written by Sveinar Soldal, RES Master’s Alum
When the FIFA World Cup kicks off on the 11th of June, Vancouver will host its biggest sporting event since the 2010 Olympics. Its grandeur brings hundreds of thousands of fans, players, and staff from across the globe, all wanting a piece of the World Cup magic.
Unfortunately, the grandeur extends to the tournament’s environmental footprint. Despite lofty promises, the upcoming World Cup is set to become the most emission-intensive sporting event in history.
In that regard, the required installation of new natural grass turf at BC Place in preparation for the tournament offers a fitting metaphor for the World Cup itself: a thin layer of green over a thick layer of grey.
Passing the buck
FIFA, soccer’s governing body, has boldly claimed that the incoming World Cup will set “new sustainability benchmarks”, promising that operations will be respectful of both people and the planet.
However, beneath the environmental sweet talk is a vague framework that offloads most of the responsibility to host cities, tasking them with developing and implementing an environmental plan alongside their stadium operators.
While mega-events such as the World Cup can, in theory, accelerate policy change, environmental forethought does not appear to be a central priority for Vancouver, a city that recently proposed to eliminate its sustainability team. Recent comments by Mayor Ken Sim suggest that the World Cup is instead being leveraged to expand hotel capacity, promote BC tourism, and strengthen institutional capacity to host future large-scale events. Sustainability appears, at best, a secondary consideration, with little information to date on the City of Vancouver’s environmental strategy for the tournament.
Waste management may represent one area where meaningful progress is possible.
Organizations such as Oceana Canada and Toronto Environmental Alliance have advocated for eliminating single-use food and beverage containers, a significant issue given that one World Cup match can generate over 100,000 single-use items. With BC Place’s recent introduction of a reusable cup program, this provides a tangible precedent that, with amendments, could be scaled for the tournament.
The cost of expansion
Reconciling sustainability with a sporting event of this scale is inherently challenging and is not made easier by the tournament’s expansionary ambitions, increasing from 32 to 48 teams in an effort to “develop the game globally”.
This expansion naturally means more matches, more travel, and more logistics.
More importantly, the decision to host the tournament across 16 cities and three countries significantly undermines the tournament’s capacity to produce positive environmental outcomes. The distance between BC Place in Vancouver and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami is a staggering 4,500 kilometres.
Overall, the tournament is estimated to generate over 9 million tonnes of CO₂e, doubling the average of the previous four World Cups. Roughly 86% of these emissions come from air travel alone. While initial group-stage matches are scheduled to minimize travel, such measures become a cosmetic fix to a structural problem.
It should be noted that one benefit of shared hosting is the ability to make use of existing infrastructure, removing the need for new stadium construction. While upgrades and modifications are still required, this is a welcome shift that may help end the wasteful legacy of underused and abandoned sports venues.
However, this pocket of progress does little to alter the tournament’s environmental footprint.
With the 2030 World Cup set to span Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, while also requiring transatlantic travel to stage three opening matches in South America, it seems that FIFA’s alleged sustainability benchmarks are moving in the wrong direction.
Amid geopolitical turmoil, few things have the power to bring people together as reliably as sports. But for those with a love for both the beautiful game and the environment, the tournament is likely to provoke conflicting feelings. This summer will undoubtedly offer show, spectacle, and celebration. However, the playbook for sustainable sports appears to have been left on the sidelines.