Fifa World Cup 2026 has a staggering climate cost. It's not just in dollars
The world's biggest football tournament is set to captivate billions. But it could also produce more than twice the emissions of the previous World Cup in Qatar, putting the tournament under an environmental microscope.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off Friday as a celebration of goals, drama and global fandom, but it comes with a climate cost that is turning heads.
Estimates suggest this edition could generate more than double the carbon emissions of the last tournament, putting under the microscope the environmental price of football's expanding showpiece, news agency Reuters reported.
A MASSIVE CARBON FOOTPRINT
The tournament's enlarged carbon footprint spans 48 teams and venues across three countries and 16 cities in North America.
A recent assessment by global carbon accounting platform Greenly estimates it could generate 7.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is roughly equal to the annual emissions of 1.7 million cars, or the entire yearly output of Sierra Leone.
For comparison, greenhouse gas emissions from Qatar 2022 World Cup were calculated at approximately 3.8 million tons. This year's emissions could be two-fold.
Researchers estimate that as much as 87% of the tournament's emissions will come from travel, primarily flights, as millions of fans criss-cross a continent to follow their teams.
The sheer geographical spread, stretching more than 4,500 kilometres from Vancouver to Miami, makes this edition far more carbon-intensive than the compact Qatar event.
"I think the World Cup, in theory, is really fun for the sport and for visibility — but bad from a climate standpoint," author and sports ecologist Madeleine Orr told news agency Reuters.
While no new stadiums were built this time, simply adding more teams and spreading matches across distant cities shifted the environmental cost elsewhere.
"Increase the number of teams and then put them in a country where there needs to be significant travel first to get there by air, and then significant travel between the host locations... we're getting rid of one source of negative environmental influence, but then we are increasing it in another," said David Gogishvili, a geographer at the University of Lausanne.
But travel is not the only culprit.
"The part of the carbon footprint that never gets discussed, but is massive, massive, massive, is the digital footprint," Orr said.
How fans watch the tournament is also fuelling emissions in ways that rarely make headlines. Broadcasting, streaming, data feeds and the billions of devices fans use to follow matches all require enormous energy inputs, adding to the strain on the environment.
The UK's National Energy System Operator estimated that each of England and Scotland's group games could see 600 megawatts (MW) more electricity consumed nationally, which is equivalent to the total electricity demand of Glasgow and Leeds combined.
FIFA UNDER PRESSURE
At the UN's COP26 summit in 2021, FIFA pledged to halve its carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2040. Yet the global football organisation has set no specific carbon target for this World Cup.
Gogishvili compared FIFA unfavourably with the International Olympic Committee, which he said is "more or less actually following the reduction target."
FIFA said it welcomed scrutiny and pointed to sustainability initiatives, including encouraging fans to use public transport and recycling programmes.
But Gogishvili deemed the efforts inadequate.
"FIFA clearly does not prioritise reduction of its negative environmental influence... there needs to be pressure on them from the media, from players, from researchers, from the governments, from the public."
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off Friday as a celebration of goals, drama and global fandom, but it comes with a climate cost that is turning heads.
Estimates suggest this edition could generate more than double the carbon emissions of the last tournament, putting under the microscope the environmental price of football's expanding showpiece, news agency Reuters reported.
A MASSIVE CARBON FOOTPRINT
The tournament's enlarged carbon footprint spans 48 teams and venues across three countries and 16 cities in North America.
A recent assessment by global carbon accounting platform Greenly estimates it could generate 7.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is roughly equal to the annual emissions of 1.7 million cars, or the entire yearly output of Sierra Leone.
For comparison, greenhouse gas emissions from Qatar 2022 World Cup were calculated at approximately 3.8 million tons. This year's emissions could be two-fold.
Researchers estimate that as much as 87% of the tournament's emissions will come from travel, primarily flights, as millions of fans criss-cross a continent to follow their teams.
The sheer geographical spread, stretching more than 4,500 kilometres from Vancouver to Miami, makes this edition far more carbon-intensive than the compact Qatar event.
"I think the World Cup, in theory, is really fun for the sport and for visibility — but bad from a climate standpoint," author and sports ecologist Madeleine Orr told news agency Reuters.
While no new stadiums were built this time, simply adding more teams and spreading matches across distant cities shifted the environmental cost elsewhere.
"Increase the number of teams and then put them in a country where there needs to be significant travel first to get there by air, and then significant travel between the host locations... we're getting rid of one source of negative environmental influence, but then we are increasing it in another," said David Gogishvili, a geographer at the University of Lausanne.
But travel is not the only culprit.
"The part of the carbon footprint that never gets discussed, but is massive, massive, massive, is the digital footprint," Orr said.
How fans watch the tournament is also fuelling emissions in ways that rarely make headlines. Broadcasting, streaming, data feeds and the billions of devices fans use to follow matches all require enormous energy inputs, adding to the strain on the environment.
The UK's National Energy System Operator estimated that each of England and Scotland's group games could see 600 megawatts (MW) more electricity consumed nationally, which is equivalent to the total electricity demand of Glasgow and Leeds combined.
FIFA UNDER PRESSURE
At the UN's COP26 summit in 2021, FIFA pledged to halve its carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2040. Yet the global football organisation has set no specific carbon target for this World Cup.
Gogishvili compared FIFA unfavourably with the International Olympic Committee, which he said is "more or less actually following the reduction target."
FIFA said it welcomed scrutiny and pointed to sustainability initiatives, including encouraging fans to use public transport and recycling programmes.
But Gogishvili deemed the efforts inadequate.
"FIFA clearly does not prioritise reduction of its negative environmental influence... there needs to be pressure on them from the media, from players, from researchers, from the governments, from the public."
