Global football’s dirty climate tackle

When seemingly hardened observers watched in horrified awe at the record Los Angeles wildfires turning whole neighbourhoods into hot, charred, post-apocalyptic remains, cold sweats were almost certainly running down the backs of the city’s event planners. Why? Next year Los Angeles hosts multiple games for the next men’s football World Cup, and player’s health is set to be threatened by extreme heat at 14 out of 16 of the 2026 World Cup venues. The city is also host to the 2028 Olympics, by which time many of its burnt-out communities will still not be rebuilt.

But the problem, bad as it is, doesn’t stop here. The FIFA World Cup is sponsored by one of the world’s biggest climate polluters, oil and gas giant Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arabia, a state that has consistently obstructed climate action. More than that, under FIFA’s plans to expand international competitions, football itself has a growing carbon pollution footprint.

A new scientific report, “Dirty Tackle – the growing carbon footprint of football“, commissioned by the New Weather Institute from Scientists for Global Responsibility, has found that the carbon footprint of the global football industry is around the annual emissions of Austria or about 60 percent more than those of Uruguay, the nation that hosted the first World Cup in 1930, and equal to the emissions from burning 150 million barrels of oil.

After a year of flooded pitches, air pollution, and heatwaves threatening players’ health, football’s pollution is increasingly part of the climate threat to the game’s own future.

The new research presents a first industry-wide global assessment of football’s carbon emissions. It covers stadium-level emissions, including those due to construction, all travel-related emissions, merchandise, and the environmental impact of key sponsorship deals with polluting companies. It assesses international and club competitions across the men’s and women’s games.

Previous estimates of football’s environmental impact have been relatively basic, excluding key elements of the sport’s emissions. Poor data and omissions have led to a widespread underestimation of football’s impact and, perhaps as a result, just piecemeal attempts to address the game’s pollution, such as only looking at direct, “operational” emissions. But even these partial efforts are being undermined by the major expansion of international tournaments, the number of matches played, and the exploitation of football by corporations to promote high carbon products and lifestyles. Making real reductions therefore means tackling those issues, and taking responsibility for the transport of those attending matches — so-called “scope 3” emissions. 

According to the new data, just one match at a FIFA Men’s World Cup Finals is estimated to emit between 44,000tCO2e and 72,000tCO2e. This is equivalent to between 31,500 and 51,500 average UK cars driven for an entire year. These figures do not include high carbon sponsorship-related emissions, which are estimated, on average, to increase total emissions by over 350 percent per fixture. 

In the English Premier League, a single match fixture is estimated to emit approximately 1,700 tCO2e, with travel-related emissions comprising around half of the total. This goes up by about 50 percent for a match in an international club competition, mainly due to air travel by spectators, and even more once sponsored emissions are included. 

Sponsorships that promote heavily polluting activities are by far the largest contributor to football’s carbon footprint, making up 75 percent of the total. These “sponsored emissions” increase the demand for polluting products and lifestyles, such as long distance air travel, among the game’s global audience of billions. 

Excluding the emissions derived from sponsorship, the global total carbon footprint of football’s activities is estimated to be 13-15 million tCO2e per year, equivalent to the emissions of a nation such as Costa Rica. The activities which contribute most to this total are fan travel to matches and the construction of new stadiums. Air transport and car transport are particularly problematic. There is clear evidence that the expansion of international football tournaments, and the increase in air travel that they drive, are increasing emissions. The production and sale of merchandise, energy use and catering at stadiums, and team and employee travel also all add to the total. Over 93 percent of
these emissions are due to the activities of elite domestic leagues — those with annual attendances above one million — and international tournaments.

The FIFA Men’s World Cup alone has in recent years been responsible for 6.5 million tCO2e over its four-year cycle, which includes both the qualification and the finals, with most emissions concentrated during the finals. But this total excludes sponsored emissions which can vary considerably from tournament to tournament. To date, the emissions from women’s football represent a tiny fraction of the men’s game, creating an opportunity to take a much less polluting development path.

Professional footballers are using the new data to demand greater climate action from football’s governing bodies and decision-makers. Tessel Middag, a professional football player for Rangers FC with 44 caps for the Dutch national women’s team, said, “Football needs to wake up to the threat posed to it by climate change. From each flooded pitch to players endangered by extreme heat, climate impacts are beginning to erode the foundations of football. Without urgent change, it is only going to get worse. Instead of being a source of pollution, football can be a powerful tool for change, using a sport that is so loved and adored around the world to secure a healthy, habitable planet.”  

David Wheeler, a professional player at Wycombe Wanderers FC, and a leading climate voice in the men’s game, sees the threat from a personal and professional point of view. He says: “As a player and a parent, I want kids to have the same opportunities to play the game that I had growing up. The climate crisis is threatening that. Addressing football’s growing environmental impact, and cutting its emissions, is essential for securing a future where football can continue to excite and inspire new generations. There are green shoots that are starting to spring up on football pitches around the world, where fans and players are coming together to demand ambitious and immediate action. What is needed, though, is real leadership from governing bodies.”

So far, however, the lack of acknowledgement from football’s governing bodies over the climate threat posed to the entire football pyramid is symbolised by FIFA entering its huge, unprecedented commercial partnership with Aramco. The sponsorship deal was criticised by more than 130 female players due to concerns for women’s rights, the safety of LGBTQ+ communities, and Aramco’s continued pollution.

While both FIFA and UEFA have signed up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, which commits them to a 50 percent reduction of emissions by 2030, expanding tournaments and polluting sponsorship clearly show that emissions are neither going down, nor remotely on course to hit such a target.  

Immediate action is needed. It should include a reversal of the recent expansion of international competitions, a commitment from clubs and governing bodies to make more realistic assessments of pollution that include “sponsored emissions”, and a phase out of sponsorship deals with major polluters such as fossil fuel companies, airlines, and car makers. Other measures could improve the experience for fans and cut pollution, such as giving a bigger share of match tickets at international competitions to local fans, and aligning the schedule of games to make fan travel by public transport more realistic. Meanwhile player welfare could be improved by reducing the burden of more and larger international competitions, with similar, wider benefits.

Crucially, players should also have freedom of speech to talk publicly about their environmental concerns and take a leadership role, to use their platforms to speak out on climate threats and be able to criticise polluting sponsors without fear of censure. Everyone wants sport to be clean, but until actions like this get taken, the global game is committing a dirty tackle on the climate, fans, players, and its own future.

This article is also published on DeSmog. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.