This World Cup will be something else. A “carbon neutral” one. With eight brand new stadiums, all in the desert, with air conditioning, millions of people travel to Qatar, mostly by plane. And a country that runs 99% on fossil fuels. Despite this, they are calling the World Cup ‘carbon neutral’. Feel the fish? that is why. We discuss the some Big Problem Qatar World Cup 2022.
Qatar’s World Cup is to be held in 2022. Qatar World Cup is to be held in 2022. But a recent report revealed that the country is not adequately prepared for this event. The country has been in the news recently due to human rights violations occurring within the country. Many are calling it the “World Cup in Hell”. It has been called one of the worst human rights violations in the history of the world. Many people are calling for the World Cup to be moved to another country, but Qatar denies these allegations.
For many countries, the decision to allow the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been a huge financial burden, but for one family, the consequences are dire. The Al Thani family is the ruling family of Qatar, and their fortune was built in oil. But the World Cup has been a financial drain as well as a source of controversy. Apart from being the first World Cup to be held in a Middle Eastern country, the country is also grappling with a regional diplomatic crisis. Qatar is currently in conflict with its Gulf neighbors who are boycotting the country, and who have banned any country from playing there.
The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar, and is expected to provide a huge boost to the country’s natural resource-rich Qatari economy. The downside of this boom is the infrastructure required to support such a large event. Apart from construction projects, the country is also facing a major health crisis. With extreme heat and high humidity, people are more likely to suffer from heat exhaustion and heat stroke. There are no major health facilities in the country, so most health problems are treated with simple treatments. With the start of the World Cup in 2022, many are already concerned about the state of the country and its inhabitants. It is one of many hurdles facing Qatar as it tries to prepare for the biggest sporting event of its lifetime.
The Qatar Stadium Big Problems
Before we start, we know that this World Cup has many problems: workers died, human rights were violated, corruption within FIFA was exposed. serious stuff. But we’re here to talk about another overlooked aspect, Qatar’s promise to host a “carbon neutral” World Cup in 2010. But are they accomplishing it? In the construction phase of the World Cup, let’s start with the stadiums and their construction. Qatar built six permanent stadiums, renovated one and built one stadium for the World Cup. Which is completely mortal. All this within a radius of 50 km. Looking at FIFA’s greenhouse gas accounting report, the construction of six new permanent stadiums is responsible for around 4500 tonnes of CO2. But if you look closely, something is wrong.
Explain that these are all emissions for stadium construction. According to FIFA, these stadiums are to be used for 60 years. So they can spread construction emissions over 60 years of use. But FIFA is only responsible for the 70 days that their games are in progress. He defends 59 years and 10 months. So you’re only looking at 0.3% of the total emissions associated with construction. The magic of mathematics. Basically we derive this number using FIFA’s own estimates for stadium construction.
This is Gilles Dufrasne from Carbon Market Watch. He and his colleagues recalculated the carbon footprint of the new stadiums. For a typical stadium, one stadium emits about 270,000 tons of CO2, and since there are six stadiums, that’s a total of 1.6 million. It is also not clear how the stadium can be used for 60 years. There are plans on paper in the form of local teams or venues. But even major soccer nations like Brazil, which has a population 70 times that of Qatar, are struggling to reuse their famous World Cup stadiums. Indeed, whether Qatar will be able to do so is a big question mark. The devil is in the details of this World Cup. This is also true for the completely demolished Ras Abu Abid Stadium. Great idea: it’s made from containers, is more durable, and can be reused elsewhere. Therefore, less stadiums will need to be built comprehensively. But no one knows if it will actually happen. There is no plan for this. Due to the slightly more durable material, initial emissions are up to 65% higher. But the greenwashing doesn’t stop there.
Air Travel and other Issues
Enter the fans and all their travels for Phase Two: the World Cup itself. FIFA estimates that travel will account for 52% of all World Cup emissions. The funniest thing is that FIFA calculates a discount on one-way flight tickets, so everyone flies to the World Cup, but no one leaves Qatar afterwards, how ridiculous. . Due to a shortage of hotel rooms in Qatar, some fans will be shuttling back and forth. I can say welcome. Energy, transport, food but you probably get the point. This event has a huge carbon footprint. FIFA says this would be 3.6 million tonnes of CO2, Carbon Market Watch says 5.2 million are responsible for the stadium’s actual emissions. According to a professor at the Lancaster Environment Centre, who recalculated emissions from flights and homes, this could be up to 10 million tonnes of CO2. For comparison, there is 10 million tons of CO2. Everyone in the world watches YouTube all year round. How do you zero it out?
Carbon Offset Qatar Airways
Therefore, FIFA buys carbon credits for CO2 emissions and supports CO2 offsetting projects. There is only one small problem. Many offset projects do not offset additional carbon. Oops! We’ve made a whole video on why offsets don’t work in many cases. Check it out here! In the case of renewable energy, you can sell electricity to generate income, which in many cases can cover the cost of, for example, installing a new wind farm or solar panels. Derek Broke off has worked on carbon offset policies for over 18 years. So these activities can happen anyway. And if so, you’re paying someone else to do something they were going to do anyway, regardless of global climate. And so if you reduce your own emissions, the world will be a better place. So what are Qatar’s offset projects? Okay, so we have a wind farm, we have a rooftop solar project, another wind farm, water pumps. It’s just renewable energy, renewable energy, renewable energy. Energy industry or renewable energy. There are only six projects listed here, which is a joke, isn’t it?! When you add up these carbon credits, you get about half a million tons of CO2. Remember, FIFA says it’s emitting 3.6 million. And we asked them about it, and they said they’ve already received 1.5 million tons of CO2 carbon credits. But they didn’t tell us what the plans are! Offset can work – but we need more transparency! No one knows or can know whether these projects are actually legitimate or not. It is also surprising that Qatar decided to establish its own standard, the Global Carbon Council, instead of buying carbon credits from established international markets. And the country at the top of the desert, with lots of sun, runs 99% on fossil fuels. They have managed to build a solar park in 12 years.
Conclusion Qatar World Cup
He obviously tried really, really hard! Of course, large-scale, one-off international sporting events emit a lot of carbon. But you can keep the footprint down. What you should do: Use more renewable energy, build infrastructure if necessary. Serious offsetting, not just corporate window dressing. Less construction: So, host in countries where stadiums exist or are likely to be reused in the future. and less air travel for participants and fans. To say that the World Cup will be “carbon neutral” is simply greenwashing! I mean “A+” for PR effort, but you need to do better! There is no doubt that responsibly hosting a global sporting event is a challenge. But you have to wonder, have FIFA and Qatar ever done this? Let me know what you think about the carbon neutrality of the World Cup in the comments. We post videos on Environment every Friday.
