Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and their consequences for global climate change are one of the most pressing global challenges affecting people worldwide. In its Climate Strategy, FIFA has committed to reducing emissions by 50% by 2030 and to reaching net-zero by 2040 according to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCCC”) Sports for Climate Action Framework principles and the Paris Climate Agreement.

The preparation and staging of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, and post-tournament activities, was anticipated to generate direct and indirect GHG emissions mainly from transport, accommodation and construction activities among others. Tournament organisers sought to reduce GHG emissions through energy efficiency practices and low emission sources of energy and transportation, or to offset them when emissions were unavoidable.

While Qatar is heavily reliant on imports of food and construction material and produces its electricity and vehicle fuels predominantly from its oil and gas resources, it worked towards a target to increase its energy efficiency by 10% by 2022. Projects to increase local food production were implemented over the last few years, and in 2022 Qatar started operations of its first solar power plant, an 800MW facility that can generate up to 10% of the country’s energy needs. The compact nature of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ helped to significantly reduce the intra-city travel typically required for other FIFA World Cups™, thereby reducing associated carbon emissions.