Exploring the carbon footprint of major sporting events

As we sit on our couches, watching sports matches and supporting our favorite team or players, the carbon footprint of the sports matches we watch may seem like a trivial afterthought. Especially in the larger picture of the climate crisis, how harmful could a global sporting event like the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics be?

Corporations in the sports business often deceive society through greenwashing. These corporations will falsely claim to publicly present environmental concerns and efforts while hardly taking any truly sustainable action.

Environmental risks of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA claimed the event would be "completely carbon neutral". However, climate experts dispute this claim because FIFA's carbon offset system does not remove carbon from the atmosphere. In addition, FIFA's calculations underestimated emissions by not taking into account the carbon footprint of building seven new stadiums in preparation for the World Cup. (Nandini Singh, more at thevarsity.ca)