choose one of the 34 sustainable actions.
The choice of actions included having a vegan pre-match meal, planting a tree, buying second-hand clothes for six months, switching to a green energy provider, investing 10% of one’s salary in green shares, subscribing to a carbon offset programme, having a plastic free FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ viewing party, and more. Among all the fans who pledged in August and September, 10 fans were rewarded with tickets to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. Later on, during the tournament, Hyundai rewarded fans who uploaded a video/photo of them making good on their pledge on social media. Winners were selected via a random draw. Approximately, 100,000 pledges were made on the FIFA+ platform.
Encouraging emissions reduction during tournament-time
With the aim of reaching all ticket holders, reminders and tips on reducing carbon emissions were integrated into the FIFA Fan Guide and the Hayya Card (Fan ID) app for the tournament. The Hayya app was an essential part of the fan experience, acting as an entry permit to Qatar, providing access to the stadiums along with a ticket, and free access to public transport during the tournament. Tips included turning off electrical appliances and using public transport. At the stadiums, vegetarian catering options were provided to spectators, not only to cater for religious and cultural needs, but to also reduce the environmental impacts associated with animal-based meals.
Additionally, an email was sent to ticket holders a week before the tournament, and the day before each match to remind them to take public transport. This email was sent to 319,000 email addresses and had over a 60% open rate.
On 24-25 November, the Save the Planet campaign was brought to life through the giant screens, captains armbands, LED boards and the flags that were displayed during the national anthems.