Football: The Most Poluting 2026 FIFA World Cup?
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
The FIFA decision to host the 2026 Men’s World Cup across an entire continent and expand it to 48 teams will mean that many fans, to get there and travel from venue to venue, will face thousands of miles of air travel, with emissions running into tonnes of carbon dioxide per fan.
Flying, it is claimed, is the most carbon-intensive way to travel and produces greenhouse gases that warm the atmosphere and contribute to global warming and climate change.
For example, it has been calculated that an England fan flying from London and watching the team at every game, if they reach the final, could generate a footprint of about 3.4 tonnes of CO2. That is equivalent to heating an average home in the United Kingdom for 19 months.
Expressed another way: that is equivalent to the production of 34,000 plastic bags.
In fact, FIFA is expecting that more than five million fans from around the world will attend the tournament, with a cost to the environment.
These are, indeed, startling figures!
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
