FIFA WORLD CUP: Climate Is The Loser - Highest Impact Ever

InnovationSustainabilityFIFA WORLD CUP: Climate Is The Loser - Highest Impact EverByMattias Goldmann,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Mattias Goldmann is CEO of the Swedish 2030 Secretariat.for We Don’t Have TimeFollow AuthorJun 11, 2026, 06:42am EDTFIFA World Cup- the highest climate impact everFIFAThe 2026 FIFA World Cup will go down in history as the tournament with the highest climate impact – and the one the most impacted by climate change. Here’s why.Researchers from Scientists for Global Responsibility, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the sports initiative Cool Down estimate that the 2026 World Cup will be the “most polluting” ever, with greenhouse gas emissions of 9m tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, almost double the historical average. Most is from air travel with at least 7.7 million tons – worst case predictions are almost twice that at 13.7 million tons of CO2. Even the low figure is equivalent to the yearly emissions of almost two million cars or a small country. It is also more than double that of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar’s 3.63 million tonnes of CO2e, which was heavily critiziced for energy intensive desalinization of water and air conditioned stadiums - even the grass was for the pitches was flown in from North America in climate-controlled airplanes. Massive travel = massive emissionsThis time is even worse, mainly due to FIFA having chosen three host countries – the US, Canada and Mexico, with a total of 16 venues. This means massive travel, which accounts for about 85% of the Cup’s total emissions, often such long distances that flying is the only alternative. For instance,the team of Algeria will travel 4 800 km from Kansas City to San Francisco and back, the Bosnia and Herzegovina team, fans and families will travel more than 5,000km from Toronto to Los Angeles to Seattle. The accounting platform Greenly estimates emissions to be about 7.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, BBC c...